Seeking Advice For Working As an Employee at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Submitted by DarkCaprious t3_126xvee in baltimore

Hi! I have been searching for public health jobs, specifically jobs in academic institutions so that I can take advantage of their tuition exemption, remission, and or reimbursement programs. I recently received an offer from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and I was wondering if folks on this subreddit have worked at the school as an employee. If so, I would love to hear about your experience working there, especially with your experience with the tuition exemption/reimbursement/remission programs. Was it easy to enroll in the class you were interested in, or did you find that there were a lot of hurdles to jump to try to enroll in your course? Did you often find yourself getting shut out of classes that you were interested in due to the high enrollment of the undergraduate or graduate population? Did the tuition assistance/remission program end up having a lot of strings attached (e.g. having to explain relevance to current role, finding out certain departments didn't open their classes to working professionals and or did not participate in the tuition remission program, having to be enrolled in a degree program, etc.)?

Any input regarding this would be much appreciated. Thanks so much for reading and for all of your help!

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maggiedo0dle t1_jebvo3q wrote

I’ve found that tuition programs at private companies are far more generous than Hopkins. When I was at Hopkins I received $5,250/year towards Hopkins classes, which, um… does not get you far… I left Hopkins and joined a company that gave me $10k/year towards my degree.

If you’re interested in the role for other reasons, awesome. I wouldn’t go there solely thinking this is the only way to pay for higher ed.

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ronnulus t1_jecjpvv wrote

Hopkins raised their tuition contributions s to $10k/year recently, FWIW.

Edit: at least for University employees. I’m not sure about Hopkins Medicine.

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DarkCaprious OP t1_jed0wu1 wrote

I think that’s for if you are enrolled in a a degree program? If I’m not mistaken?

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avoca_ho t1_jec3fr5 wrote

I was an student turned employee and I can tell you Hopkins is a hot mess. All of my classmates from our grad program who stuck around to work there post-grad have since fled their roles to get paid a fair wage.

Getting into classes isn’t super hard and tbh the coursework is pretty easy if you’re not pursuing biostats tracks. It’ll just be slow-going if you’re hoping to only use the money they provide for classes.

If you’ve been in the workforce at all and aren’t coming straight from undergrad, you may find some of the student population to be a bit insufferable. As the #1 school of public health, it tends to attract a lot of incredibly wealthy students with little world experience or genuine empathy for the population that Hopkins serves. You’ll find plenty of great students to chat with, too, though!

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cushyEarAche t1_jeeary7 wrote

Just putting this out there, my spouse worked for the University of Maryland and that covered 100% tuition remission for my undergraduate degree and their graduate degree from MD institutions (UB). State employees get much better education benefits.

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ColdOutlandishness87 t1_jedz8mr wrote

I worked at BSPH for a little over a year between 2021 and 2022. It’s a great name to have on your resume, but if you value a living wage, don’t stay long. You can get better tuition reimbursement with a number of Bmore employers that aren’t a disorganized mess.

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avoca_ho t1_jefpfza wrote

Yeah, Hopkins is definitely a place you work for a year so you can get access to a job that actually pays you market value.

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Level-Worldliness-20 t1_jebu69x wrote

Did you scan Glassdoor.com for employee reviews yet?

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DarkCaprious OP t1_jec0udd wrote

I have! They unfortunately don’t say much about the tuition remission plans, unfortunately.

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whalecanyounot t1_jecjx3s wrote

I know that Johns Hopkins pays lower compared to other public health organizations in Baltimore/DC. To my knowledge, they only cover about $15k in tuition. The thing is Hopkins is obviously $$$ for school. Not only that, the benefits are not as comprehensive as other organizations. The one plus is their private shuttle service.

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ArbonGenre t1_jebq2x7 wrote

Do you know if the job is through hospital or the university? The benefits differ between the two institutions.

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DarkCaprious OP t1_jec0ojf wrote

It’s at the university I think! School of Public Health. Don’t think it’s affiliated with the hospital.

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ArbonGenre t1_jec33u2 wrote

If it's through the university you can find the relevant benefits information here. Should be 10k per year if you're pursuing a graduate program within Hopkins. You'll probably be better off asking the /r/jhu subreddit about the courses and the like than /r/baltimore

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DarkCaprious OP t1_jec3jgd wrote

Yes! I did go through that when I began my research, but it’s quite vague and a little contradictory. Unfortunately, I didn’t really get any input from posting on the r/jhu subreddit

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Gullil t1_jefnmbb wrote

When I worked at SPH my paystub still said "Johns Hopkins University".

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mixolydienne t1_jecc862 wrote

I've made some use of tuition remission as BSPH staff in the epi department. For summer institute classes, it's very straightforward. If you want to take regular term classes, there is a "special student limited" status you can apply for to take up to 16 credits as a non degree seeking student. I did have to email the professor and get permission to enroll in their class.

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bellyflop2 t1_jed0rkz wrote

If you’re not sold on it, check out the umaryland.edu School of Medicine jobs. The tuition remission is great and extends to your dependents for their first undergraduate degrees at any maryland system (public) university.

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cushyEarAche t1_jee8y8s wrote

Set up a time to talk to an HR representative about benefits.

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midatlantica t1_jebk8n9 wrote

Which department/ division extended the offer? Is it with a specific PI?

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DarkCaprious OP t1_jebkd52 wrote

Hi! It was with the School of Public Health, within the Department of Epidemiology.

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Gullil t1_jefnqk6 wrote

I worked as staff at SPH for a while. I loved it. Worked a bit with Epi and they were all very chill/nice people.

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