PublicHealth18

I would suggest getting involved in a research lab during undergrad to find out your interests and to see what it's actually like. A lot of people think they will like research, but until you actually experience it, you won't really know. This will allow you to see where your field of interest is as well--right now you are saying pharmaceutics but also genetics which are two very different things. I know you are in a community college, but if and once you transfer to a university, you can contact professors whose research you find interesting and see if they have availability in their lab. It'll likely just be an unpaid volunteer type position, but then at least you will get exposure. One thing about graduate school is that you need to have a specific idea of what you want to specialize in. It's not like applying to college. Rather, you are applying to a specific program and working under one particular faculty member.

I just read through all of these posts and it made me so happy to see that there are people like me out there. I want to share my own story as well. I graduated from a top private university with a 2.6 GPA. I don't have much of an excuse other than the fact that I wasn't focused and wasn't even into what I was studying. I started off as pre-med, and those weed-out classes killed my GPA. I finally changed my major after realizing medicine was not going to be in my future. By the time my junior and senior year rolled around, I did a little better, but not enough to get my cumulative GPA up by much. I did get awarded some money to do research with a professor and I did present a poster, so I had this going for me, but literally nothing else. Luckily, I was able to get a job as a research assistant almost right after graduating, with someone in my field. I worked there for a year and started applying to MPH programs. My GREs were decent but not great (152 V, 158 Q). I was accepted into an MPH program and graduated the MPH with a 3.8 GPA while working full time. To others that have considered whether addressing your low GPA helps--I did. I just included a paragraph about it. No need to dwell on it, but I think it does help to acknowledge your mistakes. I think doing that, along with my research experience, is probably what got me in. I remember seeing that acceptance letter and re-reading it a bunch of times to make sure I had read correctly. Now I am looking to apply to PhD programs. My undergrad GPA may still prevent me from getting in but I am going to try. By the time I apply, I'll have 5+ years of research experience, a handful of publications and presentations, as well as really good LORs.

I am going to be applying for my PhD this upcoming fall (for acceptance in Fall 2019). The issue is, I took my GRE 5 years ago at this point and according to the ETS website, my score is "good" up until July 2018. Will I still be able to submit my score? When does the application period open for PhD programs? Alternatively, I could just retake them. But it's been so long I think I've pretty much forgotten everything. Yikes.

Thanks for your response! I have been first author so that might be helpful. I'm going to start reaching out to faculty as well. Please keep me posted on your acceptance!

Does anyone know about the new DrPH program at JHU? I've tried researching more about it but can't find much information because it's a newer program that they just re-vamped.

I personally would choose what you find more interesting. You can take more courses in epi and advanced biostats which can help you gain skills that would be considered more "marketable". For example, in my MPH program we were allowed to take a couple electives and we could choose from a variety of courses (some of which were advance epi and biostats courses). At the end of the day, an MPH is still an MPH...I don't think concentration matters as much as you think. It's what courses you take and what you end up making out of it.

I've been thinking about applying to PhD programs but my undergrad GPA still haunts me. I graduated with a whopping 2.8. I honestly don't have a good excuse other than the fact that I wasn't focused and didn't really figure out what I was truly passionate about until the end of my junior year. Luckily, I was able to get into a respectable MPH program and graduated that with a 3.8 GPA. I worked in health services research as a research coordinator throughout my MPH, and I currently work in health policy research at a top consulting firm. My GREs were decent (158 Q, 152 V) but I could retake those if needed. I have a decent amount of publications under my name as well. I'm looking into DrPH and PhD programs both...I'm still undecided. I would like to go into Health Policy and some of the schools I have looked at include GW, UMD, and Hopkins (which is probably way out of my reach but worth trying...?). Am I completely unrealistic for thinking I even have a shot due to my low undergrad GPA?