Take the Easy or Hard Major for MPH Program App?

[Rubicon89]

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Cliffs of cliffs: From perspective of Grad School AdCom, does a 3.8 in Poly Sci beat out a 3.5 in Econ?

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Cliff notes:

-24yo, going back to finish BA/BS.

-Healthcare work background

-Plan to attend grad school directly after completion. Master in Public Health, concentration in Health Policy/Admin

-Career ambition: public health sector administration (VA, military, etc)


Q: I keep hearing that the GRE and GPA is all that matters for grad school applications, plus relevant work experience that I do have. But should I want to have an "applicable" but harder degree, or go with an easy major to score a higher GPA? I am thinking of Political Science (easy) vs Economics (relatively harder). I am so-so in math but both majors interest me and apply to my chosen career. For grad school application purposes, will a 3.8 in polysci > 3.5 in econ? Go for the higher GPA or reputable major? This assumes I won't reach as high GPA in econ as I would for polysci with 100% effort, which I feel comfortable stating. I have interests for personal enrichment in both Polysci and Econ, but concede that Econ looks better and is more desirable. But I do not want to be a lawyer nor economist and am using the degree as a stepping stone specifically to get into grad school.

Q: I was also admitted to a cheap in-state school (East Carolina U) and an out of state online school (Penn State). Penn State is tier 1 while ECU is a very low tier according to USN&R. Should I go to the cheaper instate school or a public-ivy school? Does undergraduate name matter for grad school applications? East Carolina (in-state) vs. Penn State (public ivy). I should finish my degree in 1-1.5yrs since I have a lot of transfer credits and both schools require only a minimum of 12 classes to graduate for transfer students. So I won't necessarily need a lot of tuition to finish my degree, but obviously an in-state school will still be cheaper regardless. It will not say "online" education on the actual Penn degree, and I feel Penn will carry weight in the MPH programs in the northeast.

I am looking at the top Public Health programs, and assuming I have the stats, would like to attend one of the following: Harvard, Yale, Columbia, UPenn, Brown, Dartmouth, Hopkins, UNC.

Thank you for any insight.

 

[js4184]

Hi Rubicon89,

This Fall I will be entering my second year of my MPH in epidemiology at Columbia University in New York. Below, I have tried to bullet-point your specific concerns.

*First of all, the GRE at most schools is used more as a negative selector rather than a positive selector. By that, I mean as long as you scored at an acceptable level, the decision for admission will be based on every other part of the application, whereas a perfect score on the GRE doesn't help you out nearly as much as you might think (although it certainly wouldn't hurt). Also, GPA is important, but I got into Columbia with a SOPHAS GPA of 3.48, with a major in Molecular Biology. Of course, I couldn't compare 'difficulty' in that major with your poly-sci/econ background, but I would be anything in those fields over 3.5 would be considered very strong (the average for the class of 2014 was 3.4-3.5, as listed on their website).

*As far as your undergrad school 'carrying weight' in the elite northeast programs, I attended Arizona State University. While I felt the education I received was as good as anywhere, ASU does have a reputation of being nothing but a party school and diploma factory (~72,000 students). While there are classmates of mine who attended Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and Emory, just to name a few, the spectrum of undergrad schools represented in my class here at Columbia is immense.

With that being said, program size can greatly affect admission chances.While Columbia had an entering class of over 400 students across all MPH majors (and I got in), I was rejected from far far smaller programs like Yale.

But getting back to undergrad school choice. As long as the school is a well-established accredited university (which ECU is), then the focus is probably more on your personal statement and letters of recommendation. While I didn't have any work experience, I did have laboratory research experience as an undergrad, with the professor I was working with write one of my three letters. The other letters were from a just a professor who I took a couple of classes from, and from my work manager (I worked at a steakhouse). So be sure to get a letter or two from someone you worked with, and not just professors, as these people can personally attest to your real-world work ethic, and not just your academic skills.

I hope this response was of some help.

Best,
js4184

 

[Rubicon89]

Hi Rubicon89,

This Fall I will be entering my second year of my MPH in epidemiology at Columbia University in New York. Below, I have tried to bullet-point your specific concerns.

*First of all, the GRE at most schools is used more as a negative selector rather than a positive selector. By that, I mean as long as you scored at an acceptable level, the decision for admission will be based on every other part of the application, whereas a perfect score on the GRE doesn't help you out nearly as much as you might think (although it certainly wouldn't hurt). Also, GPA is important, but I got into Columbia with a SOPHAS GPA of 3.48, with a major in Molecular Biology. Of course, I couldn't compare 'difficulty' in that major with your poly-sci/econ background, but I would be anything in those fields over 3.5 would be considered very strong (the average for the class of 2014 was 3.4-3.5, as listed on their website).

*As far as your undergrad school 'carrying weight' in the elite northeast programs, I attended Arizona State University. While I felt the education I received was as good as anywhere, ASU does have a reputation of being nothing but a party school and diploma factory (~72,000 students). While there are classmates of mine who attended Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and Emory, just to name a few, the spectrum of undergrad schools represented in my class here at Columbia is immense.

With that being said, program size can greatly affect admission chances.While Columbia had an entering class of over 400 students across all MPH majors (and I got in), I was rejected from far far smaller programs like Yale.

But getting back to undergrad school choice. As long as the school is a well-established accredited university (which ECU is), then the focus is probably more on your personal statement and letters of recommendation. While I didn't have any work experience, I did have laboratory research experience as an undergrad, with the professor I was working with write one of my three letters. The other letters were from a just a professor who I took a couple of classes from, and from my work manager (I worked at a steakhouse). So be sure to get a letter or two from someone you worked with, and not just professors, as these people can personally attest to your real-world work ethic, and not just your academic skills.

I hope this response was of some help.

Best,
js4184

First off, congratulations on starting at Columbia! Thank you for your insight.

Regardless of which major I choose, I know that I should aim as high a GPA as possible. I feel confidently that I can preform better in Polysci than Econ, however, also feel that I can score a 3.5 range in Econ. But I will definitely take into account a strong enough GRE and GPA.

ECU has a regional reputation of being a "party school" as well but its academics are sound enough. I'm just a bit worried on it's national reputation, as Penn State tends to carry a brand name while ECU is only known in the southeast.

My dream school is Yale but as you mentioned, does have a smaller matriculating class. Columbia is definitely in my top 3.

I will definitely work on a competitive grad application with strong scores, LORs, and further work experience, but as of now I am leaning towards completing my BS in Polysci at Penn State Worldwide Campus....although Econ sounds interesting too!