Master's of public health, Walden University or University of Massachusetts DL

I am currently enrolled at Walden university in their M.S. in Public Health program. I have no problems with it and I like it. I am a bit worried about the name recognition (or lack of it) of the university. I was thinking of transferring to the University of Massachusetts distance learning program (only for better name recognition) but it doesn't look as good as walden's. I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience with U Mass's MPH DL program, or how well a Walden degree will be viewed.

Thanks everyone

 

UMass-Amherst (the flagship campus of the UMass system) is head & shoulders above Walden in regards to name recognition, so if that's really important it might be worth looking into switching.

However, if you're satisfied with Walden and it fits your needs better, why switch? I guess it comes down to the very personal decision of how important prestige or name recognition is to you.

 

If I were you, I would choose UMass. Its reputation is by far greater than that of Walden.

Ike

 

Also, in addition to what Bruce and Ike have said, I'd bet that the UMass program is also less expensive (although I haven't checked).
Jack

 

Also, UMass is CEPH accredited, while Walden isn't.

US News has (incomplete...) listings of both CEPH/RA-accredited and RA-accredited programs:

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/elearning/tables/pub_reg_prof.htm

and

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/elearning/tables/pub_reg.htm

DJ

 

Based on............? I think we should stop making statements that can't be validated. The desire of the market place more than drives your markeability rather than the school you went. If you have a degree that is demanded at the market place, you will get a job. In the case of Walden, I don't see any problem. Walden is expensive. If it were me, cost will be the deciding factor. That is what drove me from Walden not the reputation. If you are looking for reputation only a handful of schools possibly Ivy league schools which are all in the east coast of the United States can claim such and even then studies have questioned their worth and I have posted that study somewhere in this forum in the past.

It is true that Walden is not CEPH accredited but what is CEPH accreditation? Meaningless because it does not lead to any certification or licensure. However, schools must graduate some students before they are eligible for CEPH program accreditation. The Universities of Alaska and Hawaii both were not CEPH accredited the last time I checked but we have hired graduates of their programs and they performing just as well as naybody else.

 

Are you seriously trying to say that Walden has a better reputation than UMass-Amherst???

 

Cph

I am replying to the comment in this thread from the year 2004, which was six years ago, regarding CEPH accreditation being meaningless because it does not lead to any certification. That is not true any longer.

There is a new professional accreditation called CPH. It stands for Certified in Public Health. You will only be eligible to sit for that exam if you graduate from a CEPH-accredited MPH program. See: publichealthexam.org/

You are not going to get all of your facts from surfing online. I would strongly recommend that prospective students attend an APHA Convention. That stands for American Public Health Association. Many MPH schools exhibit in their expo hall and you can discuss your questions with them directly, compare answers, meet representatives of admissions teams that you may end up dealing with, and also learn from their many workshops. I have done this for two years in a row. Yes, you need to budget for conference fee, hotel, travel, food, etc, but it is a wise investment in your future, and you will feel like you are one step ahead of your peers in your first year's class who have not yet done this. Walden will be there.