Wondering about the future?

[quimicachica]

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I will be graduating in May from UAB. I am a Social Psychology major but I was originally a Chemistry major (as you can tell by my username). The stress of Chemistry got to me and my GPA. During my junior year, I found public health and knew that's what I wanted to do. Since my GPA is terrible, I have decided to wait on applying for UAB's MPH program. I want to go into Epidemiology.
So here's my idea after graduation:
1) Find a job as a research tech at UAB's Epidemiology department for two years (gain some work experience)
2) Obtain the Graduate Certificate of Public Health from the school of public health. (if I do well on these classes, they will count toward the public health core)
3) Take the GRE and score high

I know with my low GPA, I probably could not get into any programs. I am hoping work experience and some graduate classes taken will look more favorable than my terrible GPA. Does this sound like a good idea or should I start thinking about other career options?

Thanks!

 

[curious14]

I think it'd help if you at least told us the range of your GPA? B/c if it's slightly below a 3.0 which is the recommended GPA for most schools, then coupled with a good GRE and good experience, you'd probably be fine.

 

[quimicachica]

My GPA is a 2.6. 🙁

 

[curious14]

OK. Well don't let that get you down, GPA is not the end all be all, trust me. The most important thing is that you have some sort of plan, which sounds pretty solid. The only other thing that will help is to be flexible. Is your heart set on only attending UAB? Because whenever you decide to apply, one thing that will help is applying to a wide variety of schools (and early!!).

I suggest that you look up schools you'd potentially be interested in and talk to someone about your situation and what you're interested in studying. Hopefully, they'll be honest and give you some insight on how to make yourself the most competitive applicant you can be. Even though you mentioned looking for a research tech position, perhaps you'd want to look for other opportunity's in public health as well. Even if it's something like volunteering in community health. (Even though, it's not specifically epidemiology, I think it'd help to boost your resume?)

All the while, be sure to make connections with people and be open to any opportunities that may come along the way. Research would be great, but if you can find a job or internship in the field, don't be afraid to explore it. You will hopefully be able to network with some awesome people who can write you letters of recommendation and guide you towards your path. Just be very active about the whole process.

I'm rambling now, but I really wish you the best of luck. I don't think you should worry about your GPA so much anymore. There's very little you can do about it, outside of taking continuing ed. courses or doing a post-bac. I'd only recommend that if schools tell you to. Usually after some years experience, it's not really so much of a problem, if everything else is up to par.

Also feel free to PM me if you'd like to talk some more about certain things 🙂

 

[Stories]

As curious14 wrote, focus on your resume and CV experience at this point. By focusing on the career and experience aspect, you'll certainly bolster your application and make that 2.6 appear far less significant.