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Discussion

Walden PhD

Hello all,

I was wondering if anyone has any experience with the Walden University PhD public health policy program. I'm only recently graduated with my FNP but I have been interested in policy for a while. There aren't a lot of nursing degrees that focus on policy, and I am just wondering if anyone knows what the progress is like or worth the cost/effort. Thanks!

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    Their admission requirements are $$$, transcripts and "work history". No recommendations required, no true admission criteria. I would be wary of such a program, depending on what you want to get out of it. The most important thing I think for a PhD is to find a place with faculty whose research interests match yours.

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    I would avoid for-profit doctoral degrees. The few whom I have met with PhDs from for-profits lacked the abilities to truly complete scientific inquiry. It was not necessarily that they could not have succeeding in fortifying their skills and understanding of the scientific process, it was just never fully engrained in their programs. Minimal writing critiques, minimal method discussion, minimal preparation.

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    I would look at it this way, what would you like to achieve with a PhD focusing on health policy? Certainly an interesting field to learn about and possibly a nice field to transition to from a clinical role such as FNP. If all you want is to learn about health policy...read lectures about health care financing, legislation lobbying, and such, then maybe Walden is fine.

    If you want a degree in health care policy and make a career in this field, then you likely won't be taken seriously by peers who had degrees from more reputable institutions with established public policy programs. Your degree might also get overlooked if you are seeking fellowships and research opportunities in public policy in the future because that school is not well-connected to experts who are likely affiliated with the well known institutions.

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    What did you end up doing? Are you starting a PhD program this fall? UC San Francisco has a nurse policy specialty within their PhD and the University of Pennsylvania has a research center based on health policy. I know that Columbia and NYU also list health policy as major research topics. I think it's absolutely possible to find PhD programs with health policy as a faculty research interest that would be a good match for you, especially if you narrow down what you want to research specifically within health policy because then you can search the literature for that subject and look up those faculty (probably especially in CINAHL; if you use PubMed a lot of the publications will be by academics outside of nursing). I'm interested in policy myself and will be applying to UCSF, Columbia, UIC, and Michigan this fall. Good luck!

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