Hi! I’m a third-year student graduating from Tulane early next spring with a major in Public Health. I’m currently working on my MPH application for Fall 2020, and I was hoping to get some advice on whether or not I could be considered a competitive candidate. I’m currently planning on applying to the Epidemiology concentration at UT Houston, Texas A&M, UNT, and potentially USC (South Carolina), Drexel, and BU.
I just took my GRE today and I know my qualitative and quantitative scores. I received a 158 Qualitative and a 154 Quantitative. Since I’m applying to Epidemiology, I wanted to get some feedback on whether or not I should retake the GRE in a couple of weeks to shoot for a higher score. I’ve taken statistics courses in college (Stats for Scientists I received a B+ and Biostatistics I received an A) and have also received AP credit (scores 4 and above) for other math credit. Those would show up on my transcript, so is it worth it to retake?
I imagine that my letters of recommendation will be fairly strong as I’ve known my recommenders for a while and they have a good sense of my personality and/or work ethic (2 academic professors and 1 research professor).
As of the end of last semester, my total GPA is a 3.775 (I was premed for a bit and Genetics dragged it down), and my major GPA is a 4.0.
As for extracurriculars/work experience:
- I work two jobs on campus (Resident Advisor and student event programming/budgeting).
- I’ve been a research assistant for two qualitative analysis-type projects, one dealing with rural opioid use (since Fall 2018) and the other with trauma (since Spring 2019).
- I’ve been a peer mentor for several student organizations, an orientation leader, and I’m currently the Social Media Coordinator for a club cycling.
- I’ve volunteered sporadically (1 semester long program presenting science to elementary school students, 3 times as a group leader for an empowerment program for young girls, etc.).
I would really appreciate some honest thoughts on my chances of being accepted into the schools I listed at the beginning of this post, as well as some advice for what I should or shouldn’t include on my application. I’m really just beginning to form my application, so I would also be grateful for any advice people have for the application process in general. Thank you!