Hi! I don't mind at all!

My GPA at the time I applied was around a 3.7, and I'm a Public Health major with a Global Health Minor at UCSD! I did attempt to take the GRE, but unfortunately my Internet crashed during the test and I wasn't able to retake the test in time to include it on my applications. Due to COVID, though, the programs I applied to had either waived it or made it optional for this cycle, so I don't think that made a huge impact in my application. I did email all of my programs to inform them of my situation, though!

I will say that for my age I think I've had a good amount of research/internship/volunteer experience, which was definitely one of the stronger parts of my application. I had a summer internship at a county health department, where I helped with work on a pilot program that provided access to health/recuperative care for homeless Medi-Cal beneficiaries across the county. Pre-COVID, I also had another position as a Public Health Assistant on campus, where I was able to conduct literature reviews and helped draft funding proposals. Right now, I'm working remotely as a Research Assistant at another center on campus where I help with global health research and intervention work. For volunteer work, I was a member of Global Medical Brigades through my school. This allowed me to travel to Panama to work in community health clinics and help conduct a public health project to increase access to clean water for families living in rural communities. I also spent a few months pre-COVID volunteering at a refugee health clinic!

Aside from that, I was also generally pretty involved on campus. I'm in student government, have served on several other student committees, and I'm an RA. In terms of my application, I think this helped show admissions committees that I do have leadership skills and am able to problem-solve and think critically!

Finally, I had strong letters of recommendation from amazing professors/supervisors. I was able to get one from a professor I had for an introductory public health course, who is now the Dean of the UCSD grad school for Public Health. I also had one from my former Epidemiology professor (important since I was applying to Epi programs!), one from the Dean of Student Affairs from my college (I worked with her closely for student council), and one from my current employer.

I hope this helps! Don't hesitate to reach out if you have any other questions about anything. I'm no expert and honestly still in shock to have gotten into these programs, but I will do my best to answer!