How much will this help for MPH admission?

juillet
Fri, 06 Dec 2013 15:19:05 +0000

I’m not really sure what you’re asking specifically. Are you asking whether recommendations from people who went to, or teach at, the programs to which you are applying carry more weight? That depends, but in general yes.

-A letter of recommendation from a professor that teaches in the program/department to which you’re applying will almost always have a pretty strong positive impact on your application, provided that that professor actually knows you well and can speak about your work. The other professors in the department know that professor and their reputation; they can speak directly to her about any concerns or questions they may have about you, and she can advocate for you.

-A letter of recommendation from an alumna of the department can be potentially stronger than from another person, assuming that (as nano pointed out) the person writing you the letter is an appropriate letter writer in the first place. That alumna has completed the same program you want to and theoretically can speak more authoritatively about your ability to complete the program. But recommenders should in general be PhD-level scientists who have supervised you in research or taught you in class. In your case, it works because the boss has a PhD in epidemiology and supervises you in research; it wouldn’t work nearly as well if, let’s say, this was a coworker (and not a supervisor) who had just gotten an MPH there in epi and does applied epi work.

So yes, they can help your chances. That doesn’t mean that you’ll get in over other candidates who don’t have recommendations from connected sources - that depends on other factors, like your GPA, GRE scores and research/work history. And this is not specific to public health programs - it applies pretty much across the board.