MPH Programs

Graduate School
1

I’m a sophomore undergrad student at Johns Hopkins
Bc I’m a Public Health major, I hope to apply to the MSPH at the Bloomberg School of Public Health (#1) and hopefully get in. If that doesn’t work out, I’ll apply to an MPH at Columbia, Harvard, Yale, etc…

Right now, I have a 3.4 and I’ll graduate (fingers crossed) with a 3.7 overall GPA, and a high Public Health GPA (3.85 +). What are my chances of getting into Bloomberg, Yale, Columbia, and Harvard?

ECs:

Working on a quality improvement project at the johns hopkins school of medicine (genetics institute), work at a pediatric anxiety clinical research trial at JH SOM, working on a chapter for a bookk about OCD genetics treatment, working on independent social policy research with a Dept. Head

Also, I’m going to get a C+ in orgo this fall, and I will retake it next fall, and hopefully get a B+ / A-. That being said, my transcript will show an R (retake) for sophomore fall and hopefully a B+ / A- junior fall. how does this look to grad school admissions? Orgo is not a requirement for Public Health, and I only did it because I was pre med (I’ve since dropped the pre-med track, but had to stay in orgo to stay w/in the credit requirement)

Thanks

2

You’re a little ahead, but my recommendation would be to consider your area of interest and then start looking for a match based on that. One of my daughters visited multiple programs and even though they were highly considered, they all had different strengths. A lower ranked school might have a stronger program in your interest and be a better fit. For example, there could be two equally great schools but one put more resources in health policy and the other in infectious disease.

I would also consider research opportunities. Look at the work the profs are doing. They will be your mentors and if they have no projects going that excite you, that’s probably the wrong school. Grad school should get you prepared for your next career - either in or out of academia. Think about what you expect the school to provide, what you are bringing to the school and where you are going after the masters program. I am no expert, but you look like you are going the right direction on the numbers game. I’d recommend spending more time in your undergrad program considering your specific area of interest and being able to clearly explain it.

Hope that helps. Think I’ve seen postings from @julliet re: MPH programs. Be interesting to get her opinion.

3

^I agree with @2stemgirls here, in that your interest areas and professional goals are more important than program rankings. For example, my specialty in public health was sexuality, drug abuse and HIV research. JHU is pretty decent in that area, but despite being #1 overall it wasn’t the best place for that kind of work especially given the more specific nature of my interests. (Columbia probably is, which is where I got my MA and PhD in public health).

It’s far too early to predict chances for you - if you’re a sophomore you’ve only completed three semesters, you haven’t taken the GRE and you don’t yet even have a good sense of what your junior-year professors would say about you in a letter of recommendation. (Besides, we can’t predict chances for you anyway - graduate admissions are different and holistic.) Regardless, don’t focus on chances right now anyway. Your GPA is good. Your ECs are in great shape. Don’t worry about the retakes.

Focus, instead, on developing an interest area and some professional goals - that’ll help you sharpen your focus on schools you want to attend. What do you want to do? What are you interested in?

Oh, and also, don’t count out your public universities in your home state. I don’t know where you’re from, but lots of states have public universities with excellent MPH programs that are far less expensive than Harvard, Yale, or Columbia. Maryland, Minnesota, Berkeley, UCLA, Michigan, UNC, UAB, Arizona, UW-Seattle, Pittsburgh, UIC, USF, Ohio State, UT-Health Sciences, USC, Texas A&M, UF, UGA, CUNY, - they’ve all got great MPH programs, so check those out too if you are from one of those states.

Also think about doing a summer internship in public health this summer or next summer.