Hi all!
My anxiety about applying to PhD programs next year is creeping in as my friends are now receiving decisions from this cycle. I want to research the the effects of racism and other forms of discrimination on health and evaluate policies to eliminate systemic discrimination as a means to better health.
My biggest worry for admissions is that I don't have a Master's. I don't want to pay for an MPH when I already have pretty substantial research experience and did a public health undergrad major. I'm wondering if you could take a look at my credentials and let me know your thoughts on whether not having the Master's degree will hurt me in admissions?
Undergrad: top 30 US News private university, GPA was 3.8-something, magna cum laude, did double major + minor all directly related to my intended PhD studies
Research experience: 4+ years editing/drafting papers for a professor and doing some analyses, 2 years in a psychology lab, did an honors thesis (collected my own data, passed IRB etc.), 2 years working for top public health researcher post-undergrad. My LORs will all be from profs I have done research with and will be stellar.
GRE: On ETS practice exam I got 170V, 154Q (I'm working to break 160 on quant in the real test)
Additional: I'm expecting to have 2 empirical papers under review by the time I submit my applications, and I will have a couple of non-peer reviewed public health publications. I received a couple of rewards and research grants in undergrad, but nothing too impressive (no Fulbright or anything like that)
So... what do you think? It is a waste of time to apply to PhDs without the master's or do I have a shot?
THANK YOU!!!
