School Recommendations

[InfectiousDrive]

Hey everyone!

So some background: I am currently a third-year undergraduate at the University of Virginia. I am double majoring in Biology and Global Public Health (both BAs). I am interested in attending graduate school for epidemiology/global health with especially a concentration in infectious disease or maternal health. Can anyone recommend some schools that may be a good fit for me?
Programs I'm already considering:
Columbia Epi
Emory Global Epi
GWU Global Health Epi and Disease Control
Tulane Tropical Medicine

Some more stats for reference:
Current Cumulative GPA: 3.387 (however, I know SOPHAS recalculates based on most recent course retake so this is probably more a 3.44)
Current Global Health GPA: 3.84
Activities/Experience:
- Week-long Alternative Spring Break trip to Guatemala on a Nutrition Initiative --> potentially returning this summer for 5-6 weeks.
- Research Assistant on antimalarial resistance (3 years by the time I graduate) --> Won a research grant through the NANOstar Research Fund for summer 2017 and will be giving a poster presentation this spring. Name will be published on graduate student's paper.
- Volunteer for the local women's shelter --> 2 years
- Waitress
- Sorority --> Social Media Chair and Social Activities Chair
- Dance company --> Publicity Chair

Thanks in advance!

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[wwmmkk]

Hey! I think you've chosen some great programs based on your interests. I'd suggest looking at Brown too (not that I'm biased or anything). They are restructuring the MPH program to include more global health and maternal/child health opportunities within the next couple of years. There's already a lot of work done on infectious disease, though it's mostly HIV.

 

[InfectiousDrive]

Hey! I think you've chosen some great programs based on your interests. I'd suggest looking at Brown too (not that I'm biased or anything). They are restructuring the MPH program to include more global health and maternal/child health opportunities within the next couple of years. There's already a lot of work done on infectious disease, though it's mostly HIV.

Do you think this would be more of a reach school?

 

[wwmmkk]

Do you think this would be more of a reach school?

Not any more so than Columbia. You've got a lot of solid experience, especially if you go back to Guatemala or find other public health work over the summer. Have you taken the GRE yet, or a practice one that gives you a probable score?

 

[n3t]

I am interested in infectious disease epidemiology, and when I applied to schools, I applied to some of the schools you mentioned as well as Boston University and Yale. Boston University is similar to Columbia in that they both use certificates within their MPH degrees. BU offers certificates in both Infectious Diseases and Global Health, as well as the Epi/Biostats certificate.

In the end, I chose Yale because of the infectious disease focus of the MPH degree. My MPH will be in the Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases rather than having an MPH in epi and taking some infectious disease related classes at other schools. I really enjoy the specificity of the program as I began taking infectious disease classes during my first semester in the program. In addition to EMD, you can designate a concentration in Global Health (which I believe includes electives in maternal health), which will allow this degree to cover many of your interests! From speaking with my peers, Yale definitely takes a wholistic approach to reviewing applications, so it is always worth applying!

 

[Pudu2009]

I wanted to chime in here since I noticed you are considering the MPH in Global Health Epidemiology and Disease Control at GW. Are you weighing more toward global health or infectious diseases? If it is the former, then that MPH concentration would probably fit your interests well. If it's the latter, then may I recommend the MS Public Health Microbiology and Emerging Infectious Disease? It focuses purely on epidemiology and infectious diseases; you'd be required to take classes in Infectious Disease Epi and Surveillance, Microbiology, Genomics, Virology and Immunology.

I did not graduate from this particular program, but my degree was administered by the same department and we shared much of the same classes. There is definitely strong potential for global health type jobs with this degree. I decided on the MPH in Epi over the MS PHMEID program because I didn't like that it had such a huge bio focus (I'm scarred from being a bio major and prefer the big data side of things), but depending on your specific interests this program might be a good fit for you. Just another option to consider.