question about personal statement

[cloosh10]

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In general, do applicants spend more time on their essays explaining WHY they want to go into public health (experiences, etc.), or more time on future plans (what I will do with the degree once I have it)? One person told me to spend time on future plans because it's professional/graduate school. But I'm getting conflicting advice from some other students and wanted to get an idea from you all. Thanks so much.

 

[Awapi]

In general, do applicants spend more time on their essays explaining WHY they want to go into public health (experiences, etc.), or more time on future plans (what I will do with the degree once I have it)? One person told me to spend time on future plans because it's professional/graduate school. But I'm getting conflicting advice from some other students and wanted to get an idea from you all. Thanks so much.

For me, a lot depends on your background prior to applying. My background was not in public health (well, most of it wasn't, I got into public health in Peace Corps, but prior to Peace Corps I was an environmental specialist for 3 years post-college and my Peace Corps assignment was also environmental, I just ended up doing a lot of health projects) so it was important for me to explain why I was changing career paths. If you have a background in Public Health then it will be intuitive why you are applying for an MPH and might not be necessary to spend as much time on it in your SOP.

In mine I would say I spent 75% talking about my experiences and how they led me to public health, and then about 25% talking about what I want to do with my MPH and how each particular school could help me achieve those goals. They did overlap some (talking about my experiences in Peace Corps I talked also about how having an MPH would have enabled me to do more in-depth projects, etc). This is a professional degree, but you will have access to amazing and new opportunities, I think adcoms want to see that you are also open to learning and growing so, unless you are 100% dead set on a path, I wouldn't focus too much on relaying every step of a 10-year plan, haha.

Go with your gut, no two SOP's are alike, just make sure you believe yours is compelling and will make someone want to say "THIS person is worth investing in".

Good luck!