ROAD TO MASTERS IN THE US

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jhsph.edu 

ROAD TO MASTERS PROGRAM IN THE US

 

The first thing is deciding where you want to further your education. For me, I believe the United States stands out for various reasons

 

1. Their institutions/universities are among the best in the world

2. Unlike institutions in the UK, you do not have to pay tuition upfront. In fact in my case, I had come to the US, started my program and was way into my program before payment was required to register for courses for next term. I only paid acceptance fee back in Nigeria.

3. There are scholarships available in most institutions, but they are quite competitive. Do due diligence and research on the institutions you are applying to. This is a link of available scholarships in some institutions. 

4. In lieu of scholarships there are loans available which do not require a co-signer/guarantor like Prodigy finance and Mpower

 

 

Depending on when you are making this decision, I would start from the beginning, so you can pick up from where applies to you.

 

From college/university:

 

One has to start making intentional career choices. If you would like to pursue a masters in Health Policy for instance, even as a student, you can start writing to the state house of assembly on important changes you think need to be made or you can request audience with a representative from your local government etc. Implementation of your policy could be a huge credit to your admission process for instance.

If you are interested in research (quantitative or qualitative), you could join researches as an assistant even while in the university, for instance, those in medical school could join Senior residents going for Part 2 in their research, but you must have genuine interest in the research and it is what you would like to pursue in your masters program and beyond.

Most programs do not require GRE- Graduate Record Examinations anymore, but it is better to be prepared than not. Preparation for GRE verbal reasoning requires enriching one’s vocabulary and that could be done by reading professional journals, magazines, best-selling novels etc.

 

Post-college graduate:

 

Research on the school you would like to go to. I am aware one major factor is cost, but so is the institution, make sure you are getting your time and/or money’s worth when doing a masters degree. 

Check the school requirements and follow up as necessary.

I recommend going for the best for your desired program.

If you want a Masters in Public Health, apply to Johns Hopkins University

If you want a Masters in Business Administration, apply to Harvard University 

 

Some of the requirements include:

 

• Transcripts from your university: This in most cases must be sent directly by your university to international transcript verification bodies like WES- World Education Services.

WES requires a hard copy of your degree certificate be sent to them as well.

You create an account with them and get a request form with which you submit to your university to start the process.

This could take a substantial amount of time (checking with your school exams and records department, contacting WES on their website or through email, and also because of the incessant strikes in Nigerian universities one has to start way ahead of time). This process should be started like 8 months to a year even before applying for admissions. 

 

• For those applying to Public Health Schools- you can either apply directly to them if that is allowed or apply through SOPHAS- Schools of Public Health Application Service. 

You create an account and get a CAS ID with which you would link your WES account and request that your verified transcript be sent to SOPHAS through which you could simultaneously apply to multiple schools as you want bearing in mind the cost of applications.

 

• Statement of Purpose (SOP)/ Statement of Objective/Statement of Intent: You need to sell yourself here using various tools including what some would call ‘humble bragging’ where you highlight your achievements and your passion without actually bragging. For instance if your policy was implemented in your LGA or State and the impact it has had in your community, for instance if your policy was on Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) and its link to cervical cancer and after a research was conducted it was discovered since the implementation of your policy that there has been an increase in the number of HPV vaccination in your community.

But beware not to be repeating what is already on your CV.

Do not dwell on what you have done, but on what you would do with your background (experience) and the degree coupled with the skills you are about to learn. 

Also, it is good to note that one should never use the words ‘passion’ or ‘passionate’ when describing what they are passionate about. You could use examples of what you did to tell your story. 

Try as much as possible to avoid plagiarism, it could cost you your admission or degree. 

This was my SOP for my admission to Hopkins and the guide I used. 

• CV/Resume: I would recommend submitting a CV rather than a Resume here because CV is more detailed and they need to see your achievements and experience. Here is an editable word file of an admission CV. (Open it with Microsoft word app on a computer). 

 

 

• Recommendations/Referees: You would need at least 3 persons to stand as your referee. If registering through SOPHAS, you would need to ask and get their phone contact and email address and provide it on your profile in SOPHAS.

Please leave your questions in the comments section and I would update this with the answer as much as I can as soon as possible. Thank You

About The Author

Chinemeihe Alaku MD, MPH is a physician and a public health professional currently involved in Clinical Research in the United States. He recently graduated from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the number one School of Public Health in the world, a rank it has maintained for 28 years since the rankings began in 1994.

http://linkedin.com/in/chinemeihe-alaku