The Top 9 Programs for a Public Health Degree Online for 2019
Degrees in public health enable individuals to begin a career in a field where trained professionals can positively impact their community and are able to make a difference in the lives of others, every day. Public health officials work with complex issues, such as poverty, drug addiction, and even disaster control. Professionals in the public health field are equipped with the tools and knowledge necessary to develop effective solutions to the most pressing societal problems. These individuals develop policies, improve access to essential resources, reduce environmental hazards, and provide educational opportunities to the community and target populations.
The Association of Schools and Programs in Public Health estimates an additional 250,000 public health workers will be needed by 2020.
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The Top 9 Programs for a Public Health Degree Online for 2019
Capella University is a private, regionally accredited online university based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Established in 1993, Capella enrolls over 37,000 students from around the world, with the majority of those students in one of the university's many online graduate master's degree programs. According to a recent survey by the National Survey of Student Engagement, Capella offers a better-than-average level of academic challenge and student support.
Capella University offers an online master of public health degree through its School of Public Service Leadership. MPH program students can choose from multiple specializations, including the general public health track, health management and policy, or social and behavioral sciences. Students are guided through an in-depth exploration of public health theories and practices, with a focus on enhancing the communication and collaboration skills needed to develop and implement effective public health programs and actions across professions and within communities. Students are provided the opportunity to learn by practicing real-life scenarios. Capella's online MPH degree curriculum adheres to all national public health education standards.
Capella also offers a doctoral degree program in public health with specialization areas in epidemiology and health advocacy and leadership. The epidemiological degree program provides a rigorous curriculum plan which focuses on biogenetics, community public health issues, and career roles. The doctor of health advocacy and leadership degree program provides learners with a range of relevant subject matter that is focused on national public health legislation, program development, and implementation. A Doctor of Public Health requires the successful completion of 80 credit hours.
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To determine the best online public health programs, we looked at the most important factors prospective students, mainly common predictors of future success and a school's commitment to online programs. This boils down to admissions rate, student loan default rate, retention rate, graduation rate, and the percent of students enrolled in online classes. All data points are taken from information provided by colleges and universities to the National Center for Education Statistics.
Each factor is weighted evenly in order to give an objective view and determine the 9 best online public health programs. To calculate our rankings, we looked at a school's ranking when organized by a single factor, and then averaged each category's ranking to find an overall score: Admissions Rate (20%) + Default Rate (20%) + Retention Rate (20%) + Graduation Rate (20%) + Percent of Students Enrolled in Online Classes (20%) = Final score.