<p>Just wondering if anyone can offer some advice on my chances of getting into one of the top 8 schools of public health (either UCLA or Berkeley). Here's my situation:</p>
<p>-Got a Bachelors Degree in Industrial Engineering from a well known state school with a 2.9 GPA (both overall and last 60 semester hours).
-Currently working full time as a analytical consultant in an unrelated field. The company I work for is well known and good to have as a resume builder. I have been out of school for 4 and a half yours now and working full time the entire time.
-Am planning on taking several graduate level public health classes in the spring and summer and hopefully getting A's in them from either San Diego State or UCLA as a nondegree student. (I would prefer to take the classes at UCLA but might not be able to because I live and work in San Diego. Unfortuneatly, this might restrict me to San Diego State, which is not a highly recognized program).
-Through my coursework next spring or summer, I hope to get a letter of recommendation from a professor from either San Diego State or UCLA in the school of public health. I will also seek out any volunteer options that may be available to non-grad students once I enroll in a class.</p>
<p>I have not taken the GRE but have been studying like crazy for the general GRE and am hoping to do well, especially in the math section.</p>
<p>Given all of the above, what do you think my chances are of getting accepted in the school of public health at UCLA or Berkeley? I am concerned because of my undergraduate GPA being low and not really relavent to public health (although biostatistics, some epidemiology, and environmental health science, the fields that I am interested in, all have a lot of math pre-reqs, so hopefully this will work in my favor). Is everything that I am planning on doing going to be enough, given that I get steller recommendations and a statement of purpose? Should I be doing anything else?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>