MPH Best Route to Take (field of study changer)?

[BatGirl012]

Okay, I apologize for the length, but here goes...


I graduated last December (2015) from the University of Tennessee (Knoxville) with a BS in animal science. I had an 3.81 GPA.

I was intending (and even applied) to go to veterinary school, but I got rejected merely because I didn't have enough large animal experience (I'm not even interested in LA) even though I had a lot of small animal experience and have quite a bit of other volunteer/community work.

I was in the process of trying to get said LA experience, but the opportunities in the area I'm in are next to nothing. I tried applying to various internships and volunteer programs but they either just didn't really fit what I was looking for/needed or they didn't accept me (due to "not having enough experience"...?).

SO, bottom line I'm thinking about going for a Master's in public health. Either policy/administration or epidemiology. I'm going to apply to UTK, and considering other schools like UGA and Boston. I should probably apply to a couple more, but I haven't decided which ones yet.

I've also gotten into contact with the director of a local health clinic (so she's in policy/administration) who is going to let me shadow her, and she also gave me the name of another woman who works at the health department in epidemiology (double win!).

Since I'm pretty knew to this shift in career focus and don't really know what I'm doing, I'm just wondering if this is the best route for me to take?

Should I just skip trying to get experience and start applying to schools like UTK? I know that UGA (while I'd love to go there--I even applied there for vet school) is a little bit more top-tier, so they'd likely want some quality experience.

Or would it be better to get some experience because I'm still not even entirely sure which direction within PH that I want to head toward? And with that said, how much experience would be "enough", and should it be more broad or focused into what I think I may want to do? Or does it even matter what area it's in, as long as I have some?

Ideally, my plan was to take November & December as months to gain this said experience, then to get recommendation letters (one from my undergrad advisor, one from an undergrad professor, and one from whoever I end up shadowing) and apply in the spring/summer of 2017 (while also trying to up my GRE a few points, because it couldn't hurt) and hopefully gain admission in the fall of 2017.

Is this realistic, or could I take a better approach to it?

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[wwmmkk]

Plenty of people apply for MPH programs out of undergrad. While they value experience, you can also write a stellar SOP that explains why the academic, professional, and extracurricular experience you do have qualifies you for the program and has sparked your interest in public health. Steer clear of explaining why you're NOT going the vet route and focus on why you are going the public health route.

Look at the application deadlines for the schools you want to apply to now, knowing it takes SOPHAS ~1 month to process and verify everything before they send it to the schools and possibly longer for GRE scores to be sent. I think if you are efficient, you can apply for Fall 2017 programs with later deadlines and shouldn't have too much of a problem with getting in.

That said, it seems like you haven't done a whole lot of research to explore schools or really what interests you in public health. Maybe taking the time to apply for Spring 2018 programs will allow you to develop a more specific focus AND gain experience.

 

[Glammyre]

How many veterinary schools did you apply to, and would you consider applying to others? I would think schools would be willing to take on an applicant with no large animal experience if they had lots of small animal experience (maybe in a couple of varied fields and clinics), good other stats (GPA/GRE/letters of recommendation), and showed a willingness to learn that side of veterinary medicine. Planning to go into another field of veterinary medicine is fine, but you still need a working knowledge of large animal to pass the NAVLE.

By the time I had my veterinary school interview, I had no large animal experience except for helping feed some calves with salmonellosis, and that was after I'd submitted through VMCAS. I still got accepted (albeit instate), so I know it can be done. Did the school that rejected you say the only thing stopping you was lack of large animal experience?

Take some time to think about what you want to do. Both public health and veterinary medicine are amazing fields. If you think you're interested in public health and someone is offering you the chance to shadow them, take it. However, don't feel like you should give up on veterinary medicine if that's what you truly want to do. If you want to do both, consider applying for a dual-degree program and getting an MPH and DVM at the same time. Usually, these programs will pay for the MPH portion (although the dual workload can be difficult)

Also, if you want some other ideas on veterinary experience and applications, feel free to stop by the pre-vet section! I promise we're friendly

 

[BatGirl012]

How many veterinary schools did you apply to, and would you consider applying to others? I would think schools would be willing to take on an applicant with no large animal experience if they had lots of small animal experience (maybe in a couple of varied fields and clinics), good other stats (GPA/GRE/letters of recommendation), and showed a willingness to learn that side of veterinary medicine. Planning to go into another field of veterinary medicine is fine, but you still need a working knowledge of large animal to pass the NAVLE.

By the time I had my veterinary school interview, I had no large animal experience except for helping feed some calves with salmonellosis, and that was after I'd submitted through VMCAS. I still got accepted (albeit instate), so I know it can be done. Did the school that rejected you say the only thing stopping you was lack of large animal experience?

Take some time to think about what you want to do. Both public health and veterinary medicine are amazing fields. If you think you're interested in public health and someone is offering you the chance to shadow them, take it. However, don't feel like you should give up on veterinary medicine if that's what you truly want to do. If you want to do both, consider applying for a dual-degree program and getting an MPH and DVM at the same time. Usually, these programs will pay for the MPH portion (although the dual workload can be difficult)

Also, if you want some other ideas on veterinary experience and applications, feel free to stop by the pre-vet section! I promise we're friendly

I applied to 6 total schools, and I considered applying to others however the 6 I ended up applying to were the ones I could justify moving for/the tuition and I really liked their programs the best.

I have around 600 small animal hours, most of them are in one clinic under three different vets. Some of them are from a small animal orthopedic surgeon, and some of them are from some undergrad classroom labs I took that were taught by veterinarians. I know it's not under a veterinarian, but I also have several years of horse back riding experience (where I also learned handling, feeding, general health/care/nutrition), and I had several classroom labs dealing with preg checking cows, visiting dairy farms and learning about their health/care, calve care labs, and some small ruminant labs (which were under a vet) and horse care labs.

I got rejected by all 6 schools, and the in-state school (my alma mater) that I applied to told me that the major reason why I was rejected was because of my "lack of large animal experience" (I don't even have an interest in L/A, so if they let others in without it, I'm not sure why they thought it was important for me to have). Smaller issues were: that I didn't have quite as much volunteer experience, my GRE wasn't a 315, and that in the interview I apparently didn't seem emotionally mature enough for vet school. (I even made a comment in my interview that one of my weaknesses is that I'm a little shy and reserved and it makes me come off as either stupid or just "weak", but like I said my GPA was a 3.81, so clearly I'm not stupid.)

All of my eLORs were really good, so I'm not sure why they would have a reason to doubt my overall character just because of my reserved nature. If that makes sense?

Anyway. I have considered a dual DVM/MPH degree, and while I don't want to entirely give up on vet school, currently it just seems a little unlikely since (although the director said my application's issues were "very fixable") I'm having such a difficult time with it.

Thank you for the input and the kind words!

 

[IntriguedStudent]

I went into an MPH program with a BS in Animal Science. The requirements for each school are different, but most schools do value some experience. I had known during my undergrad that I was interested in public health, so I spent some time volunteering in that sector prior to applying to MPH programs. If you have the time before your application cycle begins, I would definitely recommend getting some experience. However, many schools are going to place a lot of weight on your SOP. Given that you're changing paths, make sure that you're able to articulate why you are pursing public health (not just because you didn't get into a DVM program) and what you intend to do with the degree.