How to Get Into an MD/MPH Program
/Strategies you need to get into an MD/MPH program, plus a list of the best MD/MPH programs
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Part 1: Introduction
If you’re applying to medical school, you’ve probably noticed that, these days, many universities offer dual degree programs in which you can earn an MD alongside another degree. One that’s commonly paired with an MD is the Master of Public Health, or the MPH.
Because public health is a field that approaches health as a large-scale issue rather than an individual one, the MPH is a natural complement to the MD. And, by giving you training in fields adjacent to medicine like epidemiology, nutrition, public health administration, and more, it can enlarge the range of career options available to you as a medical school graduate.
Wondering if an MD/MPH program is right for you? In this post, we’ll discuss the pros and cons of MD/MPH programs and who should apply for them. We’ll also go over the MD/MPH application process, including tips on how write a standout secondary essay that addresses the dual degree program. Finally, we’ll leave you with a list of top MD/MPH programs to consider as you decide where to apply.
First, let’s dive into understanding why you might pursue an MD/MPH.
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Part 2: Why get an MD/MPH?
The reasons to earn an MD are typically fairly straightforward: to practice medicine as a physician. Getting an MPH on top of that can be valuable if you’re looking to situate that work in a broader context. Because public health training will help you better understand the large-scale economic, social, environmental, and cultural circumstances surrounding healthcare, an MPH can provide MDs with a more comprehensive point of view.
As a credential, an MPH isn’t strictly necessary if you’re looking to be a physician in the public health world. While it will undoubtedly diversify your skills and knowledge, plus help you make connections in public health, it is theoretically possible to acquire all of this over time through experience in the field.
Similarly, if you’re looking to work in clinical practice or academic medicine, an MPH will expand your areas of expertise but won’t qualify you for anything that an MD doesn’t already. Nevertheless, many MD/MPH grads who don’t end up directly “using” their MPH still report that the perspective they’ve gained through their public health education has made them better doctors.
Who is an MD/MPH best suited for? Great candidates include those aiming for careers in:
International health
Community health
Domestic healthcare policy (NGO, nonprofit, or governmental health agency work)
An MD/MPH can also be valuable if you’re interested in conducting clinical research, working in health management, or entering another career that combines medical care with an area of public health, such as occupational health.
Career Pathways with an MD/MPH
As mentioned above, obtaining an MD/MPH is a great option if your dream career entails working in sectors such as international health, community health or in crafting healthcare policy, such as at an NGO, nonprofit, or government agency.
Graduates from MD/MPH programs can take on a variety of roles in addition to their clinical practice specialty, from public health administration to conducting engaging research, and even policy-making. We take a look at some of the possible roles in which the MPH portion of the dual degree opens up below.
Public Health Leadership Roles
MD/MPH graduates often end up in leadership roles within various public health sectors. They can work in governmental agencies, non-profit organizations, and healthcare systems, where they’ll lead initiatives aimed at improving community health outcomes. These roles may include:
Health Policy Analyst: A role focused on influencing public health policies by providing evidence-based recommendations to lawmakers and organizations.
Program Director: An MD/MPH holder may oversee public health programs that target specific health issues such as infectious diseases or chronic conditions. Think of utilizing your skills in informing the response to a future pandemic.
Community Health Coordinator: With an MD/MPH, you may lead efforts to engage communities in health promotion activities and disease prevention strategies.
Research Opportunities
If research is your passion, an MD/MPH degree also opens up opportunities to engage in impactful research that informs both clinical practices and public health policies. A few research-heavy roles you might fill with your dual degree are:
Epidemiologist: As an epidemiologist, you may investigate the causes of health-related events in populations or even research disease outbreaks.
Clinical Research Coordinator: In this role, you could find yourself managing clinical trials and ensuring that regulatory requirements are followed. You could even lead a research team or study investigating a public health issue.
Biostatistician: An MD/MPH could position you in a role as a biostatistician, where you’ll apply your skills in the analysis of data from public health studies to interpret results in a meaningful manner. Your models and interpretations will make a real-world impact on policy decisions and health outcomes.
How are MD/MPH programs structured?
The most common structure for an MD/MPH program is one in which the MPH is an add-on to an MD curriculum. In other words, you’ll apply to a traditional MD program first, then apply to add on an MPH at some point after you’ve matriculated. In this format, it’s common to complete your MPH coursework while taking a year-long pause from medical school, often between your M3 and M4 years.
There are also programs in which the curricula for the two degrees are combined from the get-go (this is often the case at four-year programs such as Tulane, Northwestern, Tufts, and the University of Miami). An advantage of this type of program is that by allowing you to see in real time how the two fields differ and overlap, you’re likely to better integrate what you’re learning for each degree. This may make for a more satisfying educational experience.
On the other hand, a program in which MPH coursework effectively serves as a “break” from medical school may give you a chance to step back from the breakneck pace of med school and focus more intently on public health.
Some MD/MPH programs are entirely run by a university’s medical school while others are run in conjunction with the public health school. Both types are worth considering, though it’s often the case that an MPH that’s under the umbrella of a public health school will have more robust resources to offer compared to a program tucked into a medical school. For instance, if you’re eager to join an existing public health research team, you’d probably have more opportunity to do so at a program that’s co-administered with a public health school.
Pros and cons of attending an MD/MPH program
A major incentive of MD/MPH programs is decreased time in school. Whereas earning the two degrees separately would typically entail six years of coursework, most MD/MPH programs take five years to complete. And, as mentioned earlier, there are even some programs that can be done in four.
One reason why MD/MPH students are able to save time is that the dual degree curriculum is designed so that overlapping coursework for each degree is eliminated. Fewer years in school translates to less money spent on tuition and related costs of attendance.
On the flip side, the compressed nature of a dual degree program can be intense and involve at least some summers taking classes, especially in four-year programs. You’ll also have to choose one university for two degrees, which might mean making compromises in terms of what you’re looking for in either a medical or public health education.
Other routes towards an MD and an MPH
It’s worth mentioning that if you’re looking to obtain both an MD and an MPH, there are other paths you might consider.
These include earning the degrees separately, such as enrolling in an MPH program first and then applying to medical school—a good option for applicants looking to defer med school applications—or completing medical school first and then applying for an MPH during your residency. A great advantage of the second option is that some residency programs will actually pay for your MPH tuition.
Another route is taking time off during medical school to attend an MPH program at a different university. This is a worthwhile consideration if you have your heart set on a medical school that doesn’t have an MD/MPH program. It might also allow you to choose an MPH program that’s a more precise fit. Be aware, however, that this option can sometimes complicate your medical school financial aid.
Earning the two degrees separately may allow for an overall less strenuous pace than a dual degree program and is a worthwhile option.
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Part 3: How do MD/MPH admissions work?
MD/MPH programs employ a wide variety of admissions processes. What’s universal among them is that you’ll need to first gain acceptance to medical school before you can apply for the dual degree program.
For the majority of programs, you’ll apply to add on an MPH at some point after you matriculate into medical school, often during your third year. When applying for the MPH, some programs, such as the University of Pennsylvania, employ an internal application specifically for med students. Others, like Johns Hopkins, require you to go through the same SOPHAS application process as regular MPH candidates.
Some programs, such as Emory and Tufts, allow you to apply for both degrees at the same time, though the dual degree part of your application is only considered after you’ve been accepted to the medical school.
In this scenario, you would submit your AMCAS application first, then in your secondary application you’d indicate that you’re applying to the MD/MPH program. Selecting this option will generate additional secondary essays, which we’ll discuss in just a moment.
Some MD/MPH programs take applications for the MPH part of the curriculum from students enrolled at any medical school, not just their own. For instance, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, the University of Michigan, and the University of Minnesota allow any medical student to apply. This means that it’s possible to still obtain an MD and an MPH in five years even if you decide to attend a medical school without its own MD/MPH program.
How to think about your MD/MPH application
Regardless of how a program’s application process works, if you’re interested in attending an MD/MPH program, your first priority should be getting into medical school via top-notch grades, great MCAT scores, a robust extracurricular profile, and standout secondary essays.
Not only is getting into med school a necessary hurdle to cross before you can be considered for the MD/MPH dual degree, it’s also the most competitive and difficult part of the process, so you should focus a great deal of energy on it.
Because MPH admissions heavily weigh experience in the field, you’ll also want to have some experience that supports your interest in public health. If you’re considering adding on an MPH partway through medical school, you’ll have time to gain experience after matriculation. Many programs even count your first two years of med school as relevant experience.
If you’re applying to a program with a combined application, it’s a good idea to be able to demonstrate at least some public health experience when you apply. Relevant work, volunteer experience, research, extracurriculars, and coursework are all great ways to show that your interest in the MPH is genuine and well established, rather than a hasty add-on at application time.
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Part 4: How to write an MD/MPH essay
Your MD/MPH secondary essay is an opportunity to put the spotlight on your interest in public health. Since you’re already submitting a personal statement and other secondary essays that focus on why you want to be a doctor, the MD/MPH essay is where you’ll convey the following:
Why you want to work in public health in addition to medicine
What experiences have led you to this interest
How an MD/MPH will help you accomplish your goals, as opposed to a standalone MD
For even more advice, our post on how to write an amazing MPH personal statement provides tips that also apply to writing an MD/MPH essay. The trick to adapting the advice given there is that your MD/MPH essay should describe why you’re interested in both public health and medicine. It should also display insight into the ways that the two fields complement each other and the areas in which they converge.
MD/MPH essay example
Let’s take a look at an MD/MPH secondary essay submitted to Emory. Here’s the prompt:
Please describe your interest in public health and how you wish to combine this interest with a career in medicine (500 words or less).
I first began exploring my interest in medicine as a high school student volunteering at my town’s tiny local hospital. Though my duties were relatively minor—greeting patients, distributing the mail, lots of filing—it was there that I first became aware that my area had an unusually high rate of cancer. I grew up in a part of the Midwest known for large-scale industrial agriculture, where crop dusters were a common sight. I remember overhearing the doctors discussing the effects of pesticides on their patients and wondering why such harmful chemicals were permitted.
I went to college in Houston, and as a research assistant to a marine science professor, I helped compile statistics on an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the effects it had on beach wildlife. Though it was not the main focus of my professor’s research, I was most struck by a detail I read in passing that stated that many regular beachgoers reported feelings of illness after the spill.
Repeatedly, I was made to become aware that health is affected not only by our individual genetics and lifestyle choices, but also by environmental factors beyond individual control. As a pre-med environmental science major, I find myself equally drawn to the idea of treating these affected patients and preventing their illnesses from occurring in the first place. That’s why an education that focuses on both medicine and public health will help me fulfill my career goals.
I believe an MD/MPH will allow me to improve people’s lives through clinical research on health in environmentally compromised populations. I am particularly interested in exploring how climate change has already affected health worldwide and the unforeseen ways it will continue to—a situation that I believe will become increasingly critical to understand as time goes on.
As such, I believe that Emory’s MD/MPH program will give me the tools I need to do this work, particularly the MPH program in Environmental Health and its many associated research centers. I especially hope to be able to work with the Climate@Emory research team. By addressing the roots of illnesses, as large as they may seem, I hope to improve as many individual lives as possible.
This essay checks all the boxes:
Through clearly written, compelling anecdotes, it conveys how the applicant became interested in public health.
The applicant demonstrates a keen understanding of how medicine and public health intersect, which helps them argue why an MD/MPH is the right degree to help them achieve their aspirations.
The essay also does a good job of focusing on specifics of Emory’s specialized MPH program in Environmental Health.
Looking for secondary essay examples? Click below to access sample secondary essays for every prompt required by every MD and DO program in the United States and Canada. 1500+ essays and counting.
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Part 5: What are the best MD/MPH programs?
While there are currently more than 80 MD/MPH programs to choose from in the United States, below we’ve rounded up what we consider to be the top-tier programs. The following programs are all highly recognized, well ranked in both medicine and public health, and boast plenty of resources and opportunities for their students. They’re also all five years long and, with the exception of the University of Pennsylvania, are jointly administered by a medical school and a school of public health.
Note: U.S. News and World Report moved to a tier-based ranking system in fall 2024, in part due to a number of schools declining to participate. Schools who declined to share sufficient data with US News are now unranked, which is reflected below. Schools that did participate are given ‘tier’ rankings by U.S. News. We’ve reported rankings from both the prior and current cycles to more accurately reflect where the top MD/MPH programs stand.
U.S. News medical school ranking (research): #7 (tie)
U.S. News medical school ranking (research): Tier 1
U.S. News public health ranking: #1
Program length: 5 years
Application process: Current students from any medical school can apply after completing two years
University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill
U.S. News medical school ranking (research): #24
U.S. News medical school ranking (research): Tier 2
U.S. News public health ranking: #2
Program length: 5 years
Application process: Current UNC and Duke medical students can apply
U.S. News medical school ranking (research): #1 (research)
U.S. News medical school ranking (research): Tier 1
U.S. News public health ranking: #3 (tie)
Program length: 5 years
Application process: Current students from any medical school can apply
U.S. News medical school ranking (research): #4 (tie)
U.S. News medical school ranking (research): Unranked
U.S. News public health ranking: #5 (tie)
Program length: 5 years
Application process: Current Columbia medical students can apply
University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
U.S. News medical school ranking (research): #15 (tie)
U.S. News medical school ranking (research): Unranked
U.S. News public health ranking: #5 (tie)
Program length: 5 years
Application process: Current students from any medical school can apply
U.S. News medical school ranking (research): #22 (tie)
U.S. News medical school ranking (research): Tier 1
U.S. News public health ranking: #3 (tie)
Program length: 5 years
Application process: Applicants apply to the MD/MPH while applying to Emory medical school but must gain acceptance to the medical school first
University of Washington–Seattle
U.S. News medical school ranking (research): #7 (tie) (2023)
U.S. News medical school ranking (research): Unranked (2024)
U.S. News public health ranking: #7
Program length: 5 years
Application process: Current UW medical students can apply
U.S. News medical school ranking (research): #33 (tie) (2023)
U.S. News medical school ranking (research): Tier 2 (2024)
U.S. News public health ranking: #7 (tie)
Program length: 5 years
Application process: Current BU medical students can apply
University of California–Los Angeles
U.S. News medical school ranking (research): #21 (2023)
U.S. News medical school ranking (research): Tier 1 (2024)
U.S. News public health ranking: #9
Program length: 5 years
Application process: UCLA medical students can apply during their M3 year
University of Minnesota–Twin Cities
U.S. News medical school ranking (research): #42 (tie) (2023)
U.S. News medical school ranking (research): Tier 2 (2024)
U.S. News public health ranking: #12 (tie)
Program length: 5 years
Application process: Current students from any medical school can apply
U.S. News medical school ranking (tie): #10 (2023)
U.S. News medical school ranking (research): Tier 1 (2024)
U.S. News public health ranking: #12 (tie)
Program length: 5 years
Application process: Current Yale medical students can apply
U.S. News medical school ranking (research): #9 (2023)
U.S. News medical school ranking (research): Unranked (2024)
U.S. News public health ranking: #38 (tie)
Program length: 5 years
Application process: Current Penn medical students can apply, though interested students are advised to begin taking MPH coursework beginning in their M1 year
Final thoughts
MD/MPH programs are great options for future physicians looking to build careers in public health. Though admissions processes can vary, for the greatest chances of getting in, first focus on submitting the very best medical school applications that you can by earning stellar grades and competitive MCAT scores and writing compelling secondary essays. Then invest time in gaining relevant public health experience that will support additional essays in order to make the case that an MD/MPH program is right for you.
About the Author
Dr. Shirag Shemmassian is the Founder of Shemmassian Academic Consulting and one of the world's foremost experts on medical school admissions. For nearly 20 years, he and his team have helped thousands of students get into medical school using his exclusive approach.