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sqsq · 06-22-2006, 08:55 PM

Hi
I got accepted into an Masters epidemiology degree at a university and I found a supervisor who is willing to fund me for my school study. I also got him to write a research proposal in which we won a studentship award. However, now I got accepted into another program , physiotherapy , and I'm not sure what I should do. Will my supervisor hate me if I don't study epidemiology after he has agreed to fund me? Will there be other students this late in the admission process that are happy to take my place?

Also, are there a lot of epidemiology jobs out there in the public health system and government? What field do you think has more opportunity? Should I do a research degree or clinical degree?

Please help!! I have given my acceptances to both schools and now I have to really decide.

OneMoreEcon · 06-22-2006, 09:27 PM

I tend to avoid giving advice to non-econ people, since I have no idea what goes on in admissions to other fields. In this case, I think everyone will say the same thing.

What do you want to do... reseach or clinical work? That's all that matters. If research, choose epidemiology. If clinical, choose physiotherapy. End of story.

Epidemiology jobs? I know nothing about an epidemiology degree, but I have noticed many applied statistics programs that focus on biostatistics, and a large portion of those degrees seems to focus on epidemiology. So, my totally baseless guess is that there are jobs out there. Besides, aren't we supposed to be concerned with outbreaks like bird flu and chem/bio weapon attacks? Gotta be some gov't jobs in the field (think CDC).

Will your professor hate you if you turn him down now? He'll probably hate you for about 20 minutes, turn around and offer funding to the first student he wants, and then forget you exist. Besides, it's stupid to enter into a program you don't want to do just so you don't disappoint a professor. Choose the program you want. Plenty of other students will jump at the opportunity to be a research assistant.

Oh, and you probably shouldn't have accepted both offers, but that's irrelevant at this point.

06-22-2006, 08:55 PM	#1 (permalink)
sqsq Trying to make mom and pop proud Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 1	Life changing career decision- research degree Hi I got accepted into an Masters epidemiology degree at a university and I found a supervisor who is willing to fund me for my school study. I also got him to write a research proposal in which we won a studentship award. However, now I got accepted into another program , physiotherapy , and I'm not sure what I should do. Will my supervisor hate me if I don't study epidemiology after he has agreed to fund me? Will there be other students this late in the admission process that are happy to take my place? Also, are there a lot of epidemiology jobs out there in the public health system and government? What field do you think has more opportunity? Should I do a research degree or clinical degree? Please help!! I have given my acceptances to both schools and now I have to really decide.

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06-22-2006, 09:27 PM	#2 (permalink)
OneMoreEcon TestMagic Guru-in-Training Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 538	I tend to avoid giving advice to non-econ people, since I have no idea what goes on in admissions to other fields. In this case, I think everyone will say the same thing. What do you want to do... reseach or clinical work? That's all that matters. If research, choose epidemiology. If clinical, choose physiotherapy. End of story. Epidemiology jobs? I know nothing about an epidemiology degree, but I have noticed many applied statistics programs that focus on biostatistics, and a large portion of those degrees seems to focus on epidemiology. So, my totally baseless guess is that there are jobs out there. Besides, aren't we supposed to be concerned with outbreaks like bird flu and chem/bio weapon attacks? Gotta be some gov't jobs in the field (think CDC). Will your professor hate you if you turn him down now? He'll probably hate you for about 20 minutes, turn around and offer funding to the first student he wants, and then forget you exist. Besides, it's stupid to enter into a program you don't want to do just so you don't disappoint a professor. Choose the program you want. Plenty of other students will jump at the opportunity to be a research assistant. Oh, and you probably shouldn't have accepted both offers, but that's irrelevant at this point.

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