Hey there. I'm new. Question regarding "experience".

[soclueless]

I have a question for you all and I was hoping for your input. I am currently a nontrad student majoring in chemistry. My school has a partnership with an area medical school to obtain our MPH as a 4:1 program. It's interesting and I'm really considering it, as I'm interested in epidemiology. This would be my application year for it. It's easy - no GREs to hassle with, app fees, etc. Just apply and be done (of course I am oversimplifying just a bit here).

Anyhow, to really "do" epidemiology, I'd probably be a bit better off at another area school. Of course, they require more experience in the field with an application. This is where it's tricky as I have a heavy course load this year and two kids, but I could look for an internship (or wait til after graduation). Now, I used to work for a nonprofit medical association (for 4 years). I started as an admin - working with our physician members with their questions/issues (glorified customer service). Eventually I was promoted a few times and ended up organizing CME activities for doctors, sat in on committee meetings and took minutes, edited abstracts and abstract booklets, did some editing and writing for our newsletter (mostly ghost-wrote for our doctors). Not exactly a part of policy making, but adhering to the policies, etc, nonetheless.

In your opinions, would this somewhat qualify as experience? Sorry if this is a redundant question - please don't flame me.

I am having trouble deciding which route to go. Obviously, saving a year of tuition would be great, plus the partner school is much, much closer to home. But I want to choose the best fit at the same time.

Thanks.

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[cerealrhapsody]

I think your experience would definitely be valuable - especially since you have 4 years of it, which is a lot more than the traditional applicant who is 22 and fresh out of undergrad.
However, I don't think it's the "ideal" type of experience for an epi program. Is there any way you can get some research experience at your undergrad institution? Even if it's not health-related, I think that would really go a long way toward enhancing your application.

Why don't you apply to both schools and see what happens?

 

[soclueless]

I think your experience would definitely be valuable - especially since you have 4 years of it, which is a lot more than the traditional applicant who is 22 and fresh out of undergrad.
However, I don't think it's the "ideal" type of experience for an epi program. Is there any way you can get some research experience at your undergrad institution? Even if it's not health-related, I think that would really go a long way toward enhancing your application.

Why don't you apply to both schools and see what happens?

Thanks for your reply. Glad to know it may be somewhat helpful, though I'm at a very small liberal arts college. So- no real opportunities for research (though I have recently applied for a couple of semester-long programs in the area - fingers crossed).

Not to give away all the goods here, so to speak, but the trouble is that I'd start my MPH at MCW while concurrently finishing my BA at my current school. It's a dual-degreed program. So after my BA, I'd just have one year remaining at MCW. And only one year of full graduate-level tuition (I am pretty heavily scholarshipped at my private school), and only one more year before earning an income. This is a plus. Also, it would seem my "experience" and whatnot will not be a concern with this program.

Just looking at the programs I do have a slight preference for attending UW-Madison, though. Which would mean an additional year of tuition, and perhaps a fair amount of finger-crossing to get in. I worry that my lack of experience will hurt my chances some (though I do have a good GPA).