bad transcript - any chance? epi of microbes help too...

[UH-epi]

Hi! Any advice as to what are the best programs for a M.P.H. in epi of infectious/microbial diseases?
Also, I'm an undergrad with little work experience (I'm starting an internship in genetic/statistical epi at Baylor College of Medicine soon). I have about a 3.5 GPA, Honors coursework, and I'm an anthropology major/biology minor. I will be taking my GRE in October. Problem: I had an absolutly horrible transcript in my first few years of college, and even went to community college for a while - I definitley have some major transcript flaws - how badly will this affect my acceptance into a public health program? Any hope for places like Yale or Columbia?

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[fantasty]

Just my $0.02, but I think you'll be fine. I think a 3.5 should be good enough for most MPH programs (maybe not the "top tier" but even then, it might be possible - there were some threads where people discusses their "stats" if you can find them). If you have a bio minor, it might help too if you have good grades in upper level bio classes (especially microbiology since you are interested in infectious disease epi).

As for suggestions of programs, most of your "ranked" MPH programs will have good ID programs. Of the top my head, Harvard/Yale/Berkeley/Hopkins/U Washington of course jump to mind. Emory is a good choice due to its proximity to CDC. Tulane and Hawaii are good in that regard, too, because of they do a lot of tropical medicine epi.

We (U Iowa) do not have a big program in infectious disease yet, but it's growing.

 

[boogita]

You grades seem fine. A 3.5 is perfectly acceptable to get into grad school (most schools want at least a 3.0). I have always been taught that as long as you did well in your major and 'the bad grade years' where in the beggining of college it's not so bad. They want to know that you have changed. What really kills people is when they do worse in the last two years of school.

The only big piece of advice that I can give you is most of the top schools are looking for people with at least two years 'public health' type experience.

I dont' think that your grades will be a problem but your lack of exerience may be. I think it's great that you are doing an internship and that should deffinetly help. I would look up what each of the public health schools you are looking into have as their requirments as far as experience goes.

 

[AspiringDoctor9]

Hihi!

You know... I wouldn't worry at all if I were you. If it is true that you had some bad years upfront, you obviously improved since then to have the GPA you do - and showing improvement since then is what's important. Of course, some schools might want an explanation as to what happened, but if you have a reasonable explanation and are honest, you should be fine. It might be something to address in your application, if you are really worried. I was accepted at Yale and Columbia and to be blatently honest, many people there didn't even have a 3.5 GPA. I think you're in good shape as long as the rest of your application is in order! =)

 

[UH-epi]

Hi - thanks for your replies - its a bit more complicated then it seems though - i basically have 2 transcripts to send in - I started off at a uni and did horribly, went to a community college, where i started off badly and then got better - ended there with a 3.3 GPA - went back to uni to complete my degree and improved to a 3.5-- i know you all say that a 3.5 is ok, but doesn't it matter where that GPA is from? - i mean, a 3.5 from Harvard is not quite the same as a 3.5 from a public/city uni......plus- my life has been a bit hectic- I'm finally getting my BS at the age of 25. Do you think grad schools will be hesitant to accept someone like that - even with improvement?