Nishant Chavan explains how he developed an interest in public health and why he chose to join LSHTM in London (UK) for his second masters degree.
Why I chose Master’s in Public Health at LSHTM UK
by Nishant Chavan
Dear all, this is Nishant Chavan belonging to a middle class Maharashtrian family from small suburb near (41kms) from Mumbai. I went to a local English Medium School (till 10th standard) and Junior College (11th-12th standard) and did my Bachelor’s in Botany from Ramanarain Ruia College, Matunga [a place in Mumbai and no relation to Arjuna Ranatunga of Sri Lanka ;)] and did my 1st Master’s in Health Sciences at Dept. of Health Sciences at then, University of Pune now, Savitribai Phule Pune University (Respectable Savitribai Phule was the first woman teacher of the first women’s school in India and a pioneer in modern Marathi poetry.)
Now, after 7 years I am doing my 2nd Master’s in Public Health for Development at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine known as LSHTM. The School is ranked sixth in the world in the US News Best Global Universities Ranking 2017 in the fields of social sciences and public health (link).
As a young boy, I always wanted to be Medical Doctor and saves lives of people and hence, after 12th Science stream, I gave series of exams (state and national level of medical entrance exams) to join one of the top medical colleges in India no, no my family never forced me to take up medical or engineering, it was all my choice and Alas! I wasn’t able to crack any of them.
I was so shocked as I prepared really hard for it and hence took BSc (Botany) with an aspiration to do something (like work in big pharmaceutical giant or invent a new drug from medicinal herbs in plant genomics in future etc).
But during my graduation days at Ruia, apart from cutting chai, vada pav, cricket, masala toast sandwiches, student council events, studies [Yes, I used to study too ;)] and I joined National Service Scheme (N.S.S.) volunteer and became writer for visually challenged students in my college during their exams. This was the 1st time I was up close and personal with social work.
Hence, I thought I should do ‘something’ and hence gave series of state and national entrance exams, again to crack top premier institutions for MSc but Alas! (Part Two) again I wasn’t able to crack my dream school and I was ashamed of myself hence, I decided to go away from my hometown and do my masters’s related in the unique social + medical field.
Fortunately I got an admission at University of Pune in MSc Health Sciences and was able to learn a lot from my colleagues which happened to medical doctors to nurses to BSc folks like me, and learnt a lot from them from their experiences at rural to urban areas and then decided take up job in whichever company employs me 1st as I was applying to pharmaceutical companies to NGO and got a call a Public Health in Pune and learnt about doing public health program evaluation and got introduced to the maternal and child health issues in urban slums.
Yes, my family was support pillar and they supported my decision of joining NGO. During my 1st job I learnt Public Health is intertwined with Education so need to learn about Education sector, so applied to Teach For India (TFI) Fellowship (at that time there were not much of fellowships unlike today) and got through it and taught in a low-income private school in Pune as full-time teacher but was involved in building School Leadership team and Community engagement through various projects.
But, during TFI fellowship I realized that my 1st love is Public Health though I liked teaching and students no matter whatever background they belong a teacher can make difference in a student’s and their parent’s life. Also, talented pool of TFI Fellows, the importance of diversity in a team made me grow as an individual.
I started applying for TEDx, INK Talks and Wikipedia events as a volunteer and met more people and started doing so called networking, which actually helped me understand whom should I meet and sometimes not to meet but it broadened my mind and thought I should build my profile for MBA in Healthcare Management from Indian School of Business (ISB) or MS in Healthcare Management from U.S. and so on so forth
That’s were I met Sameer Kamat (founder of MBA Crystal Ball) and happened to read his book Beyond the MBA Hype.
I was fortunate enough to meet for a quick brunch (#KoffeeWithKamat event) in Mumbai where he gave me powerful insights which stayed with me forever. Here are some of the messages I took back from the meeting.
- Do what your heart (inner calling, don’t just follow ‘herd mentality’) says…but keep your brain alert, too!
- Scholarships matter a lot!
- Location of your Master’s school matters and can be of great help (Internships/Career Fair/Offices etc)
- Think hard about the time to reach breakeven for the tuition fee (if you are paying it on your own by loan) + expense money versus profit/savings after it considering the personal and professional growth!
There were many more lessons, but I these were important for me to start thinking!
Also, I realized that many folks want to do work in NGO sector for work-satisfaction as they get bored in corporate world and want to do ‘something good’ in life or to may good profile for B-school or genuinely make a difference at the grassroots level.
So after TFI, I worked in two start-ups in Healthcare and Education. I was not getting the jobs I wanted, so I took up whichever employer selected me as I have to take care of my family. But trust me I got one of best learning in these start-ups. I learnt the following.
- To be self-starter! And
- Importance of the freedom in your work
- Even though you are specialist, you need to know and be updated about other fields related to your work.
Hence, I created a separate email-id and signed up for newsletters of top global universities for their events and to understand their cutting edge research and started following them on Twitter and subscribed to big B-schools and Consulting firms free articles as I could not afford their paid subscription.
Trust me, spending just few minutes daily in local trains and city buses I was able to learn what is happening from local to national to international. Subconsciously, it all started adding to my knowledge and experience. I was able to speak and ask questions in some of the debates and group discussions.
Also, I joined LinkedIn groups related to my fields and started following ‘influencers’ like Richard Branson and Bill Gates etc and became part of other online public health forums like Health Information for All (HIFA).
I started following blogs by think tanks like Brookings, Centre for Civil Society and Chatham House etc to keep myself updated about national to global policy level briefs, events and research articles.
And last but not the least; I got into habit of reading on the reports of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) of India, World Health Organization (WHO), World Bank (WB) and blogs by various International Non Government Organizations (iNGOs) to have perspectives from National to Multilateral to iNGOs organizations. It gave me confidence to speak about various indicators of health with data and not just opinions.
Similarly by now, I had to earn good salary as I had my family’s responsibility so I started using LinkedIn premium (which allowed me to drop a message on their LinkedIn or sometimes by the e-mail id available on the organization’s website) where 1st month was free so before that I did my stalking of the relevant people/organizations I need to contact, so let me give you answer in nut shell,
If you apply to 100 jobs/contact relevant people then the chances of getting reply is just three out which only one will be suitable/applicable to you in reality.
Having done all that, so I got a job in a New York based Think Tank which worked with the World Bank office, McGill University, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), World Health Partners (WHP) and Institute for Socio Economic Research on Development and Democracy (ISERDD)…phew!!! (list was big, isn’t it? :P) on the Tuberculosis project in Mumbai and Patna.
It was a game changer as I had to work with their international team spread across different time zones, with field work involved and lot of quantitative & qualitative research. This job helped me to get a very deep exposure to the Tuberculosis crisis in India which has the one highest burden of TB in the world, made me realize my passion in public health. This research was published in high impact factor journals and mentioned in many international health reports.
While all this was happening at one side, other side I was going through painful heart break at the same time and as a result depression lasted for four years so I made myself busy as mentioned above by reading plethora of articles and in the jobs but thanks to my family and best friends counselling and support and doctors that I was stable.
Believe me, it is not good to suffer self-stigmatization. Help is available if you ask for it; I started watching TED talks to such an extent that me and my other two friends showed TEDx talks to one my friend’s school students. I started reading (yes, again) about the inspirational stories of the Great Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the brave king of India to Sir A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, ex-President of India and Missile Man of India. I started helping U.S. based NGOs to setup libraries in orphanages in India to organizing suicide prevention awareness talks in India as a Volunteer.
All these helped to work with Tata Trusts, NITI Aayog (Premier Think Tank of Government of India) and Delhi State Government on short term consultancies in 1 year through fellowship initiated at Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago, U.S.A.
In mean while I started posting about the jobs in development sector focusing on Health and Education, and trust me in the time of five years, I became a pro at it with the aim of making people aware of the opportunities in this sector so that people might want to take up jobs in these sectors and help to improve the misunderstanding of people in this sector.
I started giving counselling sessions to my friends and parents of my friends when they wanted to start career in this sector and started this funny hashtag #KahaniNGOwaleKi (story of an NGO professional). Initially I was mocked but now almost NGO sector in India has changed to a great extent. People want to make career in this sector as it pays a decent salary (with a few exceptions) and helps you make a social impact.
While doing all these I realized that I needed a break from my profession to brush up my knowledge and skills. So, I applied to London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) as I always wanted to go to London and experience the life here, even though it is expensive in terms of accommodation and living expense but it gives the same degree at less than half the cost of tuition fee of famous Public Health schools in U.S.
Why I chose LSHTM
So talking about my dream school, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (informally the LSHTM) which professionals from development sector especially from health sector background know, specialised in public health and tropical medicine and a constituent college of the University of London. It was established in 1899 A.D. The college does not have undergraduate teaching; it has Post Graduate Diploma Certificate, Master’s, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Doctor in Public Health (DrPH) and Post Doctorate degrees. My college is part of the stellar The Bloomsbury Colleges (TBC) group in research and academia.
Teaching Faculty: Professors are world class and the teaching is done via presentations of textbook concepts, case studies, research articles reading and critical analysis through seminars led by students and practical sessions and well-defined support for revision through a recorded lectures. Also, there are guest lectures at times from the public health experts across the globe.
Mentors: Apart from the faculty, there are individual tutors assigned to each of the students to mentor the students both professionally and personally. This has been really helpful to me as there were times I was overwhelmed with lectures, practicals and seminars as I was returning to academic world as a student after 7 long years and I got timely help from my professors and tutor.
Students and Alumni: The school has a diverse student population with 1,600 Masters and research students from around 100 countries, while 1,300 staff comes from more than 60 nations. The college has a diverse community of over 20,000 alumni in more than 180 countries. Also, the most interesting part is worldwide collaboration with more than 100 overseas research partners from national, international and multilateral organizations. LSHTM has a lot of opportunities for prospective jobs due to alumni and professional work connection links with the world’s elite public health organisations.
You can check where the LSHTM alumni working across the globe by clicking on this link.
LSHTM Rankings: The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine has held its position as first in Europe and fifth in the world for research impact in sciences, based on its proportion of publications that belong to the top 1% most frequently cited, as per 2017 CWTS Leiden Ranking. The School was ranked sixth in the world in the US News Best Global Universities Ranking 2017 in the fields of social sciences and public health and ranked 25th for medicine in the 2017 QS World University Rankings. The School was awarded the prestigious Times Higher Education ‘University of the Year’ 2016 award, in recognition of our response to the Ebola epidemic.
So sum it up, I would like to share the following quote from our alumnus Dr. Tedros, Director-General of the World Health Organization.
I consider the School as my professional home where I started my professional career in a serious way.
Dr Tedros completed a Master’s in Immunology of Infectious Diseases at the LSHTM, 1992.
Last but not the least, I am pretty sure, I am going to miss dynamic, fast academically rigorous but rewarding year of my life and lifelong friendships made with my diverse and talented yet humble friends from diverse nationalities forever. It helped me to grow personally and professionally with emphasizing the virtue of empathy and lens the health through financial, cultural, anthropological, mathematical modelling, social, psychological etc angles.
Master of Public Health vs MBA
I chose MPH over MBA, because I chose my first love aka Public Health after having flings with Education and start-ups culture.
I wanted to have more of global technical knowledge and the understanding of how to deploy it at the best in the Indian setting.
I wanted to move from a fixed mindset to flexible mindset to upgrade my skills and for that I felt the need of learn.unlearn.relearn attitude and this was the best time to do it. Also, I felt that my country’s voice from Global South needs to be heard in Global North so that there is a representation for agenda setting and grant making.
I can try to do my best to do whatever I can for my motherland whether it be giving contextual landscape of a developing country with respective infectious diseases or making a case for multi-million dollar funding for research and program implementation in Indian sub-continent.
Hence, I thought nothing like LSHTM which gives me best of the knowledge and experience of global context in half the price of top notch U.S. public health schools in a year’s duration.
Always remember, there’s no secret ingredient. It’s just you.
LSHTM application experience
- I worked on my essays as it is an art to fit one’s work experience in 500 words. It should be crisp and clear and run it through the people who are from your and not your field or may be from the alumni of the school, so that you get balanced perspective if your essays are way too technical or non-technical.
- Make your recommenders aware way in advance, at least 2-3 months before the submission deadline, to write recommendation letters for you. It would be great if you could send them the name of your target schools, the courses you are applying to and your application essays.
- Keep following the school’s website. Do your research (professors, grants and endowment fund etc) of the school.
So I don’t have a scholarship (Yes, I got more than 10 rejects in the scholarship applications) and I have used up all my savings with loan from my family. I know I have taken a risk as I understand the job market after Brexit in United Kingdom is tough but it is a calculated risk as LSHTM is a reputed school in this sector and the current WHO Director is an alumnus of LSHTM. Sometimes you have to take leap of faith because if not now then when?
Lastly, I believe “Dhoondhne se Khuda bhi mil jata hain, toh naukri kya cheez hain?” (If you search then you might even find God – finding the inner calling/passion or purpose of life – then why the big hue and cry of finding a job?)
Believe in yourself, because if you keep waiting then you keep waiting forever and if you keep thinking then it might lead to over thinking and over-thinking leads to negativity!
Feel free to connect, if you come to London before September 2018!
-Nishant Chavan
Also read:
– Careers in Healthcare Management
– Second MBA from UK without GMAT for Indian mom
– Job in China after MBA in UK
– Brexit effect on international students in the UK
– Best degree to get a job abroad
Hey Nishant,
I’ve applied to LSHTM for the MSc in public health for development. I wanted to know how did you manage the funding for the course. I have applied for various scholarships but also wanted to know how I could be self sufficient. Look forward to hearing from you.
Hi Neha, great to know that you applied for PH4D course, LSHTM. I exhausted all my savings, took personal loan from my family and some bank loan.
One thing to remember you need to keep sufficient amount for atleast 28 days in bank for showing following funding i.e. Tuition Fee + Living Expense (Accommodation + Food + Travel etc).
Last year, it was 21,710 + 11,385 = 33,085 GBP equivalent 31,00,000 INR in bank.
Thanks so much for your reply Nishant. I haven’t heard from the Uni yet about the offer. Im really hoping I crack a scholarship, or else will have to source funds. Thanks so much for the tip. Were you able to manage living expenses working part time?
Wishing you all the best for the offer and scholarships! Honestly, I was not able to work part-time except for few days as the modules taken by me are very demanding in terms of time and energy as it requires a lot of pre and post reading and practice!
Hello,
You have just answered my questions and cleared all the doubts that I had about my career progression. I come from Kenya and hold a BSc Biomedical Science(under the same circumstances that led to your doing Botany).I want to develop a research career in Public health while at the same time interacting and improving people’s social welfare.I am enrolling for a Masters of Science in Public Health because I actually want to develop my career in a fashion no different than you did. I have hence saved this post for future guidance/reference.Thanks for sharing……..God willing, I will enrol for my DrPH at LSHTM.
Congratulations Fredrick for making it through LSHTM. Glad to know that you found this post useful. All the best!
Hi Nishant, could you provide me with your email id. I plan on joining this year for Msc Public Health in LSHTM, so wanted to talk to you regarding few things.
Hi Ankita, great to know that you joining MScPH, LSHTM. I am afraid of sharing my e-mail id as mbacrystalball has a global viewership. Feel free to add me on LinkedIn and send me a message and I shall try to respond. Cheers!
hello,
I wanted to know that which startups you joined after TFI?
And also many universities ask for 2 years experience like john hopkins university of public health. So what all can we do to become eligible for the masters.
Hi Shruti,
I joined Swasth India and Haiyya, which were in start-up mode then. Yes, you need to work in the public health (preferred) or related organizations (anthropology based or health journalism etc) and try to stick to a project for couple of years so that you can at least gauge where you interest lies and if possible, you draw out your interests and experiences with your personal and professional goals when you apply for schools.
Hey.. Thanks for the valuable information. So there is no chance we can go for masters abroad just after completing graduation ?
That depends upon the school and program (epidemiology, mental health, infectious diseases etc) you apply as one can definitely go for MPH immediately after one’s bachelor’s degree depending upon the profile of the candidate, statement-of-purpose or answers to questions in the college application. In general, it would be great to have 2 years of work-experience in the public health sector (it can range from wet lab work to policy making in health care etc)
HI Nishant
Yours story is really inspirational and I have benefited alot from it. I am a doctor from Iraq, I have an offer from LSHTM for a MPH. I am waiting for the results of the chevening scholarship, hopefully If I get it I will join the school on September. Thanks for your story …
Hey! Raqib congratulations for making it into LSHTM.All the best for Chevening scholarship! Glad to know that you found my story helpful.
Hi Nishant,
Your article is a breather. I have offer from LSHTM fro MSc Public Health for 2018. Although with no scholarship, it is really difficult to get in this year. I also have offer from Uni of Edinburgh for MPH and Uni of Birmingham for MSc Health Eco and Policy both of which are costing me approx 10 lac less than LSHTM. Looking at the job market in UK and other prospects, what do you suggest? Uni of Birmingham this year or LSHTM next year( trying for scholarship again)??
Hey Nishant!
Thank you for such a beautiful story. It is indeed inspiring. I’d like to do a masters in health policy from LSHTM, however I’m not sure if I’d find a job after my masters that will enable me to stay in London for a while, given the fact that the job market is becoming impenetrable for other nationals.
Dear Rosemary,
Thanks for your kind words!
Yes, currently the job market is tough for non-British nationals to get a job in U.K. in the public health domain as one needs to wait to understand the exact the implications of Brexit in 2019. Even the European Union Nationals and North Americans are finding it difficult to crack the job-market in U.K.
One can target International Organizations/Start-ups in U.K./rest of the Europe with the relevant experience and technical skills (STATA, Python, SAS, R etc) and Language skills (Arabic/French/Spanish/Russian/Chinese), if you want to give it a shot but I would “HIGHLY” recommend if you get scholarship or already have a job with a promotion waiting back at home. or bank with cheap rate of interest on education loan etc.
Best,
N
Hi Nishant
Thank you for writing this blog. It helped clear up some of the questions and doubts I had regarding whether I should come to the Lshtm or not , and that too without an official scholarship . I decided to come regardless and having a chat with you in person at the school felt surreal. Your blog helped me decide to take the jump and I do not regret it one bit .
Thank you, Muna for the kind words and had a wonderful interaction with you. All the best! Cheers!
Hi Nishant,
It’s always a pleasure to read about the journey of a fellow Mumbaikar. Navigating one’s way in any career path is daunting task and your guidance, upon reading this blog and speaking to you, has helped clear many doubts about the field of public health. Thanks for being approachable and all the advice. All the best!
Thank you Jainetri for the appreciation. Hope I was able to answer the questions you had, and all the best for the next endeavours!
Hi Nishant.
I have been offered admission for M.Sc Public health in LSHTM for year 2018 but since i had a baby a few months back so I requested the university for the deferral for 2019. I have been granted the deferral as well. But i am quite worried about the job opportunities after completion of my Master’s. As this course is financially exhausting, it would be really disheartening to not get a job even after doing masters from a renowned university like LSHTM.
As most the the job oppurtunities in UK are for the experienced personnel, what are your views regarding job opportunities in UK for freshers.
Thanks
Hi! Shruti, congratulations for the baby and admit at LSHTM! To be blatantly honest with you the job market of international candidates in U.K. is tough as the eyes are on 29th March 2019 for Brexit. I would highly recommend to have at least 3-5 years of work experience in the public health domain and then apply at LSHTM.
Wow! This is quite inspirational Nishant..
Thank-you for sharing your experiences and for helping a lot of ppl like me!!
All the best!
Thanks a lot, Rashima for your kind words!
About LSHTM mph course
Hello sir
I am sandesh from Mumbai ‘Maharashtra.
I am weeping to do mph course.
So, Would you please tell me details about LSHTM mph programme details regarding total fees and living expenses and about Job placement after completion of the course.
About LSHTM mph course
Hello sir
I am sandesh from Mumbai ‘Maharashtra.
I am willing to do mph course.
So, Would you please tell me details about LSHTM mph programme details regarding total fees and living expenses and about Job placement after completion of the course.
Dear Sandesh,
1. MSc PH Fees: https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/study/masters/public-health#fees–funding and I consolidated following links for Scholarships for abroad education for Indians:
1. http://www.jntataendowment.org/
2. https://www.tatatrusts.org/upload/scholarship-announcement-2019-2020.pdf
3. https://www.chevening.org/
4. http://cscuk.dfid.gov.uk/apply/
5. https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/scholarships
6. http://www.lilapoonawallafoundation.com/
7. https://www.inlaksfoundation.org/scholarships/
8. https://www.rotary.org/en/our-programs/scholarships
9. https://pg.nsfoundation.co.in/
10. Each university its own set scholarships
2. Living expense depends upon the food, accommodation and travel expense: 800-1200 GBP/month i.e. 9600 – 14400 GBP/yea. Check this link for University of London – Halls: https://halls.london.ac.uk/accommodation
3. Job scenario: It depends upon your previous education, work-experience, visa conditions of the existing government for the overseas students and industry you applying for.
Hope it helps!
Cheers,
Nishant
Very well explained write-up. This will certainly help many of us in decision making. Thanks for giving valuable time and replying to many questions here. Guiding everyone to the best possible way is not being done by many other bloggers.
All the best !
Dear Nishant,
Its an interesting and inspiring article.Hats off to your dedication to serve people and our country.
I am currently working as an Technical trainer and trying to make a transition in to the field of health (Nutrition and health policy). I got to know about LSHTM a week ago and i’m planning to apply for MSC in nutrition and global health. I am working on my profile and taking an online course in nutrition.
I request your suggestions and guidance to get an admit from LSHTM.
Would you like to suggest any volunteering opportunities related to health policy/ Nutrition that would help me get a better understanding about the scenarios in our country or across the globe. And also that can increase my chances of getting a job in UK after graduation.
Thank you
Dear Mamatha,
Thank you for your kind words.
Great that you are building your profile and yes, it would be great if you could volunteer/internship at NITI Aayog, Delhi; SNEHA, Mumbai; SEARCH, Gadhchiroli; Also, keep applying for the internships/short-term assignments at FAO, WHO, UN, IFPRI etc as it will be a great start for your transition. or you might want to work with some professors on their qualitative and quantitative data at National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad; IIPH-Gandhinagar; ICMR, Delhi; IHMR, Jaipur in Nutrition. Also try to connect with faculty at AIIMS, KEM Hospital, TISS for the same
Honestly, cannot comment on work-visas for Indians in public health at U.K. right away after MSc at LSHTM due to political instability – BREXIT. One must attend the career fairs at LSHTM, UCL, KCL, and LSE to get a fair idea and at times avail the free profile evaluation services and communicate with the alumni via LinkedIn and guest lectures by them at the school about your interests.
Hope it helps.
Regards,
Nishant
Hi Nishant,
Thank you for your sharing. It’s very inspiring and helpful. I am a Pediatrician from Taiwan, currently working in Eswatini, Africa. I have been offered admission for MSc Public health for development in LSHTM for year 2019. I heard it will be a tough and busy year. Could you please give me some advice for preparation before the start of the semester in order to make my following year more easier? For example, textbooks/ websides I could read in advance. Thank you very much for your help. I greatly appreciate it 🙂
Dear Sylvia,
Congratulations for making it to PH4D at LSHTM!
I would suggest reading WHO, World Bank, MSF (Doctors without Borders), National and Local Government reports of your country, any reviews on Cochrane, if available.
This list of public health books is good: https://naturemicrobiologycommunity.nature.com/users/20892-madhukar-pai/posts/41300-if-you-had-to-read-one-book-on-global-health
Start learning R in free time to get acquainted for Statistical Analysis.
Hi Nishant! It is heartening to learn about your journey and your life experiences. In fact, I could relate to every word of this as being someone sailing on the same boat as you were back then. I myself believe in the theory of undertaking calculative risks and you just re-affirmed my faith in that. After reading your article, I am now sure of making my career decision which I was delaying for long. With this blog post, you have not just penned down your life’s ride but has also inspired and motivated people like me. I hope you are doing the best in your profession and wish you great success in life. More power to you!
Dear Anchal,
Thanks a lot for reading the blog and I am glad you liked it.
Regards,
Nishant
Hi Nishant,
Thanks for sharing your story. It has many inferences for me to learn. Coming to my case, I have got a conditional offer from LSHTM (contingent upon financial capacity- shortlisted for Chevening interview) and an unconditional offer from KCL. What according to you would be a better choice for me to pick and why? Look forward to your reply. TIA.
Dear Bharath,
Congratulations for the offers. I would strongly recommend to go on 100% scholarship option as the condition of market and job offers is affected by COVID-19. Return of Investment at this juncture is bit difficult. So I would reiterate if you get scholarship, nothing like it, go ahead but if you don’t then pls defer the admission and then apply again with scholarship.
All the best for the next steps.
Regards,
Nishant
Hi Nishant,
I chance upon your post while looking for students’ application review for LSHTM masters courses. Thank you for sharing your journey to LSHTM. Your willingness to reply everybody’s comments, offering help and giving advice to potential applicants and students is really commendable! I am keen to apply for MSc in epidemiology in LSHTM but understand that it is really competitive. LSHTM is a reputable school and has a certain standard of academic rigor. Therefore, would really hope to study there. I just graduated from university a year ago and have been working as a research assistant in a human-based lab study. Having worked thus far, my main job is to assist in trials and do not have any publications. I love science and have a heart to serve people through the public health industry and therefore would like to purse a postgrad degree in a course related to public health. I do have several volunteering experiences during my undergraduate years. However, they are do not have direct implication on public health sorts. Do you think it’s worth applying for me and do I stand a chance? Or would you advise me to work a few years at different healthcare sectors before applying?
Thank you!
Hi Raechal, I’m really happy that you found this blog useful. Yes, for MSc Epidemiology, you can apply with or without work-experience. Epidemiology is a critical field especially during the current pandemic from analysis of real-time data, hotspot mapping to provide insights of next possible wave of the same etc. If you love clinical trials or might find interest in operational research in various geographies, principles of epidemiology are the backbone of it. I would highly recommend to please apply for MSc Epidemiology now rather than waiting for years because that helps to clarity of next steps in personal and professional life early, just discuss with the professors, alumni, course coordinators and employment cell for choosing from variety of modules that LSHTM provide in this course. If you love data analysis – Coursera, Data Camp, Git Hub and Stack Overflow and loads of YouTube tutorials are available for free to begin with, also McGill University has free Epidemiology lectures online for free download, which might help you to begin with to join the course. What exactly you would want to do immediately after MSc Epidemiology, after 3-5 and 5-8 years etc. matters and trust me LSHTM will expand horizon of thoughts and perspectives. Hope it helps.
Thanks for such a detailed post Nishant. It’s been great to read about your adventurous journey thus far!
Thank you, Neeraj for your kind words.
Thank you for sharing this, Nishant. The lessons learned from your journey is sure to inspire and help many others. I appreciate your commitment and dedication!
Thank you, Nishant! This was incredibly helpful!
You are welcome, Aditi!
Hi Nishant,
your story is really inspiring and congratulations for your achievements. I am a Medical Dr with undergrad MBBS and MD Microbiology . I have been accepted to LSHTMS DL infectious disease programme. I still have doubts if its better or MPH would have been good.
Also not sure about the online programme ,is it worth doing ?
Hi Dr. Neelam,
Apologies for the late reply. Congratulations for making it to LSHTM! LSHTM is known for both, infectious disease and public health programs, what I would submit to you following suggestions –
1. Your immediate and long term career goal. No matter how much trivial it sounds, what I suggest is to check the job descriptions where MSc Inf Dis and MSc PH programs graduates are selected. Also, do check their LinkedIn profiles and if possible, have a word with them. Check the these websites to get an idea of the same:
1. https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2017-06/LSHTM-Careers-Infographic.pdf
2. https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/files/graduate-careers-destinations.pdf
If you are applying to multilateral organizations and/or government organizations, yes, qualifications do play an important to certain level but your relevant work-experience will play an important role, too.
2. A lot of things depends upon your previous and current work-experience, too.
3. Especially after outbreaks – Ebola, Nipah and SARS-CoV-2, the importance of Infectious Disease is on ever increasing importance.
4. LSHTM gives you access to the alumni across the globe be it DL or full-time student, that will help you to find a way for career prospects irrespective of any discipline you graduate.
Hi Nishant,
Thank you for sharing the inspirational story.
I earned my MPH from JIPMER in India.
I’m happy I stopped by to read this article. It motivates me to pursue my passion for public health.
Since many of you have been asking also about PhD in Public Health. Kindly find below an excellent reference list for the perusal.
Next in my series on How To Fully Fund Your PhD, I provide a list below of PhD programs in Public Health that offer full funding to all admitted doctoral students.
– Dr. Vicki Johnson is Founder and Director of ProFellow
https://www.profellow.com/fellowships/fully-funded-phd-programs-in-public-health/
Dear Nishant,
Thank you so much for helping me from what to pack for London to how to find jobs, how to reach out to people on LinkedIn, how to search for jobs and how to be a better and a compassionate human being. You made my journey to and at LSHTM just like a breeze. If anyone wants to apply to LSHTM or is interested to understand the public health job market- please reach out to Nishant!!
Dear Nishant,
I appreciate your attitude to going beyond and guiding people from your enriched experience in public health.
I was a newbie in the sector, and you helped me learn to build networks, improve my resume, and make informed choices regarding my career. Thank you so much for all the guidance I received during my job search.
Thanks a lot, Shefali for such an encouraging response! Hope the two cents of wisdom helps you to make a mark in the field of public health.
Dear Shweta,
Thank you for your kind words of appreciation. I am glad to know that the experiential sharing of finding jobs in public health/public policy domain was helpful to you.
Regards,
Nishant
Hi Nishant
It is really great to see you following your passion.
Please also help me with some international courses in the field available online
Hi Poornima,
Thanks for your encouragement.
Please reach out to me on LinkedIn and we can take it up from there.
Regards,
Nishant