MPH Fall 2018: Applied, Accepted, Waitlisted, Rejected!

[drevolution]

Hi guys! I am a medical student from Russia. I wish to take USMLE steps after my graduation. I will be graduating next year (June 2019).

I recently came across this thread and couldn’t help but send you guys a msg in order to get some perspective.

I have a few queries:
1) Is it a good idea to take GRE and TOFEL and go for a Master's program (eg.MPH) in the US and take the USMLE steps concurrent to the Masters program?

2)Will I get enough time to prepare well for the exam or is the MPH course quite draining?

3) Also, are there enough job prospects in USA after completion of the MPH program??

Waiting eagerly for your reply.

IMG here. Don't do the MPH if you are not passionate about prevention and public health. It is very expensive. USMLE path will cost you around 20k dollars whereas MPH can cost you anything from 60 - 100k dollars in total as an International student (unless of course if you receive those large merit-scholarships or fully-paid tuition which are not easy to get and are limited for International students)

If you want to take the steps please take the time and fully focus on it and only then give the exam. Scores are very important for IMGs. You could do observerships/externships/research simultaneously but I would still suggest you to not to compromise your preparation period for Step 1 and Step 2 ck with anything else.

I repeat - go for MPH or any other Masters ONLY if you are really interested in that specific area and you are sure that it would be a good backup plan for US Medical Residency.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[drevolution]

Undergrad School: Large state school
Undergrad GPA/Major GPA: 3.3
Major/Minor: public health/gender & women's studies
GRE: Haven't taken (practice diagnostic GRE is in 3rd and 6th percentile :/)
Experience/Research:
- study abroad in Ecuador for water quality research and health education
- summer job with local health department
- health education in a rural area
- internship for non-profit health org
- job doing health surveys for cdc and local health dept
- numerous volunteer work
- student ambassador for college
- pesticide applicator licensure/certification
LOR: professor for study abroad/supervisor at health survey job/supervisor at local health dept job/professor for gender & women's studies
Interests: Global Health & Women's Health

*** Extremely nervous about applying to schools that require GRE scores, I've found programs that will accept me because of my GPA. Do I have any chance getting into a global health program at a not so fancy university? Not interested in top 10 or even top 20 honestly. Look like my GRE score might be VERY low.

The MPH program at NYMC does not require submission of GRE scores. But they only offer the following 4 specializations: Behavioural Sciences and Health Promotion, Epidemiology, Environmental Health Science, and Health Policy and Management.

 

[Pbhlth222]

***Fall 2019 Applicant

I realize that this thread is for Fall 2018 applicants but I am hoping you all could help me gauge my app and see if there are any things I can do to strengthen it. My situation is a little different as for some schools I'd like to apply to both MPH/MBA programs while for others I will just be applying to MPH programs. I'm mostly interested in seeing if I'm eligible for scholarship money as that will play a big roll in what program I choose. Do you guys happen to know if by applying to both degrees I'm hurting my chances in any way? My essays are done (wouldn't mind another pair of eyes to look them over), just need to ask for recs.

Undergrad School: UVA 2015
Undergrad GPA/Major GPA: 3.234 (too low?)
Major/Minor: Biology, French
GradGPA (if applicable): N/A
Grad Studies (if applicable): N/A
GRE (including date taken) or Other Test (if applicable): 05/2018 - 162V (91%), 161Q (77%), 4.5AW (82%) (worth it to retake?)
Experience/Research (please, be brief):

Post-grad
- 3 years as a lab tech in a pathology/immunology wet lab (ELISAs, rodent experiments, etc.) specifically looking at alloimmunization due to blood transfusions

- contributed to several grants, on a few abstracts, and at least one paper as 2nd author (may have more submitted by application time)​

- 2 years as a volunteer at my local free clinic working as an interpreter/ doing general odds and ends for them
- 1.5 years as a volunteer at my local health department where we do regular community outreach and have preventative health fairs, etc.
- a few months with free clinic finance director and an accounting class at local community college
- taken a few courses in SAS, R, and Python

Undergrad
- 1 year as a undergraduate researcher in an atherosclerosis lab
- 1 year as a volunteer teaching recently arrived immigrants/refugees conversational English

Rec letters: PI from undergrad research, current PI, director of medical clinic operations at my local free clinic

Special factors:
- Latino, 2nd-gen immigrant
- first-gen college student
- native spanish-speaker, advanced in French

Interested in: Particularly interested in Epidemiology/Infectious Disease and doing field work at first through local health department or WHO.

JHU (MPH/MBA), Emory (MPH/MBA), GWU (MPH - GHEDC), UVA (MPH/MBA), Washington University (MPH/MBA)....anything else I should add? debating on Harvard, Columbia, NYU, and Yale
Applied: N/A
Accepted: N/A
Rejected:N/A
Waitlisted:N/A

Your stats look good IMO. Also your GPA could be higher (or lower?) when SOPHAS verifies it, but still looks fine.. Awesome GRE scores and great experiences. Make sure to write a great and passionate personal statement!

 

[dedejoys]

You have a very strong application, and I don't think the quant around 51% will hurt at all for even the highest caliber of schools. I do think you have a better than 50% chance of going to Harvard, JHU or Columbia (easily 50% chance at each of these schools so you'll probably get into 1 or 2 of them).

Bu is kind of a safety school, you'll get in there, unless they think a person with your stats and research experience wouldn't bother with them. If BU admitted everybody with high stats, a lot would go elsewhere so they'd be waiting forever to get people to commit.

There are plenty of people with stats and experience less than yours who get into the top schools all the time, in fact you're probably freakin some people out saying you won't get into BU . . .

 

[k15hh01]

Hi! You are the only other person I have seen that has applied to Tulane's Tropical Medicine program. It's one of my top choices and I'm going a little crazy waiting to hear about a decision. I am curious how long it took to receive your acceptance after your application was verified? It seems that some of Tulane's departments get answers back in a matter of two days, while other departments take three weeks. Since no one else has mentioned tropical medicine, I have no idea what to expect. THANKS!

Hi- I have no idea if you two will see this, but did either of you decide to go to Tulane? I am looking for someone who is studying TM.

 

[helen123]

Wasn't planning on posting because everyone's stats are so amazing, and mine are a little more average (with very little experience). But since I've received a few acceptances (and a HUGE long shot with Columbia), hopefully I can serve as a little confidence boost to someone else!

Undergrad School: Small, private university in the Northeast
Undergrad GPA/Major GPA: 3.45 (SOPHAS verified to be 3.47 because of transfer credits I guess)
Major/Minor: Neuroscience
GRE (including date taken): V: 158, Q: 155, AW: 4.0
Experience/Research (please, be brief):

• 1 year research assistant in language and memory lab
• 1 semester research studying short and long term dopamine release in sugar addicted ants
• 3 months internship with a non-profit in people operations dept.
• 4 months internship with a non-profit in the grants management dept.
• 1 year as a peer health educator for university’s health and wellness center
• 2 years as captain of the equestrian team
• volunteer with equine therapy

Applied (verified date): GWU [Global Health Epi and Disease Control] (11/21), Columbia [Epi with Global Health certificate] (11/21), Boston U [Epi with Global Health certificate] (11/28), UIC [Epi] (11/28), Yale [Chronic Disease Epi] (11/28), EuroPubHealth (1/5), University of Geneva (1/21)
Accepted: GWU (12/18), BU +12K (12/21), Columbia (1/22)
Rejected:
Waitlisted:

Hey did you get accepted to UNI of Geneva?

 

[Nemz123]

Accepted to UIC MPH in Epidemiology!! So excited!!!!!

How do you like the program so far? Does it prefer you for jobs? Does it help with getting jobs?

 

[Nemz123]

I got accepted to UIC's MPH today! I live in Chicago, and UIC has a very strong maternal and child health program (my area of study). That combined with the in-state tuition makes UIC a definite contender for me. I think my final choice will come down to UIC vs Minnesota.

Did you pick UIC? If so how do you like it so far? Can you tell me more please

 

[emie]

Anyone apply to the MS-80 Psychiatric Epidemiology track at Harvard and hear back yet?

Hi! Did you end up getting into this program/when did you find out? I’ve been trying to find anyone who applied to neuro psych but it’s kinda rare

 

[krequals10]

Hi everyone,

I'm not sure how many of you check this still but I'm debating among Columbia (PopFam), Emory (Global Health) and BU (Global Health) for my MPH this fall. If any of you are current students, I'd love to get any and all of your opinions.

Thank you!

 

[traveler8861]

how do you like it so far?

 

[new_here]

Does anyone know what programs do DC employers prefer hiring from? Federal agencies mostly. But also consulting firms