Hi! (I also posted this on sdn for more opinions if this seems familiar sorry haha)
So I am hoping to eventually go to grad school and get an mph in environmental health. I'm currently finishing up my sophomore year of college and as of right now have a 2.975 gpa which should be slightly above 3.0 by the end of this school year. I am done with the hard science classes and now only have electives/classes for my other major which I've done really well in historically and although it obviously isn't 100% certain I'm very confident I can get at least a 3.7 gpa the remaining semesters of school. This would mean if I am here for four more semesters I can get my gpa up to about a 3.4-5 and if I was here for three about a 3.2-3.
I was looking at study abroad programs and wanted to do a SIT one with a focus on global health. My school does not have any opportunities to take classes related to public health. So far I have somewhat minimal experience in public health (I've shadowed public health vets, microbiologists, and serologists) but I'm hoping to get an internship at the county health department this summer and also do an internship the summer after. In addition I volunteer at a wildlife hospital and I am going to start at a free (human lol) clinic next year.
I am just wondering what the best course of action would be. The study abroad program would give me academic experience as well as a small research experience in public health but would not count towards my gpa (my school would give me credits but not count it in my gpa and sophas would not either). I am not sure if having that experience abroad would be more helpful for my application or if having four more semesters at school and therefore having a .15-.2 higher gpa would help me out more.
Also, if I don't go on the program should I try and take at least one public health related class before applying (I'd probably take it over a summer or after I graduate at Berkeley since it is close to home)? Or do schools not care that much if you have academic experience with public health classes (in which case studying abroad would be pointless for my application right)?