Masters of Public Health Program?

Graduate School
1

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I graduated from a top public university in Summer 2011 and have been working in the nonprofit sector the past year (internships and paid position). Right now, I'm considering going back to get my MPH and considering schools such as Johns Hopkins, Emory, and GW. I'm not interested in attending a large public like UNC, Berkeley or Michigan, as I went to a large, top public research university for undergrad as well as a smaller, top 40 private university, and I find that I work better in smaller environments. </p>

<p>Right now, I'm not too sure how strong my chances are for admission to top programs. As far as my statistics go, my overall combined GPA is a 3.4 GPA. I majored in International Business at my first university and excelled academically (3.8 GPA) but was forced to switch over to social sciences after I was denied by the business school after my first semester at UNC. Due to personal reasons, I was not able to perform at my highest potential at UNC and wound up with a GPA in the low 3.0 range. Will schools consider this? I have not taken my GREs yet, but I'm confident that I can perform well on these. Not a perfect score, but definitely above average.</p>

<p>Aside from my quantitative credentials, I was heavily involved in a lot of health-related organizations and held numerous leadership roles. Disease prevention has been a huge interest to me and is evident in my past internships and work experience with some of the best nonprofit organizations that work to advocate and fundraise for research and education. </p>

<p>I'm a skilled writer and can write a top notch personal statement. How much weight is placed on this component? </p>

<p>I'm looking for programs that specifically have a concentration on the marketing and communications side of public health. Ideally, I want to design and implement marketing and advertising campaigns for nonprofit and healthcare companies that are closely linked to chronic diseases. </p>

<p>Johns Hopkins is my top choice, because of its close proximity to Washington, D.C. Though, Emory is appealing too because it is in Atlanta and that is home to CDC. </p>

<p>Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you and I apologize for any improper grammar and mechanical usage in advance. I wrote this pretty fast.</p>

2

<p>First of all, on the graduate level programs are going to be smaller. The experience of being an MPH student at UCLA or Michigan is not going to be the same as being an undergrad at those schools.</p>

<p>A 3.4 GPA is fine for an MPH. I’m in a PhD program in public health with the same GPA. For public health, experience is quite important, so it’s good that you have work experience in the field. Your personal statement will also matter in that you have to show commitment and passion for the public health work, as well as a connection to the school’s mission. Johns Hopkins specifically has a health communication concentration. You may also be interested in Penn’s MPH program because you may be able to take classes in their very good communications school and do some work with professors there.</p>