tmae1126

Hello everyone, I am applying graduate school for the 2nd time. The first time I applied was in Fall 2017. I got into many of the schools I applied to, but I also received a job offer for two years. I decided to take the job because it was only a two-year contract, and go to graduate school after. Now that the Fall 2020 application is open, it is time for me once again to apply for graduate school. I just have two major questions, does my statement of purpose have to be completely different than my first one? I would like to talk about my current and prior experience in public health in my statement. Second question: I talked about a few of my roles in my 1st statement, but can also talk about them in my second?Thank you so much!

So, I have a bit of a dilemma on my hands. I took a gap year after graduating from college, and I thought I was going to go straight to grad school after. I got accepted to multiple programs, and I already declined all of the programs except one. Here’s the problem: I also applied to a competitive, two-year fellowship with a government organization, and I made it to the interview stage! And now, I changed my mind about going to grad school and I’d like to get more experience on my hands. Unfortunately, we won’t know if we get the position by July. Point is: there might be a chance I might decline the school after I accept my intent to go there if I get the fellowship. I know that grad schools (I applied to both public health and heath administration) allow deferment for only a year, but I’d like to have a backup plan just in case I don’t get the fellowship (which is go to grad school). So let’s say if I do get the fellowship, should I just be honest with the school I accepted and tell them I want to do the fellowship? Or take a risk and decline the school and I hope I get the fellowship? If I do the former, I just hope that this won’t hinder me from other schools considering my application the next time I apply to grad school. I’m applying right after the fellowship, and this time I INTEND to go back to school. Any advice helps, thanks!

I am a recent graduate from a state school with a Bachelors in Health Science. I am planning on applying to graduate school for Masters in Health Management/Health Administration. I took the GRE 2 weeks ago, and my scores were...abysmal. It was 150 in Verbal, 151 in Quant, and a 3.5 in writing. I wanted to take it again before I apply to get a higher score. Unfortunately, there are no more available GRE tests for the month of November in my area, according to the ETS website. I think my experience is good, but my stats are pretty low. I have a 3.4/3.85 cumulative/major GPA. My experience includes: - 4 month health policy internship - 2.5 years in the COPE Health Scholar program - 10 months in COPE Health Scholar Leadership Team (Admin Coordinator) - Jumpstart AmeriCorps Member - English Academic Tutor for over a year - CDC Undergraduate Public Health Scholar - Health Science Honor Society Member -Eta Sigma Gamma - Health Outreach/Data Analysis internship with Michigan Medicine - 5 months Research internship with non-profit (focusing on social determinants of health) - Currently a AmeriCorps Community Health Fellow Some of the school that I am planning on applying to include USC, UMich, UMinn, Boston, WashU, Loma Linda, CSUN, Tulane, Emory, GWU, UCLA (which I might withdraw from now)I have letter of recs from professors from internships...but I'm worried that my stats would be a barrier for me to get accepted to any school. I wanted to take the GRE again, but since there are no sites available for me to take it before the application deadline, I don't know what to do anymore. I just want to be accepted somewhere. I would really appreciate any advice. Thank you!

Thank you so much for replying @Celavia! I really appreciate the feedback you have given me. I am crossing my fingers for either UCLA or Berkley!

So, I am graduating this May with a degree in Health Science (concentrating in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention). I really want to go to a UC school for Masters of Public Health Program for Health Policy and Management, but I don't feel confident for two reasons: 1) My undergraduate institution 2) My overall GPA I also screwed up during my freshman year, but I have a crazy upward trend from my last two years of college, which was when I was a senior and super senior. Here are my statistics:-Cumulative GPA: 3.33 (Hopefully it will become a 3.4 after this semester, it's low because I was biology major during junior year - it wasn't even the Biology classes that got me, it was the Calculus classes that we were required to take :/) -Major GPA: 3.88 (looking to be above a 3.9 by the end of the semester)I have internship/volunteer experience related to the Health field and others.- 2+ years of doing a clinical internship (500 hours)- Leadership team at my internship (Admin Coordinator)- Worked at a tutoring center for over a year- Internship at Environment Health and Safety Department in school- Research intern for a non-profit in Orange County (did community-based participatory research on social determinants of health) - Worked for AmeriCorps as a Jumpstart Corps Member (300 hours)- Just got accepted into an internship with the CDC this summer. (It was competitive to get into. The internship accepts only 40 and there were 700 applicants this year)I haven't taken my GRE yet, but I am planning on taking it once I come back from my summer internship.What concerns me is that I went to a Cal State for my undergraduate degree. I don't hear many of my peers wanting to go to a UC for graduate school, especially at UCLA, UCI, or Cal. I am also worried about my low cumulative GPA. I have a crazy upward trend on my transcript for last two years, though.I am planning on taking a gap year to gain work experience before I start applying for graduate schools, but what can I do to make myself a more competitive applicant for these schools? Especially that I went to a Cal State and my low cumulative GPA?