- Joined
- Feb 2, 2014
- Messages
- 66
- Reaction score
- 68
I'm a senior Applied Math major whose pre-med path has ended. I love the idea of serving people, and I love medicine, but I think I have the wrong temperament for the field. Now I'm considering a career in public health, specifically epidemiology. But I have no idea what to do to be competitive for grad school. The info I'm finding on the web (at least for Public Health) is a little sparse and vague.
- Given that I once wanted to be a doctor where I would immediately see my work paying off in people's lives, is there a place in epidemiology for someone who wants something more immediately gratifying than the typical researcher's career? It doesn't have to be as immediate as a clinician, but the idea of spending years on a project with seemingly no tangible results sounds awful to me.
- How did you realize what types of epidemiology jobs were available (through grad school, like how med students have rotations)? Or did you know what you wanted to do going in?
- I think I want to take a gap year before applying. This is mostly because I want to get some strong LORs (not having had much contact with my professors before) and give myself time to kill the GRE. What experiences should I be striving for to A. be a competitive applicant and B. have something more to put in my SOP than "this field seems interesting?"
- I have no research experience. Will this be a problem? Would it be good to use my gap year to get some?
