Switching Fields

[CallieTrichid]

For some back story: I've always been really interested in medical anthropology. As an undergraduate, my specialty was on primatology. I got accepted to a graduate program for primatology and museum studies this year, but I'm not sure I'm going to take it (personal reasons).

However, it is my dream to study zoonotic diseases and epidemics and the patterns in which diseaes in animals jump over and infect humans. So, instead of sticking with the primate side, I'm thinking of retooling and doing epidemiology or behavioral sciences where I might be able to get a job in public health. I've done some looking into the life style, and I always really enjoyed the research part of primatology.

I've never taken a chemistry class in my life and I have yet to take an official statistics class. I'm not very talented in math, so I'm thinking of leaning more towards the behavioral sciences side of public health. I'm also thinking about trying to do a statistics course either this summer or upcoming fall. My GRE scores were low, but I had a 630 verbal (91%), 500 quant (27%), and 5.0 analytical (84%). I'm probably going to retake it again, and do what I can to boost my quant score. My undergrad GPA was a 3.1, but I had some circumstances behind two semesters of shit grades. Almost all of my semesters in college were above a 3.1 otherwise.

While I've got really good research experience for primates (including a stint in a neuropsych lab and working for a wildlife health center--which I don't think will help me out that much, but figure it's worth mentioning just in case), I'm not sure how to go about getting valuable experience in this field with where I'm currently located. And because I am paying off student loan bills, it's not like I can jump around anywhere I want easily. So, I'm going to see if I can get a volunteer position at Planned Parenthood (I also really enjoy women's health issues) or maybe at a local hospital. Would either of these be helpful?

Admittedly, this is in the nascent stage of planning, but I'd just like to know what are things that make for a strong candidate for public health graduate programs? Also, what is a way I can build my resume to be more attractive to these programs when my credentials are best suited for primatology--or is this something I can work to my favor?

Edit: I figured I should add this for what it's worth: I've taken a few relevant-ish to public health courses (Medical Anthropology, Diseases in Wildlife, Cultural Health of Africa, Principles of Biological Anthropology, Intro to Environmental Health) and did pretty well in them, so it's not like this is coming out of left field entirely.

Edited April 6, 2012 by CallieTrichid