MPH Please help, new to this forum

[Youngm2194]

What counts as "relevant work experience" for MPH schools? I know they are probably all different in terms of what they prefer. I plan on applying to medical school but may be interested in applying for MPH instead. I have taken the MCAT (515/94%ile) and saw some schools consider this. Does full time job of bench research at a top 3 hospital for 2 years count as the this "relevant experience"? I know its not public health per se but it involves exercise and metabolism on the brain. Also if publications are relevant I would have 2 by the time I apply but I do not know how public health schools view this since I've only researched med schools. My undergrad degree is in physiology and neurobiology as well. I've done a lot of clinical volunteering helping patients walk around to exercise and have started volunteering at a food bank too

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[beeboops]

I'm a former pre-med, so most of my resume was composed of more clinical experiences like shadowing, scribing, and direct patient care, and I didn't seem to have any trouble with acceptances. What makes the difference, I think, is emphasizing the public health aspect of each of your experiences.

For example, in my application, I described my scribing work in terms of the systemic difficulties that I saw patients struggling with (i.e., lack of transportation, expensive care, etc.) and how those inspired me to pursue a career in health policy.

I think if you're able to "spin" your experiences in this way, they'll be viewed as relevant work experience. However, I'm not sure how well this tactic would work for programs that specifically require work experience (the MPH at Johns Hopkins comes to mind first), but there are plenty of programs that do not explicitly require work experience.