School and Jobs Advice Megathread Part III

[u/SadBreath]

All job and school-related advice should be asked in here. Below is the r/publichealth MPH guide which may answer general questions.

See the below guides for more information:

1. MPH Guide
2. Job Guide
3. Choosing a public health field
4. Choosing a public health concentration
5. Choosing a public health industry

Past Threads:

1. Megathread Part I
2. Megathread Part II

[u/Rainbows_and_ribbons]

Hey! I’ve been a SAHM for the past 5 years. I got a BFA and worked as product photographer in another life. I live in a city with free community college and was going to start some pre-requisites in January as my kids are getting school aged.

I’m interested in doing Epidemiology or possibly an MS in biostatistics if I’m up to the math. I’ve got a long road of community college classes ahead of me. There’s a couple different certificates I can obtain while doing classes, one is a data science fundamentals certificate that goes over python, SQL, stats, etc. Another one is a math certificate. I’ll still do whatever math is required before applying to specific programs just not the extra that is required of a certificate if I do the data one.

My questions is which one would look better before applying to grad school? I want to aim high and try to get into a good school. My husband is in tech and trying to convince me to do the data science fundamental cert. He thinks I can get a low level analyst job that could look good for a resume in grad school and afterwards. What do you experts say? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

[u/-swrvn- → u/Rainbows_and_ribbons]

I agree with your husband — take the data science fundamental cert! Epi and biostats are both equally heavy on data analysis. Having a certificate in data science will not only set you up in the long-run, but it also indicates that you’re ready to take on graduate-level coursework specific to those two subjects.

[u/Rainbows_and_ribbons → u/-swrvn-]

Awesome, thank you so much for your insight!