Crafting a Strong Application
In their application statements, successful prospective students demonstrate their commitment to public health research by discussing their involvement in research activities during their undergraduate or post-college careers. In addition, outline your specific research interests, methods or approaches you seek to learn, and future career goals so that our Admissions Committee can assess potential fit between your interests and our program. We also recommend that you mention specific faculty whose research or teaching interests align with your own. To help with this process, we recommend reviewing our faculty and their research areas. We also encourage prospective students to check out our current students and alumni.
The GRE is no longer required! However, we do require applicants to have taken and received at least a B grade in an introductory statistics course, at either the undergraduate or graduate level. Either an MPH (or equivalent Master’s degree) or 2+ years of relevant work experience is also strongly encouraged.
Strong applications generally include:
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Demonstrated commitment to research through discussion of research activities during undergraduate or post-college career
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Identification of specific research interests, methods or approaches you seek to learn
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Discussion of future career goals so that our Admissions Committee can assess potential fit between your interests and our program
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Mention of specific faculty whose research or teaching interests align with your own. To help with this process, we recommend reviewing our faculty and their individual websites.
We encourage all prospective Ph.D. students to reach out to existing faculty members to explore whether our program is a good fit for your interests and career goals. We do not formally interview applicants to our program, but conversations with individual faculty can be very useful for assessing whether our program is a good match for you.
Questions you may get asked:
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Questions you might want to ask:
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Also check out the following external resources:
- Hidden Rules for Contacting Potential PhD Advisors
- 9 Things You Should Consider Before Embarking on a PhD
- GRAD Guide to Applying to PhD Programs
- A Field Guide to Grad School: Uncovering the Hidden Curriculum
Updated Septemeber 2023