What do I major in if I want to work at the CDC?
I am not doing pre-med so not sure what to major in. #health #science #cdc #college
2 answers
Victoria’s Answer
Hi Lily,
This is a great question and I love your goal!
One way to find a major is to research what kinds of careers people working at the CDC need to fulfill the mission of this organization. Check out the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Career Page at: https://jobs.cdc.gov/
Look at the career fields on the left side of the webpage: there are Health Sciences, Public Health, Medical, and Mission Support Opportunities. Think of the CDC like a super hospital-organization-city. Every kind of job you might find in a hospital or a city is probably at the CDC: On their job site, they say: "professionals in nearly all fields including science, technology, medicine, health care and business can find a career at CDC. Whether in a non-medical role like economist or part of our emergency response personnel, you’ll have the opportunity to contribute to public health while advancing your own career." https://jobs.cdc.gov/career-fields (Definitely check out this link - it is fantastic).
I think it's important to ask yourself how did you decide on this goal: is there a particular reason why you are interested in the CDC and what subjects and challenges do you enjoy? What is sparking your curiosity: write down all the reasons you want a career at CDC.
Start with CDC's homepage: https://www.cdc.gov/
Find articles, books, websites that you really enjoy on this site (and other sites) and see what your common interest is - make a journal - a book about you and your journey. It might be that you want to find a cure for the flu or help people access safe food or track asthma or understand autism. Maybe you are a medical detective in the making...
STEM Careers (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) are super majors for someone considering a job at the CDC. STEM majors give you a lot of choices since there is a shortage of STEM professionals for the current and future jobs in these areas. There are many non-medical STEM opportunities at CDC as well - in program administration, information technology, and many other fields like economics and even big data.
If you would like to learn more about STEM and how we are trying to encourage STEM careers and STEM mentoring at Verizon. Check out this great article on Danielle N. Lee: http://www.verizon.com/about/news/weneedmore-advocates-change-danielle-n-lee
Also check out the weneedmore stories and video clips about STEM at Verizon: http://www.verizon.com/about/news-tag/weneedmore
You might consider doing a student internship in Chicago at a hospital or a public health clinic. See if you like this area and talk to your school counselors and professors about your goal.
Victoria recommends the following next steps:
Nicole’s Answer
First, I think the previous answer provided includes great guidance on the breadth of skill sets that could be of help when applying for a job at the CDC. I will add that in the year 2020/2021, during a global pandemic, the role of the CDC has become a lot more apparent. Their role in tracking and trending the impacts of the pandemic in terms of infections and looking at those trends in different ways has been used a significant guidance on how individuals should maneuver.
I think that as a branch of STEM, a focus on statistics would be a very strong skill set that could be used for landing a position at the CDC. They spend a lot of time collecting and analyzing data. And they have to turn mountains of data into views that everyday people can understand and react to.
Hope you find this answer helpful and best of luck to you!