Personal Essay advice? and professor contact?

[MPHopeful]

Especially for those who got into to top schools (Harvard, Yale, Emory etc), but this is open to anyone to answer:

will you share advice for personal statements?

(Yes i've seen the old old personal statements thread from a long time ago. What I'm asking about here is not mechanics but specificity.)

(I'm going to be applying for 2 yr MPH and MsPH social behavioral programs)


1) I'm curious to know how specific you made your reasons for wanting to attend a particular school.

Did you list professors of interest by name?

Did you discuss a specific topic of interest for your final research project?

How detailed do we need to be? I can provide answers to both questions above but am just wondering if being too specific could count against me in anyway. For example could a committee reject me because they don't like the topic i've proposed OR because unbeknowngst to me, another grad student there is already working on something similar?...

Any advice??


2) contacting professors:
Also, I've seen advice here to contact individual professors of interest before applying. Is that not too forward especially for just the masters level? I remember a professor (in another discipline) saying that he found it annoying when students contacted him before even being admitted. But that's just one professor's opinion...

Anyone have any personal experience and advice on this for social behavioral professors?


3) What about career goals section?
If you are not sure where you will end up because you have say, 3 possible careers you could pursue based on your specialization, is it best to name all three options at the risk of appearing unfocused, OR just select one career at the risk of changing your mind and pursuing another one later on?


Any advice here is appreciated. Thanks!!!

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[AndrewJ42]

1) I was fairly specific in my statement of purpose in showing what I intended to do with my degree. I did write down my research intrests and also exampled some faculty member research at the school to tie myself into the ongoing research at the school. I found that this was important to my school (University of Michigan) when I was there for my interview for the Health Management & Policy program as they were very helpful in trying to link me with different faculty members to research during my time there.

When a committee looks at your app and research objectives they want to ensure that you'll be a good fit to the school. So you just have to make sure that your research and goals have a place at the school.

2) I guess contacting professors is something that can be good or bad..as you said, some profs don't like to hear from non-matriculated students, but others are happy to talk to you about the opportunity to study at the school...

3) so long as you show that you are taking steps towards three goals (so long as they're not in completly opposite directions) i don't think there would be a problem to the schools.

 

[MPHopeful]

Thanks AndrewJ42.