By Sabrina Chow, MPH’23 in Environmental Health-Epidemiology
Destination Public Health (DPH) is right around the corner on Saturday, October 22 from 9 am – 4:30 pm. This annual in-person event features a variety of sessions from members of the office of admissions and department representatives that are around to help you answer any questions that you may have about pursuing a master’s degree in public health at Rollins.
Attending an in-person prospective students’ day can often be overwhelming, especially after being in a virtual space for the past few years. Here, we highlight a few tips on how to make the most out of your time at DPH!
1. Do your research
Public health is an extremely broad field of study, which comes with a multitude of different degrees and programs. While you do not have to be committed in the program that you might want to apply to, it is always good to have a general idea of what is being offered and what program you may enjoy being a part of during the time in your master’s (Side tip: when applying to Rollins, you can rank your top three degree programs that you would want to be a part of!)
Information about each of our six departments can be found at this link. Prospective students interested in the Executive MPH program should use this link.
During DPH, there will also be a career, research, and organizations fair where many research groups, labs, student organizations, and career services will be tabling. It may be beneficial to look into some student organizations, professors, and research groups that you may be interested in joining to ask more directed questions about how you could get involved or what they do on campus.
A list of all current Rollins organizations can be found at this link and a faculty directory for all current Rollins faculty members can be found at this link.
2. Stay curious
With some much information getting thrown at you all at once, it can be easy to get overwhelmed. DPH is also admittedly quite a long day. However, take advantage of being able to visit a school before even applying. Take everything in—the general environment, the interactions that you have with students, faculty, and staff, and check in to see how you feel afterwards. It might be crazy to think about these things now, but these are the factors that are going to help you with your decision on where you decide to commit to in just a few months. Having the opportunity to experience all of these things in-person is a HUGE step up from reading about it online. As a student that applied to public health programs during the peak of COVID-19, I WISH I had the opportunity to visit the school before committing (not that I regret the decision at all).
3. Speak up
With so many prospective students all together at an event with not enough people to answer their questions, it is easy to fall into the crowd. But remember, you came to Rollins to learn more about public health and what Rollins has to offer. Some people may have similar questions as you, but you may have questions that others might not even have thought of. So be sure to speak up and ask the questions that you have!
All the Rollins Ambassadors are excited to meet you at Destination Public Health! And if you have additional questions about Rollins after attending, do not hesitate to fill out this form to connect with an ambassador to answer any lingering questions you may have.
Rollins Student Ambassadors 