MPH program for Anthro major

[sekhmet109]

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I will be graduating this fall with a BA in anthro, AS in Women's Studies, and research cert in Anthro. I would like to work (eventually) as a public health policy analyst/public health researcher/ethnographer. My goal is to help NGO's, NFP's, and other public health orgs better reach at risk communities. I am looking to pursure my MPH, but I'm wondering about how interested these programs will be in a non-medical student. I know that there are those who accept anthro/socio/psych students, but it's not very clear where my best options are, although I would love to go to U of M.

I have a 3.7 GPA, and will be taking my GRE's next month. I have completed independent research as an undergrad (focused on gender disparity in healthcare) and presented at a professional conference as well as a local student symposium. I have some experience volunteering for the local AIDS task force (fundraising, mostly), and have been very active on campus. What is the likelihood I will get into an MPH program? Also, I have 3 cr hrs of electives to use this fall - is there a class I should take that might improve my chances? I really haven't had any medical/biology classes. Would taking an intro bio class really make any difference? I have been focusing on statistics and research analysis.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Misty

 

[generationX]

Having a major in anthro is good if you want social & behavioral health concentration. if you havent taken bio classes - you can go into policy and management still. And your goal seems to be well aligned with Social Behavioral sciences. There is a guy in policy management with me who majored in History and now doing MPH in HPM.

 

[honeysuckle]

ditto with generation x. From what I have gathered by researching lots of mph programs and taking courses from my university's SPH as an anthro grad student, a background in the social sciences is viewed very favorably if you are interested in community health/soc-behavioral sciences/health education/health promotion, etc. Having coursework in human biology helps but is only a requirement if u want a doctoral degree in community health/social-behavioral science concentration in public health, from what I have seen (someone correct me if I'm wrong). If you have taken bio-anth (which you probably have, if you're an anthro major), that counts for something.