<p>Hopefully this is the right forum to put this in. So right now, I'm about to enter my second year in university, studying anthropology and geography. I'm not quite sure what I want to do afterwards, but I've been thinking to go to grad school for either urban planning (hence the geography) or epidemiology. Now, what I am wondering is, would my majors be adequate to get into an epidemiology graduate program, or should I get rid of anthropology for something more quantitative like sociology? I really love anthropology and don't want to leave it, but I guess practicality is necessary too. I was thinking I could take some medical anthropology courses and some biostatistics courses; would this suffice?
Thank you!</p>
<p>I’d suggest that you check the admission requirements for the particular epidemiology programs that might interest you.</p>
<p>Otherwise, anthropology should be a good background for epidemiology (especially with relevant coursework in biological and medical anthropology), as long as you supplement this with coursework in math and statistics.</p>
<p>I was a dual degree student in Arts & Humanities and Anthropology in UG. I got into every MPH program I applied to- including Epid, Maternal & Child Health, and Health Behavior/Health Education programs (I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do). I was accepted to ~7 of the “top 10” MPH programs. I didn’t take a single math course in UG and only took a handful of science classes (physics, astronomy, nothing all that relevant). </p>
<p>You have to decide what you want to do. Epid is a big field. Since you’re interested in those two fields, have you considered Social Epid or Environmental Health? If so, those are going to required two very different backgrounds. OTOH, I’m a Health Behavior and Health Education student leading a historical epidemiology project. That’s a side of epid that requires no knowledge of biology- unlike most epid branches. </p>
<p>MPH programs don’t work like MA/MS programs. You don’t necessarily need that much “relevant background” to be accepted. You need to show that you will succeed (which just means a decent GPA and GRE scores), that your course of study is relevant (ie that you’re studying epid for a purpose other than to study epid), and that there is a reason why you want to go to X college’s program. </p>