MPH work/volunteer experience

[petee]

Hi everybody,

I am planning to apply to an MPH program in the near future. I am graduating with a BSc in Anthropology and planned to pursue a masters in anthropology before I was exposed to the field of public health while I was studying abroad. I have relatively no work experience in the field. Is there any point to me applying for an MPH without work experience? Are there any schools that would consider me?

[Biz]

Public health programs are known for looking for students that come from a variety of academic backgrounds and with varying levels of experience. I came from another field myself, International Relations, and I'm now in my second year of my MPH program. Take a look at the schools' specific requirements (some do have experience requirements like Columbia for global programs (which I still hear you can get around)) but regardless your lack of experience shouldn't be a huge problem.

[mphprogramsfu]

Hi,

I have similar question as one above. I don't have a very high GPA and some schools can be tough to get in so I was thinking about enhancing my volunteer/work experience part of my application. Could someone please recommend organizations/places/type of volunteer work that I can do for improving my chance of getting into the program. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot!

[amrodri5]

I recently graduated with my MPH from USF, and I came into the program with almost zero experience. I had 2 months interning with Miami-Dade Area Health Education Center, but my concentration was in global communicable disease so it might as well not have counted. Regardless, I got into USF and GWU with the absolute minimum GRE and GPA. I think sometimes your SOP and LOR speak loudly about your capabilities. While I was in the program I gained all sorts of experience including conducting research internationally. But Biz is right, you should definitely check and see if the schools you want to apply to have requirements as far as experience goes, all schools are different.

Good luck, and don't let your lack of experience keep you from applying.

P.S. USF has dual MPH/MA in anthropology for a bunch of their concentrations! Just in case your interested!