Some Program Guidance [extensive]

[Public Matters]

Top of the morning! Thank you very much for any help you can give.

 

I'm an international relations major, comparative politics minor who will be graduating in this upcoming fall semester and going to be applying to MPH programs. I was wondering if you could aid me in maybe narrowing down my list or editing it based on my stats and goals? Of course none of us are experts but you are probably more knowledgeable than me about this, so all input is loved.

 

I do apologize for the long post. I tried to bold everything for those who just want to skim.

 

A Little Bit Of Info To Help...

1. I'm an african american male about 23 years old
2. I'm graduating, as mentioned from an international relations program with a comparative politics minor
3. My undergraduate GPA will be probably 3.47-3.55 depending on my grades this semester
4. If it matters, my major gpa is 4.0
5. If it matters, my upper division gpa is 3.8
6. I have GRE Scores of: 159 V, 163 Q, 5.0 A
7. I have a publication in our school journal about 25 pages dealing with the analysis, and corrective measures that should be taken regarding 'corrective rape' in South Africa. It is First Author
8. I posses a biological based internship that deals with stress and depression at our local medication school (university of maryland school of medicine). This yielded another publication contribution in a medical journal. I've also presented a poster presentation based on my research for academic research credit. Though not related I started this internship when I wanted to go into biology so I kept it for research experience.
9. I've taken 5 public health classes; Epidemiology, Field Research Methods, Geography of Disease and Health, Diseases and Health Seminar and Analysis of the Health Care System (the first 4 classes are 300 level). All As.
10. I'm a member of 2 extra curricular forums based on gender 'privilege and oppression' in society.
11. I have 3 Great Letters; one from a teacher I've had for 3 classes in the field, one from my lab mentor from Yale and one from another Lab mentor. I'm considering adding one from one of my public health classes.
12. I have no abroad experience besides recreational travel but I speak fluent Spanish (up to the senior level at school).

 

As For what I want to go into...I want to get an MPH in fields that have a Global Health Focus. Bonus if they have a disaster and humanitarian emergencies concentration or program.  After my MPH I either wanna work for disaster relief or get my PhD in international relations and become a expert on how global diseases and public health affect the flow of international relations.

 

I'm looking for programs that allow me

• Field experience (3-9 months) in another country
• connections to international organizations or NGOs
• Thesis paper preferred over capstone project but not picky
•  fellowships I would be competitive for. 

The programs I have in mind are:

• Columbia University (MPH in Sociomedical Sciences, Certificate in Public Health and Humanitarian Services)
• Washington University (global health Specialization)
• Brown (Intend to become a global health scholar)
• Drexel (Global Health Certificate
• University of Southern Florida (MPH in Global Disaster Management, Infection Control Cert)
• Oregon State University (MPH in international Health)
• Yale (MPH in Global Health)
• Boston University (MPH in International Health, focus in Disasters)
• Emory (Global Health)

 

Am I shooting too low? Too High? Just Right? Any advice at all you can give would be loved. 

[ZeroFlux]

I don't know if anyone here has background in admissions, so you may not get a detailed analysis of your credentials and chances for admittance. In terms of what you want from a program, I suspect that Rollins (Emory) could meet your critiera. However, I imagine that many of those other programs would work as well.

 

In terms of your aims, I'm not sure what you want to hear. There are a lot of good schools on your list. I wouldn't be surprised if you could get a great public health education at each and every one of those institutions. To a large extent, you will get out of an MPH program what you put in. My advice would be to make the most of any opportunities that present themselves to you. You may have a strong interest in international relations, but stay open to new possibilities based on the interests of your professors, academic colleagues, and potential employers.

 

Best of luck on your quest.