A Student Experience Blog by Adwoa Nantwi, MPH Student Ambassador
Deciding on a graduate school can be one of the most nerve-wracking experiences that one encounters as they move closer to their career path. A variety of questions come to mind --- Where will I live? Should I go far away or stay closer to home? Does this school have opportunities that fit my long term goals? How will I handle working and classes? Can I find interesting research? All of these are important questions that came to my mind before deciding on NYU GPH.
For me, finding a school where I could see myself fitting in and finding the most opportunities were the most important factors. As I researched and narrowed down schools, I became hesitant because I had always gone to small schools in small towns. The idea of going to a large institution in the heart of a big city was daunting, but I knew from the minute I finished touring GPH that I had found my niche. Once I got my acceptance letter, the logical next step was to figure out both a living arrangement and potential work or research opportunities.
I knew I didn’t want to live alone, but pairing with random roommates made me a bit hesitant. In addition, trying to find an optimal travel time was also a big thing to consider. While searching for potential places to live, I found out about a unique opportunity here in the city - the International House NYC. The selective house is specifically for graduate students living in NYC. Roughly 90+ countries are represented in the house and 1/3 of the residents are from the United States. I took a chance and applied hoping for some good news. I remember the anxiousness I felt waiting for a response, but then finally it came—admitted! While I kind of threw all of my hope toward the International House (which I don’t recommend), I would say to never sell yourself short about seeking new and exciting opportunities.
Next, I had to figure out working. I knew working was a given for me, but I wasn’t sure how to begin figuring it out. How will it work with classes? Do I take a non-public health job or focus solely on research? Can I do both? My goal was to work in child and adolescent health, so trying to find suitable work became more vital as September arrived.
As classes started, I decided to start job hunting. After many rejections from hospital and government health jobs, I became a bit discouraged. A few weeks later, my brother, who works in education, directed me to a great tutoring company that focuses on improving education in low-resource NYC schools. I applied having had minimal teaching experience, but I knew I loved kids and even thought of it as a great way to think about how health impacts child education. I got the job working about 17 hours a week, and my to-do list was rapidly shrinking. There was only one thing remaining - research!
Given that my tutoring job was not geared toward research, I had to find another opportunity. Since I am concentrating in epidemiology, research was vital to building my resume and skills, but I found it to be the most terrifying thing. Being a biology major during my undergraduate studies, I had a decent amount of biological research, but clinical research was a whole new world. After talking with my GPH program advisor, I reached out to the social epidemiology lab which is a part of NYU GPH’s Centers, Labs, and Initiatives. I polished my resume and gave a great writing sample only to find out that they weren’t accepting students in the fall. I was disappointed, but I didn’t give up.
The following January, I reached out again and this time, I was accepted as a graduate research assistant! I started using all my class knowledge in real time with real data. While I was a bit nervous at first, and the fear of making a mistake was apparent, I realized something. I was at an institution to learn and grow as a researcher. I won’t always have the answer, and there were many times that I didn’t, but I was backed by a really supportive group of researchers with the same passion for improving health outcomes.
My first year at NYU was truly a time of learning, growing, and understanding the true definition of time management. Yes, balancing work, research and classes can be tricky, but it’s important to remember that it’s absolutely do-able, and all the work being done is meaningful!
Fast forward to a year later, my week consists of tutoring four days a week, maintaining four classes as a full-time student, working as a resident fellow at the International House, and working as a researcher at NY Presbyterian. I’ve gotten to work with brilliant kids, meet interesting graduate students from all over the world, and engage in fascinating research. As I inch closer to graduation, I’m curious to find out what the future holds, and I could have never imagined engaging in so many unique opportunities.
My best advice while working towards understanding grad school is to simply trust the process. It’s a time of immense change, but never back away from all the opportunities that are available. NYU and GPH have a plethora of resources, as well as a wonderful student affairs team and faculty that is truly present and ready to help. Some additional resources that have helped me have been the Wasserman Center for Career Development, NYU GPH Center for Labs, Centers, & Initiatives, International House NYC, and the NYU Financial Aid Office. For international students, I would also highly recommend the NYU Office of Global Services, which many of my peers have found extremely helpful. While making decisions can be critical, being open and utilizing the resources around you can make all the difference.
Adwoa Nantwi
MPH Student, Epidemiology;
Student Ambassador