I once met a senior hospital administrator who did everything possible to avoid seeing or meeting patients or distressed relatives because such an encounter had once upset her. It occurred to me then that it is truly dangerous for those administering matters relating to the sick and their care to see them solely as ‘budgetary units’ or only as part of theoretical paper plans because such people could never acquire and retain the professional enthusiasm and passion needed to fulfil their role properly. I made up my mind then to ensure that I would regularly expose myself to the ‘real world’ of health provision to remind myself that ‘budgetary units’ are in fact brothers and sisters who may be in great distress and whose lives I may have the power to affect for the better even if only marginally.
All the volunteer work that I have undertaken has involved visiting the sick, particularly children, and helping at homeless shelters. Such exposure to the sick and marginalized ensures that I never forget that the statistics are real people and that their problems are important, and I am determined to continue to do so. Since childhood it has been my intention to ‘make a difference’ rather than merely ‘make a living’. Public Health is a field in which I feel confident that I can make that difference in people’s lives. I now seek to acquire the expert skills and knowledge to enable me to assist in identifying and implementing programs to provide accurately targeted and effective health education and improvements in healthcare to achieve a general and increasing improvement in health awareness and in well-being. I am especially interested in the identification and treatment of those who may ‘fall through the net’ because of financial considerations or lack of health awareness.
My career objective is to gain employment in the CDC either implementing programs or conducting program evaluations, on health disparities and would be extremely interested in assisting in research on the extent, effects, and remedy for health provision disparities.
I am confident that the program will equip me to achieve my career objective. I have carefully researched and considered several excellent programs available and conclude that your own is the ‘best fit’ for my purposes because of its flexibility and interdisciplinary nature, the wide variety of elective courses and their relevance to my career aspirations, the practical elements of the program, the prestigious reputations of the faculty and the success of graduates of the program.
I am aware that the increasing incidence of, for instance, preventable diabetes and STD’s and the significant effects of the ‘aging population’ are bringing new challenges that will require new and imaginative initiatives and I want, very much, to be one of those dealing effectively with these and other current and future challenges. I am confident that the program will equip me to do so.
I believe that this work to date has provided me with a good grounding in areas that are highly relevant to the program and my career beyond it. I have been involved in public health related research work for two years. I have been involved in a wide variety of work including the provision of project management and research support, conducting focus groups, authoring technical reports, providing presentations and the development of health training materials. I have had the advantage of being interested, encouraging and highly knowledgeable supervisors and mentors who have given me the opportunity to apply my initiative to my work and provided me with a wide variety of tasks and duties.
I have a solid academic record with a GPA of XXX and having made the Dean’s list for two semesters during my undergraduate studies.
I have research experience and I am keen to apply this experience within the program to an interesting and useful project. I am first generation Hispanic; I speak and write Spanish fluently. I have happily studied, worked, and socialized with people from many social and ethnic backgrounds. I have travelled widely, having visited South America, Asia and Africa and was fascinated by cultural differences and contrasts that I met on these travels. I am a sociable person with a well-developed sense of humor who gets on easily with others.
I hold a directly relevant bachelor's degree, have a solid academic background and research experience. I also have highly relevant work experience. This background will, I am sure, enable me to ‘add value’ to the program and bring valuable insights to it. My most important ‘asset’ is my enthusiasm and commitment which will be fully applied in the program for my own benefit, that of my colleague students and of the faculty.
Thank you for considering my application.
MPH Personal Statement Public Health, Spanish, Latina