Lack of volunteer experience

[oceanhue]

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So... I'll be applying for the 2015-2016 school year (for epidemiology) and I do not have tons of relevant volunteer/internship experience. I'll be starting a volunteer gig at the county's environmental health department, but that's all the relevant experience that I'll have by the deadlines this December.

However, I have TONS of internship/volunteer experience but I'm not sure how I can make them relevant to my application. I interned as a research assistant under the evolutionary psychology department at my university for over 6 months. I also worked in my department's repository for 3 months, and under the same graduate student and professor I worked as an intern sorting artifacts and bones for 6 months. Also, did a short gig working with disadvantaged adults at a Work Release, and a more recent internship in Washington, DC working at a nonprofit for disadvantaged persons again. The nonprofit mainly dealt with signing people on to health insurance, giving them referrals, yada yada.

My top school is Columbia so I really need to strengthen my application. I have not taken the GRE yet, but I'll be taking it in about 2-3 months. I graduated with honors at UCSB (top public university) with a 3.6 and I've secured some reference letters from professors who have attended Yale and Harvard, so I'm not sure if that'll "help" my application. I don't have a clear estimate of what I may score on the GRE, but I'm hoping the lack of experience in public health won't hurt my application.

What do you think?

P.S. My previous internships have a lot to do with bones and artifacts because I majored in biological anthropology.

 

[jlb12]

Go anthro!!! I was a cultural anthro major and while I had public healthy internships none of them really fit what I want to do in my master's (Health Policy and Management). Most of my internships had to do with cultural issues. I worked with mentally ill adults to gain access to primary health care and interned at a few women's based departments writing articles on preventing too early pregnancy and on violence against women. I also was a TA teaching an anthro 101 course in college. After college, I worked at a medical tech company and then started doing taxes for about a year (and have been unemployed for 9 months since). Anywho, the point of the story is that I got into Columbia with a merit scholarship!

I think the most important thing is to make a case in your SOP as to why you want to do epi and how your past experiences have led you to this conclusion. The fact that you did not walk onto campus as an 18 year old kid and know that epi was for you is not a new story and will not scare away any schools. They want to know why you want to do it now and how their program fits you and will get you the career/future you want. The same goes for volunteer/internship experiences, you did the right internships for your major and not everyone has the time or the opportunity to find a good fit volunteer position during undergrad (most of us need to study and work a little). GREs do matter so study up and as for the letter's of referral, the schools names are great but what matters more in that they know you and can write a personal letter not just a form one they send out for everyone (my letters were all written by people who went to non-name brand schools and only one was a professor/had a PhD).

Well, that is my two cents. Let me know if I can be of any other help.

 

[dilipkumar]

Hi, this is DILIP, i am doing my final year pharmD in INDIA. I would like to apply for MHA/MPH programme(have to make my decision). I have one year internship experience part of my curriculum
Stats:
GRE have to give
I have good academics, 75% aggregate
Co-author for 2 good impact manuscripts in the field of cancer
Two online course certificates i.e, one from each Harvard & texas
Two international and one national presentations during my graduation

Is it worth doing in top public health schools ?What is my chance of acceptance among
JHU,UNC chapell hill, COLUMBIA , UPitts, UNIV of WASHINGTON, EMORY, UNC, YALE, BOSTON UNIV, TULANE,UNIV of TEXAS, TEXAS A&M

I was little nervous and apprehensive, is it worth doing? Employment oppurtunities upon completion?please give your valuable opinion on this which helps me a lot

Thank you very much for your spending your time. hoping for a reply
@Dilip

 

[oceanhue]

Go anthro!!! I was a cultural anthro major and while I had public healthy internships none of them really fit what I want to do in my master's (Health Policy and Management). Most of my internships had to do with cultural issues. I worked with mentally ill adults to gain access to primary health care and interned at a few women's based departments writing articles on preventing too early pregnancy and on violence against women. I also was a TA teaching an anthro 101 course in college. After college, I worked at a medical tech company and then started doing taxes for about a year (and have been unemployed for 9 months since). Anywho, the point of the story is that I got into Columbia with a merit scholarship!

I think the most important thing is to make a case in your SOP as to why you want to do epi and how your past experiences have led you to this conclusion. The fact that you did not walk onto campus as an 18 year old kid and know that epi was for you is not a new story and will not scare away any schools. They want to know why you want to do it now and how their program fits you and will get you the career/future you want. The same goes for volunteer/internship experiences, you did the right internships for your major and not everyone has the time or the opportunity to find a good fit volunteer position during undergrad (most of us need to study and work a little). GREs do matter so study up and as for the letter's of referral, the schools names are great but what matters more in that they know you and can write a personal letter not just a form one they send out for everyone (my letters were all written by people who went to non-name brand schools and only one was a professor/had a PhD).

Well, that is my two cents. Let me know if I can be of any other help.

I believe that I can easily spin my SOP to support why I want to get my masters in epidemiology. And you're also correct about letters of reference, which is why during my last year I made sure to establish somewhat of a relationship with my professors and advisers. I made sure to make sure they were comfortable with me before I asked for a ROC, and they all agreed. I think it also helps that I explained why I wanted to get a masters in epi before I graduated last year. I was told to just send them a notification when I'm ready to apply. Hopefully, they are still willing to write me a good reference. It also helps that I passed with a 98% in the class that I think would REALLY write me a great reference. And my EOP adviser, I developed a close relationship with him for two years and he was the one that told me I could get into Columbia. Keeping my fingers cross.

And yay for anthropology! My major actually did lead me to epidemiology, so it won't be like I'm lying!

When I secure this environmental health internship., I wonder if I should try to get a ROC from someone in the epidemiology department? They don't accept any interns or volunteers, so I had to settle for environmental health, but I do think it can help my application.

 

[kerewin21]

I think you're very competitive for public health programs - public health is interdisciplinary so people come with all kinds of backgrounds. You have research experience and you'll have an internship, if you tie it together with a good SOP I really think you'll have your pick of programs. I love and respect public health and people who do public health, but the truth is that public health Master's programs aren't super competitive - most take close to 50% of their applicants.

Good luck!

I believe that I can easily spin my SOP to support why I want to get my masters in epidemiology. And you're also correct about letters of reference, which is why during my last year I made sure to establish somewhat of a relationship with my professors and advisers. I made sure to make sure they were comfortable with me before I asked for a ROC, and they all agreed. I think it also helps that I explained why I wanted to get a masters in epi before I graduated last year. I was told to just send them a notification when I'm ready to apply. Hopefully, they are still willing to write me a good reference. It also helps that I passed with a 98% in the class that I think would REALLY write me a great reference. And my EOP adviser, I developed a close relationship with him for two years and he was the one that told me I could get into Columbia. Keeping my fingers cross.

And yay for anthropology! My major actually did lead me to epidemiology, so it won't be like I'm lying!

When I secure this environmental health internship., I wonder if I should try to get a ROC from someone in the epidemiology department? They don't accept any interns or volunteers, so I had to settle for environmental health, but I do think it can help my application.