aspiringMPH

Hi Everyone, I am hoping to apply to MPH programs for Fall 2021 admissions. I wanted to come on here to seek advice/comfort from those going through the same processes as well as previously successful applicants. I am currently struggling with whether or not I should apply for 2021 admissions, or wait another year to strengthen my background as I fear I am not a competitive applicant... The Schools that I am considering applying to are Guelph, University of Alberta, Queens and McGill however am open to any program so long as it fits my interests. I would like a program with a practicum component rather than a thesis requirement. A little about me... I am about to enter my fourth year BASc Public Health at Laurier University, my overall GPA for my first three years of study is 11.5 (Laurier bases their GPA on a 12 point scale, if this were to be converted I believe it would be around a 3.9). I have previous experience from high school and first year working as an admin assistance in rehabilitation clinics (chiro, physio, massage therapy, naturopath). This is where my career interests shifted from a medical career to a more public health field, as I began seeing there was more to health than a bio-medical approach. However I'm not sure this would still be considered relevant experience. In addition, I have very recent, and limited, volunteer experience at a health centre working as a general greeter as well as at a Salvation Army food bank helping with food orders. I don't have any other professional work experience or research experience other than class assignments (biostats labs, lit reviews, general research papers). I fear that it is too late to seek further volunteer experience seeing as many applications open in September. Any advice?