University of Florida. Am I competitive?

[Acheron]

I recently graduated with a Bachelor of Science in biology and I am interested in attending UF at Gainesville for an M.P.H. in Epidemiology (In the Spring). However, I am concerned that my GPA is insufficient (GPA: 3.28) mostly due to horrendous performances in both semesters of organic chemistry during my junior year.

I need to go to a state school for tuition purposes because I can't afford to go out of state or private. (I went out of state for undergrad and have over $100,000 in loans to pay off)

I haven't taken my GRE's yet but I expect to do quite well. I'm fairly good in mathematics and I read a lot so I'm not very concerned about the verbal. I am taking them on Friday.

Should I even bother applying to UF at Gainesville? Will my GPA take me out of consideration?

The other school I was looking at was the University of South Florida at St. Pete. Do I stand a better chance of getting admitted there?

I am also open to moving to another state for a year to establish residency there. Texas gives reduced tuition for state residents. Should I try the University of Texas?

Thanks for any input you can provide!

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[wanttoPH]

Do decent on your GRE and you should get into USF. I've toured there and the requirements are really lax. I believe FLorida's only accred school of public health is at USF.. so UF might not be a good idea either way.

 

[Acheron]

Do decent on your GRE and you should get into USF. I've toured there and the requirements are really lax. I believe FLorida's only accred school of public health is at USF.. so UF might not be a good idea either way.

Wow. Thanks for the heads up on that. I assumed a school like UF's program would be accredited. Looks like I was wrong.

 

[wanttoPH]

Oh FAMU, UM, Nova, FIU, UNF and USF are accred in florida, my mistake. UF isn't though. Check CEPH website if you wanna see other schools out of state.

good luck

 

[kmb1908]

Hey,

I'm a second year in UF's MPH program and the Treasurer of the Public Health Student Association. You should be fine with your grades and whatever score you get (which I'm sure will be great! 😀). I am not in the Epidemiology concentration, but if you are interested, I can get you in touch with the faculty.

No, our program is not officially accredited, but we are in the final stages. We should be accredited by the time you finish your degree.

Let me know if you need anything!!

kmb1908

 

[Acheron]

I recently graduated with a Bachelor of Science in biology and I am interested in attending the UT for an M.P.H. in Epidemiology (in the Spring). However, I am concerned that my GPA is insufficient (GPA: 3.28) mostly due to horrendous performances in both semesters of organic chemistry during my junior year.

I am from Florida and would probably have to establish myself as a resident of the state before enrolling because I honestly cannot afford pricey tuition due to undergrad loans.

I haven't taken my GRE's yet but I expect to do quite well. I'm fairly good in mathematics and I read a lot so I'm not very concerned about the verbal. I am taking them on Friday.

Should I even bother applying to UT ? Will my GPA take me out of consideration?

Also, any information you could give me about residency requirements for Texas resident-rate tuition at the University of Texas would be greatly appreciated.

One more thing, I noticed there are quite a few UT campuses. Would an M.P.H. be earned in Houston?

Any information you could provide would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Stories]

Don't flood the forum with the same topic but just for another school. Keep it in your one thread unless it contributes new information.

 

[xscpx]

Ok....there is quite a bit going on in this post. First of all USF and UF are two different schools. UF is NOT accredited. They are also having accreditation issues across the board (UG in paticular). It's a great school, but I would be wary of going to a school that is not accredited.

USF is not in St Pete. They have a campus there, but only for a few undergrad majors, mainly water related ones since it's right on the water. The College of Public Health is at the Tampa campus. All classes are there with the exception of a few policy courses which are offered at the Port Authority downtown Channelside.

I would advise against moving out of state. Many states are changing their residency requirements in order to make more money. Florida is doing it as of the Fall. If you do not have residency status when you start, you cannot get it at all for your degree. Meaning you will pay out of state tuition for the entire duration of the degree. Beware.

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about "getting into" UF. Their Public Health school is not nearly as competitive as their undergrad. USF has a great epi program (USF is ranked 20th too if that matters to you, UF is not since it is not accreditetd) USF should be no problem to get into with your stats.

Also, take a look at the USF website and look at the professors' interests. See if you find someone with similar interests to you. Good luck to you.

 

[Vihsadas]

Hi Acheron,
please keep similar posts in one consolidated thread. This helps to reduce the clutter in the forum main page. For now, I'm going to merge these two threads for you. Good luck in your studies.

 

[Acheron]

Thanks for the help everybody. Sorry about the multiple posts.

I'm debating taking out another loan.

With my GPA what do you think is the best accredited MPH school that would give me serious consideration?

 

[Stories]

Thanks for the help everybody. Sorry about the multiple posts.

I'm debating taking out another loan.

With my GPA what do you think is the best accredited MPH school that would give me serious consideration?

Best is really subjective for a field like public health where there are very distinct directions you can take the career.

If you want to research, the "big names" work for this: Harvard, Hopkins, Michigan, UNC, and on.

If you want some practice-based schools, places like Tulane, BU, Arizona, Drexel, and on are good places to be.

Just apply to places you think you might be happy living. Leave it at that. It's like what, $100 per school? That's not an unreasonable amount for that curiosity of yours. Particularly if you want to go to the "best" school. Otherwise, research what kinds of faculty work at each school to get a glimpse of what each might have to offer.

 

[xscpx]

You are putting too much emphasis on GPA. In my experience, your letter of intenet and how well you pair up with a particular professor means more than GPA. As long as you are over that 3.0 mark you are fine. (even a little below is fine in some cases). GPA is not what it was to undergrad admissions. GPA and GRE are more so used as a cutoff. As long as you supersede the minimum you should be fine at most schools. (Obviously this does not apply to the Ivy's) You need to firgure out exactly what you want to do/research and find a professor that fits you well. Write an great letter of intent and have good recomendations. You will be fine. Don't worry about rankings. Going to Harvard does nothing for you if they do not offer the concentration you want.




Edit: I just wanted to point out the GPA didn't mean much at my school USF. While the department told me they were thoroughly impressed with my GPA and research exp, the biggest factor in my admission was there were two professors whom I met with before hand and wanted to work with me.

 

[Psychadellic]

First of all USF and UF are two different schools. UF is NOT accredited. They are also having accreditation issues across the board (UG in paticular). It's a great school, but I would be wary of going to a school that is not accredited.

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about "getting into" UF. Their Public Health school is not nearly as competitive as their undergrad.

FYI UF's MPH program has received official accreditation. And although I doubt that his GPA will be a major deterrent in gaining acceptance into the program, this does not mean that the program is "not nearly as competitive" or that he shouldn't worry about "getting into UF" per se.
I know of people with perfectly good GPA's and competitive grades, among other stats who faced problems in gaining acceptance into the program.

 

[xscpx]

FYI UF's MPH program has received official accreditation. And although I doubt that his GPA will be a major deterrent in gaining acceptance into the program, this does not mean that the program is "not nearly as competitive" or that he shouldn't worry about "getting into UF" per se.
I know of people with perfectly good GPA's and competitive grades, among other stats who faced problems in gaining acceptance into the program.

He understood what I meant. If you live in Florida it's crammed down your throat "how impossible it is to get into UF". I graduated high school with a 4.6 GPA and 600 community services hours and did not get in for example. Public Health overall is not very difficult to be accepted to. I also said "I wouldn't". I would advise anyone against going to a school that is not accredited. UF's reputation does not make it a better choice to me over an accredited school.


And according to the CEPH website they are not accredited, but I will take your word for it.

 

[Stories]

FYI UF's MPH program has received official accreditation. And although I doubt that his GPA will be a major deterrent in gaining acceptance into the program, this does not mean that the program is "not nearly as competitive" or that he shouldn't worry about "getting into UF" per se.
I know of people with perfectly good GPA's and competitive grades, among other stats who faced problems in gaining acceptance into the program.

UF is an Associate Member of the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH). They've never been accredited as a MPH Program by the CEPH.

This means that UF's SPH is currently in the process of attaining accreditation and not currently accredited. The accreditation process is generally a 3-5 year process from time of application. The earliest UF would have been eligible for accreditation as a school was fall of 2008 when they first introduced their PhD programs.

 

[Vayu]

I am a UF alumni and a USF graduate student.

USF is the way to go for Public Health over UF any day. However, the Gators would absolutely STOMP the Bulls. So which is more important, a chance to sit for the CPH or CHES exam or the proximity to Tim Tebow? 😀

 

[xscpx]

I am a UF alumni and a USF graduate student.

USF is the way to go for Public Health over UF any day. However, the Gators would absolutely STOMP the Bulls. So which is more important, a chance to sit for the CPH or CHES exam or the proximity to Tim Tebow? 😀

I <3 you!😛

 

[wanttoPH]

I am a UF alumni and a USF graduate student.

USF is the way to go for Public Health over UF any day. However, the Gators would absolutely STOMP the Bulls. So which is more important, a chance to sit for the CPH or CHES exam or the proximity to Tim Tebow? 😀

LOL! you are too much my friend

 

[Psychadellic]

He understood what I meant. If you live in Florida it's crammed down your throat "how impossible it is to get into UF". I graduated high school with a 4.6 GPA and 600 community services hours and did not get in for example. Public Health overall is not very difficult to be accepted to. I also said "I wouldn't". I would advise anyone against going to a school that is not accredited. UF's reputation does not make it a better choice to me over an accredited school.


And according to the CEPH website they are not accredited, but I will take your word for it.

I did not go to UF for undergrad neither am I from Florida or a football or sports fan rather, so really nothing has been "crammed down my throat about how impossible it is to get into UF".

The point of my post was simply to clarify that UF's MPH program did receive accreditation this week since you amongst others are not aware, and may continue to spread incorrect information. (It was not meant to convince the original poster to go to UF versus USF, because I sure as heck won't be getting anything out of it!)

Knowledge is power that is all! But thanks for your breakdown of UF's reputation as a deciding factor over lack of accreditation.

 

[Stories]

I did not go to UF for undergrad neither am I from Florida or a football or sports fan rather, so really nothing has been "crammed down my throat about how impossible it is to get into UF".

The point of my post was simply to clarify that UF's MPH program did receive accreditation this week since you amongst others are not aware, and may continue to spread incorrect information. (It was not meant to convince the original poster to go to UF versus USF, because I sure as heck won't be getting anything out of it!)

Knowledge is power that is all! But thanks for your breakdown of UF's reputation as a deciding factor over lack of accreditation.

I don't want to be a jackass, but news of UF's accreditation is not listed in CEPH or ASPH's lists. There is no news item on UF's website citing the accreditation, either. The only thing I pulled up was something that I mentioned before, that UF is an Associate Member of ASPH (which means in the phase of being accredited): http://news.health.ufl.edu/news/story.aspx?ID=643. This was in 2005.

 

[Acheron]

I don't want to be a jackass, but news of UF's accreditation is not listed in CEPH or ASPH's lists. There is no news item on UF's website citing the accreditation, either. The only thing I pulled up was something that I mentioned before, that UF is an Associate Member of ASPH (which means in the phase of being accredited): http://news.health.ufl.edu/news/story.aspx?ID=643. This was in 2005.

I e-mailed the PHHP office at UF to ask if they planned on getting their accreditation soon. They told me that they have gone through the accreditation process and expect a "positive response" within the next few months.

So it is likely that they will get accreditation but do not have it yet.

 

[Psychadellic]

I don't want to be a jackass, but news of UF's accreditation is not listed in CEPH or ASPH's lists. There is no news item on UF's website citing the accreditation, either. The only thing I pulled up was something that I mentioned before, that UF is an Associate Member of ASPH (which means in the phase of being accredited): http://news.health.ufl.edu/news/story.aspx?ID=643. This was in 2005.

I know that there is no news of its accreditation listed on CEPH, ASPH, or the UF's website....as it just occurred this week (as I previously stated).

The notification of this accreditation just came from the dean of the college of Public Health and Health Professions within the past few days. Once again, I thought I would just shed some light on the situation since I know the current status, and it's obviously not going to be updated on these websites immediately. However, if that's not appreciated and/or it is not sufficient then you can simply wait like everyone else until it's updated on the relevant websites. Sorry for trying to enlighten based on my well informed knowledge!

And to the original poster, good luck on deciding what program you will apply/ enroll at. The decision's hard enough as it is without having to worry about your grades, GRE scores, etc. I was accepted to USF, UF, GWU among other schools, but in the end I chose UF because it was the best fit for me. It may not be for you, so just be sure that you're being well informed in deciding where you want to invest your money and time to acquire this degree!

 

[tampanian]

The point of my post was simply to clarify that UF's MPH program did receive accreditation...

^that's correct. as of 6/20/09 UF is CEPH accredited. http://www.ceph.org/files/public/Master_List.v.23.pdf