MPH MPH in Mexico?

[LongDocDong]

Hey guys, pre-med student and long time lurker on the pre-med section, but fairly ill-informed on MPH's in general. I've been interested in public health for a while and always figured a combined MD/MPH or an MPH post med school would be the best option; however, I came across something new recently. I would like to apply for a fulbright after undergrad, before med school, and found that Mexico offers fulbrights for up to two years of graduate level study. With a little research I found that the Instituto Nacional de Salud Publica (INSP) offers a 2 year MPH with a variety of possible concentrations and is CEPH accredited. Anyways, I was hoping someone could give some advice on whether this would be a better option than simply applying to a normal research or teaching fulbright and pursuing an MPH with/after my MD. Any advice is welcome, especially if anyone has personal knowledge of the program or the quality/usefulness of an MPH from mexico. Also if anyone knows how selective this program is please do share. Here's a short list of anticipated pros/cons:

Possible pros for applying to fublright for MPH in mexico:
-incredible experience abroad with diverse and unique patient pop. (extra year abroad over a standard 10 month fulbright)
-fully funded by fulbright grant
-variety of research opportunities in the institute's various research centers.
-get MPH done before med school and get a full 2 year MPH instead of cramming it into one year/concurrent with MD courses.

Possible cons
-Even though it's CEPH accredited, not sure if it would be looked down upon in terms of residency match or future employers
-language barrier in classes- I am non-native speaker and my language skills are plenty strong enough to triage patients at a local free clinic and get straight A's in all of my spanish literature classes, but I worry about my abilities at a high STEM academic level like MPH courses will require
-would have to apply simultaneously with MD apps and then request deferral (due to expiration on MCAT and course pre-reqs)- While pretty much all schools allow 1 year deferral for fulbrights, I'm not sure if 2 years would be allowed.
-likely more competitive than an english teaching fulbright, but probably similar to a research fulbright.

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[MazKanata]

Hey guys, pre-med student and long time lurker on the pre-med section, but fairly ill-informed on MPH's in general. I've been interested in public health for a while and always figured a combined MD/MPH or an MPH post med school would be the best option; however, I came across something new recently. I would like to apply for a fulbright after undergrad, before med school, and found that Mexico offers fulbrights for up to two years of graduate level study. With a little research I found that the Instituto Nacional de Salud Publica (INSP) offers a 2 year MPH with a variety of possible concentrations and is CEPH accredited. Anyways, I was hoping someone could give some advice on whether this would be a better option than simply applying to a normal research or teaching fulbright and pursuing an MPH with/after my MD. Any advice is welcome, especially if anyone has personal knowledge of the program or the quality/usefulness of an MPH from mexico. Also if anyone knows how selective this program is please do share. Here's a short list of anticipated pros/cons:

Possible pros for applying to fublright for MPH in mexico:
-incredible experience abroad with diverse and unique patient pop. (extra year abroad over a standard 10 month fulbright)
-fully funded by fulbright grant
-variety of research opportunities in the institute's various research centers.
-get MPH done before med school and get a full 2 year MPH instead of cramming it into one year/concurrent with MD courses.

Possible cons
-Even though it's CEPH accredited, not sure if it would be looked down upon in terms of residency match or future employers
-language barrier in classes- I am non-native speaker and my language skills are plenty strong enough to triage patients at a local free clinic and get straight A's in all of my spanish literature classes, but I worry about my abilities at a high STEM academic level like MPH courses will require
-would have to apply simultaneously with MD apps and then request deferral (due to expiration on MCAT and course pre-reqs)- While pretty much all schools allow 1 year deferral for fulbrights, I'm not sure if 2 years would be allowed.
-likely more competitive than an english teaching fulbright, but probably similar to a research fulbright.

Fulbright scholarships are pretty competitive, so it's not 100% that would get this opportunity (or a "normal" Fulbright), especially if they want somebody to be a native speaker in order to be able to pass the classes. They might want somebody who utilizes this experience in the future in order to travel to Mexico and work on public health issues there as well. With a lot of MPH programs its half the course material, but also the potential connections and the area of the US (or world) where you do the MPH. If you want to do high-level global health work then you might go to LSHTM, or Emory or JHU, and make connections with big names and players in the field. If you know you want to do work in Mexico at some point, maybe be a link between the US and Mexico, then it would make sense to do the Fulbright there, otherwise it would be better to go for a prestigious MPH program in the US if you ultimately want to work in the U.S.

 

[LongDocDong]

Fulbright scholarships are pretty competitive, so it's not 100% that would get this opportunity (or a "normal" Fulbright), especially if they want somebody to be a native speaker in order to be able to pass the classes. They might want somebody who utilizes this experience in the future in order to travel to Mexico and work on public health issues there as well. With a lot of MPH programs its half the course material, but also the potential connections and the area of the US (or world) where you do the MPH. If you want to do high-level global health work then you might go to LSHTM, or Emory or JHU, and make connections with big names and players in the field. If you know you want to do work in Mexico at some point, maybe be a link between the US and Mexico, then it would make sense to do the Fulbright there, otherwise it would be better to go for a prestigious MPH program in the US if you ultimately want to work in the U.S.

Okay great advice thanks! I know Fulbrights are super competitive so I'm not trying to come off as an arrogant or thinking I've got it no problem, but I am applying to one no matter what because I know it is an experience I would really enjoy no matter which specific type it is; as a result it's more useful for decision making to assume that I would get whichever type I apply to and go from there if I don't, since the main issue right now is which type to apply to, not whether or not I will get it. In addition the language requirements by the fulbright program seem to be pretty lenient based on their evaluation rubric, I'm more concerned with my performance in classes than passing the fulbright language requirement.

So as far the decision to go for the MPH or a different fulbright: Let's say I decide that I'm not certain on Mexico for the future and want a more prestigious program in the U.S. or U.K. during or after medical school- these programs would still require 2 additional years (unless I attended their specific MD/MPH program) correct? If I did this I would still want the year abroad before med school (fulbright ETA, research, etc.) so that would be one more year than if I just did the 2 year MD/MPH fulbright. That would raise some significant financial concerns to me as well because you're talking about a years worth of MD salary gone as well as an extra 100k in tuition from 4 semester of MPH. Does the extra prestige really seem that beneficial then over a free degree from Mexico and an extra year of MD salary? Alternatively, is there a way to do a more prestigious MPH program over only one year with an MD (like a combined MD/MPH) but from a different MD school? that would definitely make the option seem a little more beneficial