how competitive are CA schools?

[wwwlongcom]

hello fellow SDNers. i'm currently a senior at UC Davis, planning to graduate this year. i was wondering how competitive is UCLA's and UC Berkeley's MPH programs?

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[AspiringDoctor9]

hello fellow SDNers. i'm currently a senior at UC Davis, planning to graduate this year. i was wondering how competitive is UCLA's and UC Berkeley's MPH programs?

Hihi,

Well, I don't know about the other departments, but I attended UCLA's visit day today for health services, and they gave us information on last year's class. Here's the info - GPA: 3.43, GRE: 1190, Years of Work Experience: 2.1. I hope this helps.

 

[exmike]

At cal, the avg GPA is about a 3.5, and GRE is about 1250 give or take a little

 

[lake04]

Do any of you posters know anything about the other MPH programs in socal...like USC, LLU, and the cal states?

thanks!

 

[SALADITO]

I got into UCLA's MPH program with a 3.3 in history and 2 years work experience.......... there's more to my story.. I'm not currently a student.... I will be asking for advice from you guys shortly....

thanks...

hope this helps, too

 

[AspiringDoctor9]

Do any of you posters know anything about the other MPH programs in socal...like USC, LLU, and the cal states?

thanks!

Hihi,

Well, I don't know too much about these schools, but I will post what I know. USC and the Cal States do not have full public health schools. USC runs their MPH degree out of their medical school, and concentrates pretty much in only community health/preventative medicine. That being said, if you want to go into any other subfield, that might not be the place to go. The same is true for Cal States (for example, Northridge only has a community health program).

LLU probably of these three has the biggest selection of courses, but if you're not christian, be prepared for some... attempted realignment - they force you to attend religion class, and some of the rules there are archaic in terms of modernity (curfews for females under a certain age from what I understand, etc. I don't know if this is true, but that's just what someone told me who applied to their dental school). They do however, have bigger programs (such as a health management department, etc.)

I hope this helps even though it wasn't much - if you have any other questions please write back.

 

[thirdclius]

hey i go to Loma Linda University SPH. And here's what I have to say.
I chose LLU because it is an accredited program compared to others and I live close to it (only 5 minutes away). I agree that LLU is a private university of Seventh day adventists but the school of public health is the most diverse schools there. In that respect, teh school is very lenient compered to other schools ie Medicine, dentistry, etc. We have to take a religion class but it is not forcing 7th day adventist values to you. It is simply an ethics class! believe me i took the class (unless you get another professor). Well, there is also chapel that all LLU students are supposed to attend every week but SPH students don't attend them much. BTW, chapel is not bad either because it is just singing and then a little bit of preaching and praying. It is very Christian. there is also a week of devotion where there is chapel every day of the week. but it is not too bad. really. hey i'll post some more. later

Hihi,


LLU probably of these three has the biggest selection of courses, but if you're not christian, be prepared for some... attempted realignment - they force you to attend religion class, and some of the rules there are archaic in terms oetc. I don't know if this is true, but that's just what someone told me who applied to their dental school). They do however, have bigger programs (such as a health management department, etc.)

I hope this helps even though it wasn't much - if you have any other questions please write back.

 

[lake04]

AspiringDoctor9:

Thanks for the response! I was also wondering how reputable those schools are (particularly-USC) in terms of publich health schools/programs. I'm sure the others are quite well-established (i.e., Berkeley, UCLA).

 

[AspiringDoctor9]

AspiringDoctor9:

Thanks for the response! I was also wondering how reputable those schools are (particularly-USC) in terms of publich health schools/programs. I'm sure the others are quite well-established (i.e., Berkeley, UCLA).

Hihi lake!

Well, to be honest - most people aren't even aware that USC's MPH program exists since it's so small. I think you might want to try for one of the larger schools, or maybe even look outside california (if you're willing to do that). There's plenty of great schools outside the state.

 

[exmike]

AspiringDoctor9:

Thanks for the response! I was also wondering how reputable those schools are (particularly-USC) in terms of publich health schools/programs. I'm sure the others are quite well-established (i.e., Berkeley, UCLA).

There is no reason to go to USC if Cal or UCLA are options, esp. if you are in state. Go to an accredited program, youll have more options later. Also, USC probably has a department of epi/biotstats. You are severely limited in the breadth of courses you can take compared to a full school of public health. That will hamper your education.

 

[Peace&Health]

hello fellow SDNers. i'm currently a senior at UC Davis, planning to graduate this year. i was wondering how competitive is UCLA's and UC Berkeley's MPH programs?

okay, i applied to UCB, UCLA, and San Diego State only. I got into both UCLA and San Diego State, with a GRE of 1330 but not so great undergraduate GPA. So I'd say UCB is the most competitive. And San Diego State less competitive (also less pricey) And a quick tip, if you are ever interested in the Peace Corps, UCB has a component where you do one year, then go do the Peace Corps, then come back and finish--wish I knew that cause I did the Peace Corps already.

FYI--other APHA accredited programs in CALI--loma linda and San Francisco state. There are however other programs that are accredited differently, but APHA is the top. Loma linda was too expensive for me. San Francisco's program is geared more towards a working professional.

I don't even know how old this thread is. Deadlines are already over for UCB and UCLA.

 

[ghostsamurai]

hello fellow SDNers. i'm currently a senior at UC Davis, planning to graduate this year. i was wondering how competitive is UCLA's and UC Berkeley's MPH programs?

Hey,
I graduated from UCB SPH last year. I thought UCB could be a bit competitive but what really matters is what you are interested in (e.g. maternal and child health, epi/biostats, enviromental health, infetious disease, healthy policy) and why you want to go to study public health. I chose Cal over UCLA, Columbia (NY), LLM, and other schools because 1) particular areas of study and because of particular faculty member interests, 2)financial cost, and 3) location. My GRE's were 1300's (V+Q), UG-GPA 3.1 (a little low), 4 yrs of work experience. I can tell you Cal has strong programs across the board. I can also tell you an invaluable resource at Cal was your fellow classmates. They come from all over the world (Africa, Asian, Europe, San Francisco ) with a wide variety of experiences. Here's a shameless plug: the head of the CDC (J. Gerberding) and California's highest ranking physician at the state health department (D. Jackson) are UCB SPH grads. ok, thats all I have to say. Good luck with everything.

 

[AspiringDoctor9]

Hihi guys!

Well, I found out a couple of weeks ago I got rejected from UCB, so I remembered this post and figured I should post it. I'm not sure about UCLA (haven't heard from them yet), but so far Berkeley is my only rejection out of 8 applications (I have acceptances from the rest, almost half of them ivy league). I agree with the others who say Berkeley is the most competitive, so good luck!