Nota Bene: If your school offers SAS, TAKE IT!

[exmike]

Another thread made me think about this point.

If your school offers SAS courses, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THAT! SAS is so widely used in coporate america outside the public health spectrum that knowing how to manipulate data sets with SAS is an extremely valuable skill set. Most of us went into public health b/c we wanted to make a difference in our communities, but the hard realities is that the jobs sometimes arent there. SAS skills will greatly broaden your career prospectives no matter what your MPH concentration was. When I was thinking about going into the private sector for a while, I was amazed at how many companies wanted people with extensive SAS skills. There really are limiteless job possibilities if youre a good SAS programmer.

I know some schools focus on packages like STATA and EpiInfo, but SAS is just so widely used that knowing it will surely come in handy.

Just my bit of advice to future MPHers

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[rite1]

I am so glad my school requires us to take SAS. The thing is that only Epidemiology and Biostatistics students must take SAS in my college. I think last summer they provided an introductory course in SAS for students outside of Epi and Biostats. For those that may consider a PhD in public health, take SAS in your masters program because it will help you with your dissertation.

 

[Heal&Teach]

Word, exmike! It certainly helps to know SAS and/or EPI Info. The most I got out of my usage in grad school was the lab in biostats where we were given everything, and then a similar example - ao we never truly learned SAS. But knowing it certainly will assist in opening up some doors. Biostatisticians and Epidemiologists are in high demand folks.

 

[thirdangel]

It's a pity that more don't use STATA, it's so much nicer than SAS.