Getting jobs/internships during school with little to no experience

[cerealrhapsody]

Hi all,

I'm considering applying to MPH programs for Fall 2011 (most likely epidemiology) and I know most schools encourage their MPH students to get practical experience during school. But I was wondering how easy or difficult it is to get jobs and internships during the 2 years of school. It's especially worrying to me because (assuming I get accepted and matriculate) I will have no public health work or volunteer experience and only a small amount of research experience that is more related to the health education/behavior side of things than epi. Will it be feasible for me to get a job related to epidemiology even with no experience in that field? And what if I were to graduate with the master's and wasn't able to get any practical experience during school? Will I be screwed when it comes time to look for a "real" job?

Basically, I guess I'm wondering just how competitive this job market is, both during and after the MPH.

And for that matter, will I even be competitive for admission to any top-20 MPH programs with little to no experience? My grades are decent, I have a little bit of research experience, and quite a bit of community service/volunteer work and academic awards and activities that have nothing to do with public health. The only thing public-health related I did was volunteering in a hospital in a developing Latin American country for only a week. But I'm worried that won't be enough.

I think my top choice school right now is Emory, and I'm currently torn between epi and global epi for my top choice program. I would really love to work at the CDC, either during school or after.

Do I have reason to worry? Or should I just chill out.

Thanks for listening!

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[Stories]

Relax, don't worry so much. It's summer

Coming straight out of undergrad, the most important factors are your GPA and GRE scores. Do well there, and you'll be competitive everywhere. Make sure you have a polished complete application, and there's no reason you can't go where you want.

As for jobs, you can easily find something related to epi when you're a matriculated student if you're in an urban area where there's a lot going on. I'm not sure about rural settings. Generally speaking, the bigger named schools will have a lot of affiliated work and connections to agencies in their area so finding something shouldn't be an issue.

As for work after you graduate, you're required to do an internship as a MPH student, so you'll have at least that piece of work experience when applying to jobs. The job field is always competitive, regardless of what degree you possess, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. It's not an easy experience, but you can help yourself out by networking as soon as possible and putting yourself out there.

 

[rbnsafsadgf]

Hi all,

I'm considering applying to MPH programs for Fall 2011 (most likely epidemiology) and I know most schools encourage their MPH students to get practical experience during school. But I was wondering how easy or difficult it is to get jobs and internships during the 2 years of school. It's especially worrying to me because (assuming I get accepted and matriculate) I will have no public health work or volunteer experience and only a small amount of research experience that is more related to the health education/behavior side of things than epi. Will it be feasible for me to get a job related to epidemiology even with no experience in that field? And what if I were to graduate with the master's and wasn't able to get any practical experience during school? Will I be screwed when it comes time to look for a "real" job?

Basically, I guess I'm wondering just how competitive this job market is, both during and after the MPH.

And for that matter, will I even be competitive for admission to any top-20 MPH programs with little to no experience? My grades are decent, I have a little bit of research experience, and quite a bit of community service/volunteer work and academic awards and activities that have nothing to do with public health. The only thing public-health related I did was volunteering in a hospital in a developing Latin American country for only a week. But I'm worried that won't be enough.

I think my top choice school right now is Emory, and I'm currently torn between epi and global epi for my top choice program. I would really love to work at the CDC, either during school or after.

Do I have reason to worry? Or should I just chill out.

Thanks for listening!

Most, if not all, MPH programs have a practicum (or "internship"). If you go to a good program, a good practicum should be paid even. A lot of this stuff depends on the hook-ups that your advisers have to the external public health community and their influence within the school. These are good types of questions to think about while looking at MPH programs.

A MPH in Epi will get you some job.

 

[Nibor6000]

Look for opportunities to get involved at your local health department (city, county, etc.). Depending on where you are, the prospect of free labor will be difficult for these agencies to resist.