Stories

Rescinding is not an option, it's something you have to go out of your way to find and do. That's why it's frowned upon.

I'm a power user and overall computer junkie so keep that in mind.

If you're looking for solid build quality, go for a Lenovo. They break the bank and are boring as nails to look at, but they are solid (think Toyota or Honda).

If you want something with design flair, great hardware for the price, go for a ASUS. They don't have much of a reputation yet and some would say they look silly, but they pack a lot of performance for the price (think Mitsubishi).

If you want something that's very mainstream without many frills, reasonably priced, and fairly reliable, get a Dell (think Hyundai).

HP, Gateway, and Toshiba are other mainstream companies which don't really stand out in any way. HP offers many different SKUs so you can get pretty much what you want, but their reliability and build quality leave something to be desired. Toshiba is kind of, meh, all the way around. Gateway makes a few great gaming laptops (their FX series), but their mainstream laptops are a bit big and unwieldy compared to the competition.

That's my $.2

It's amazing when you tell folks that live around you (not in the same city as the school is located) that you went/go to XYZ school. They automatically assume you're rich and got pampered. When really, it's just a lot of hard work in high school.

People seem to forget that the educational system rewards perseverance.

Although I'm happy to say that I'm a first-generation college graduate, master's graduate, and future PhD student

B's in any public health course will certainly harm your chances, so definitely re-take it and get an A in the course.

I'd also be concerned with your GRE score, you should absolutely re-take that and get it up into the 1300's at the very least, particularly the quantitative section (shoot for at least 750+ there).

I think MPHs are a waist of time for multiple reasons. The first being many major universities' mph programs are diploma mills for MDs or residents so the quality of education is poor, especially at the big names in pub. health e.g., johns hopkins, harvard, berkley etc.

If you cannot get into a PhD program today, I would suggest getting a master's degree in a math/statistics/science type discipline. Do NOT get a master's in something like nursing or kinesiology or nutrition. These majors are for people who cannot do science and they generally end up in very remedial schools, if they choose to transfer over to pub health later in life.

I know a few Dr. PHs and they are very smart but have very limited skill sets. They have not brought in any dollars from research grants at least not from NIH which is very important to do especially if you want promotions and tenure. Dr. PHs are more analysts than anything else. They do a lot of consulting and generally teach data analysis courses to MPH students, if they have to teach at all.

Pub Health is one of the best disciplines in academia, if you are good at what you do. You have opportunities to help people at a mass level and the opportunity to earn a very comfortable salary.