Hi everyone! I've appreciated SDN since I was pre-med and have found it helpful through the MPH application process, so I wanted to share my information in case it could help any current or future applicants! Thank you to everyone who uses this forum to share information on the application process and good luck to everyone applying this cycle!
Undergraduate School/School type: UMich/Large public research institution
Undergrad GPA/Major GPA: 3.65/3.91 (pre-med courses dropped my GPA, but will improve after fall semester; earned University Honors twice)
Major/minor: Public Health Sciences
GRE(including date taken): 166 V (97%), 162 Q (78%), 5.5 AW (98%) taken 7/25; I've always been lucky to be a good test-taker and someone who really enjoys reading/writing, so that and studying for the entire summer helped. I don't like math and have only taken stats for my major, so mostly tried to study the basics to not bomb the quant section. I went through the Super Power Pack books almost in their entirety (didn't do the paper tests since I was taking the computer version) and did the two ETS PowerPrep tests online to prep (161 V, ~154 Q [can't quite remember, but mid 50's I think] on first exam in June and 163 V, 159 Q one exam week before actual GRE).
Experience/research:
- Four years in a drugs of abuse wet lab working on fentanyl research (presented research at on-campus conferences twice and am third author on a publication)
- Interned on a congressional campaign for a Senate candidate in my home state and within a month was the Director of Research/Executive Assistant to the candidate and senior staff/Scheduler
- Four years as a student ambassador for the office of undergrad admissions
- Three years as a member of the programming board through our LGBTQ+ office on campus (earned a scholarship through this)
- Two years as Communications Chair of a program started by students at UMich to teach marginalized high school students about public health and empower them to be leaders in their communities (program was planned to be rolled out to other schools, including Columbia, pre-COVID)
- Two years volunteering at the university hospital system in the emergency department and trauma-burn ICU
- Two years on the undergraduate student advisory board for my program
- Two years in a research program/course (UROP, Research Scholars)
- One year in a pre-health learning/living community and on the alumni & student outreach committee
- One year on the executive board for BiLateral+ (student org for fluid sexualities)
- Collaborated with an LGBTQ+ organization in Zambia to provide health education materials on IPV
- Certified pharmacy technician since 2017
Letters of Rec: Research lab supervisor, director of the undergraduate SPH program (had her for a professor two semesters and is in the department I'm applying to at UMich), former director of the undergraduate program (had him as a professor for two semesters and he's also in the department I'm applying to at UMich)
Interests: advocating for human rights and social justice. There's a lot of populations I want to work with, so I'm not yet sure if I will stick with one for my entire career, but I want flexibility in my path since we don't know what will happen down the road.
Applied: BU (MPH - human rights & social justice), Columbia (MPH - SMS), UMich (MPH - HBHE), & UMN (MHR, not an MPH but a Master in Human Rights); all submitted 10/15 and verified 10/20
Accepted:
Rejected:
Waitlisted:
Attending:
Right now I'm trying to stay patient and just wait to start hearing back from programs but it's super hard! I know BU is usually about 3 weeks but that Columbia won't send first rounds until late January, so I'm trying to not think about it too much (these are my top two choices). Once I do start getting admissions decisions, I'll be back to update and get help deciding! The finances of grad school are already stressing me out
