aikah

Hi everyone, I was hoping to get some feedback and suggestions on applying to Ph.D programs for Epidemiology straight out of undergrad. I am currently a B.A. in Health Administration and Policy (studying on Public Health concentration). I am currently a sophomore but I have the choice to graduate early with my bachelors degree next year (spending only 3 years in undergrad) because I had a lot of AP credits transferred in for my general education requirements. Theoretically, by the end of next year if I choose to graduate early, I would have: --> 11 MATH credits (Precalculus, Calculus I, and Finite Mathematics) --> 8 STAT credits (Statistics for Social Sciences and Statistics with Application to Biological Sciences) --> 12 ENGLISH credits credits (including a course in technical communication) --> 9 ARTS/HUMANITIES credits --> 6 CULTURE credits (including an Intercultural Communications class) --> 9 BIOLOGY credits (Intro Bio for Bio Majors with Honors, Microbiology and Microbiology Lab) --> 4 CHEM credits (intro chem class) --> 15 SOCIAL SCIENCE credits (including Psychology and Human Geography) --> 27 Core Major credits (Public Health concentrated) including: Global issues in health & disease, geography of health & disease, research methods in health, and epidemiology --> Language proficiency in Spanish, Japanese, and Vietnamese. I do not have any research experience but by early graduation next year I will have 2.5 years of direct public health experience in developing, planning, and implementing public health programs, and at least 1 year of clinical experience as a medical scribe. My GPA is currently a 4.0. If my GPA stays above a 3.8 by the end of my junior year, and my GRE scores are at least average, what would my chances of being accepted straight into a Ph.D program for epidemiology be? Do you think I should apply to a Ph.D program right away or take more bio/chem classes for undergrad and not graduate undergrad early? I'm looking in to the Public Health/Epidemiology programs at University of Maryland, Baltimore. I am deciding between 3 choices, an MPH in epidemiology, MS in epidemiology, and of course, the Ph.D in epidemiology. I would really love some suggestions and advice!