iCanyouCan

haha! awesome. I'm ending my first semester now at GW. It's been incredible goodluck!

So, your GPA sucks. Your GRE score? Taking that baby to the grave..aren't ya? OR maybe it's worse....perhaps much like myself you have both factors weighing down your application...ya? I understand..too well, so let's begin with this: Calm down... breathe....and please, do not take everything on this site to heart. If you're motivated and you're driven to get into an MPH program, you'll get there. You can stop reading now really because YOU WILL GET THERE. My advice to you is simple: Stay Positive, Stay Confident, and compensate for your low points in your application strategically....it's fine...you will get in. If you listen to nothing more I say in this blog --- take just this advice with you: All of those previous post you read from people worrying about their "low" gre scores between 1150-1300....screw them. They are the worst - ignore them...all of them. Do not compare yourself to them - value that you have far better sense of self-perception than they do, which will make you a much better graduate student. So here it goes: Here was what I was working with when I applied: Undergrad GPA: 2.9 (average liberal arts school) GRE first time 870 GRE second time 930 Awful.. I know. School was the LAST thing on my mind, that is until after I graduated. So here is what I did that got me in to a top 20 program. Work Experience: I got a job that paid me to do research (entry level) at a research institute in Boston (city where I did my undergrad) The job was awesome, challenging, and I was totally unqualified, unprepared, and not holding any academic cred for it (but I tricked them into hiring me somehow, with a bad joke and a super "I really REALLY want this job endearing speech in my interview...) How did I get my foot in the door for the interview? I searched the HR contact girls name in facebook and found a mutual friend (someone i talked to say once?) in common and capitalized on this Kevin Bacon degree of separation by not being afraid to ASK someone for a favor. I learned more in that year and half than most people will in their MPH program. Just get in the field somehow and stick with it for a year and half at the least.- I don't care how, just do it. Working now in my second year in the MPH field at a great health care center/research gig - I CONSTANTLY pay this act of kindness forward as my acquaintance once did for me. It's a fun little helping cycle... get into it.. and stop worrying about ASKING... just do it - worse they can say is no. Should you work for free? If you have bills to pay then NO. Honestly, don't...you'll end up resentful if you're broke and you'll be tempted to make a rash choice to switch career paths. YES - if your rents can flip the bill - YES - if you know your boundaries and work/volunteer once a week for a few hours or a couple during the week at a lab in a university doing research. Your BEST strategic move is to work AT the university you want to go to in anything (administration, billing, research, what-the-hell-ever) then not only are you allowed to take courses in the masters program but youll most likely go for free. Graduate Classes? I took two graduate level courses in a similar area to what I was interested in studying, got A's, and I believed this helped. Note - i'd prob. do this at the university/program you'd like to attend... Published papers? Screw anyone with a BA and publications - they prob had zero fun in college ...and take pride in that. I had two posters with my name on it from working in a psych lab that summer before i applied - I'm thinking that helped, but it's such an overrated experience... focus on getting a job that pays with your free time. Ask yourself this: What's more annoying than applying to grad school? Attending conferences with graduate students.... Recs? They matter - be nice to people, this shouldn't be a problem if you're not a dick in life. Essay's Be yourself, research faculty research, and edit the crap out it. You'll be fine. You'll get in. Just find a way that works for you to work around your weak points and you'll get in. I promise.

see above