<p>Try to keep your GPA over 3.0 since many programs have that as a minimum GPA. </p>
<p>As counterintuitive as it may be, the more competitive the grad program, the less they care about GPA. That’s because those programs look much more closer at research, work experience, and letters of recommendation. (The LORs are, of course, usually a reflection in part of academic success, but they go much deeper.) As I’ve said many times on this forum, a molbio prof at Princeton said that she doesn’t care about GPA – as long as it’s over 3.0 – and she doesn’t care about GRE scores – as long as they are over the 70th percentile. She spends just a couple of minutes reading the SOP. However, she spends a lot of time determining the quality of applicants based on their research experiences and LORs.</p>
<p>Lower ranked programs tend to be more numbers oriented, although the accepted students stats are also much lower. </p>
<p>Although I don’t know much about public health, I suspect that your application may be helped by taking a year off and working in the field for a year. Right now, though, you should be working on applying for internships/job in the public sector to show that you understand what you would be getting into. Perhaps you can do an independent study next semester (I know it’s awfully late) that melds anthropology with health issues. Or, if you plan on taking a year off after graduation, see if you can do that next year.</p>