2014 PhD Applicants USA - Interview/Rejection/Acceptance

[NUUM4ward]

Hey NUUM4ward, have you heard anything from NYU GIPH yet?

Hey spence2312. I actually never made it to NYC because my layover flight was cancelled... so I ended up having a Skype interview this past Monday. I talked with one of the deans, who was supposed to be one of the professors scheduled for the individual part of interview day - likely because of our similar research interests. He said that they were looking to accept 6-8 students between the four tracks and that they would be making decisions in the next couple of weeks....so yeah it's just a waiting game from here.

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[spence2312]

Hey spence2312. I actually never made it to NYC because my layover flight was cancelled... so I ended up having a Skype interview this past Monday. I talked with one of the deans, who was supposed to be one of the professors scheduled for the individual part of interview day - likely because of our similar research interests. He said that they were looking to accept 6-8 students between the four tracks and that they would be making decisions in the next couple of weeks....so yeah it's just a waiting game from here.

Thanks a lot for the reply! I saw on gradcafe a couple of people received rejections yesterday, so am starting to get nervous...

 

[NUUM4ward]

Thanks a lot for the reply! I saw on gradcafe a couple of people received rejections yesterday, so am starting to get nervous...

I feel ya, but for now I think no news is good news! Good luck!

 

[NUUM4ward]

Thanks a lot for the reply! I saw on gradcafe a couple of people received rejections yesterday, so am starting to get nervous...

Hey spence2312 - I just got a phone call from NYU letting me know I was on a very short waitlist. I guess if you haven't heard back from them yet, you'll be hearing from them real soon. Hope things work out for you!

 

[spence2312]

Hey spence2312 - I just got a phone call from NYU letting me know I was on a very short waitlist. I guess if you haven't heard back from them yet, you'll be hearing from them real soon. Hope things work out for you!

Congratulations!! That's great news! I still haven't heard anything, so I hope you're right. At this point I really just want to know what's going on, whichever way it turns out.

 

[abe14]

Has anyone heard from either of these programs -interviews, wait-listing or admission decision?

GWU DrPH, Health Policy

BU DrPH in Leadership, Management and Policy

 

[NUUM4ward]

Did anyone go to University of Miami's Epid Interview Day last week? I was only able to do Skype/phone interviews with some faculty, but wanted to see if anyone had strong feelings about their program after being there.

 

[boston_epi]

Hey everyone, was curious if anyone has heard anything from U Minnesota Epi program? Thanks!

 

[chuz]

Hey everyone, was curious if anyone has heard anything from U Minnesota Epi program? Thanks!

Hey boston_epi. I got notice from UMN on January 30th that I was accepted. Still no word on funding but apparently that's coming soon. My research interests are in infectious disease epi - I don't know what your interests are, but that might play a part in when you hear about your status/funding/etc.

Good luck!

 

[jerkball]

Hey everyone, was curious if anyone has heard anything from U Minnesota Epi program? Thanks!

I contacted UMN a few weeks ago regarding my application, and received word that they favorably reviewed my application, but were still looking for an advisor for me. So I guess if they don't find an advisor that fits my interest, then I won't be accepted. Disconcerting that it's taking this long.

Maybe you should try contacting as well, to at least know what the delay is? The GradCafe results page showed people receiving both rejections and acceptances.

 

[Robinssmc]

Seriously, whats wrong with UT? When I log in to myUTH it still says no "to do" items available. All information in the portal are outdated and there is no guidance what so ever! I am yet to receive any formal acceptance letter from UT, let alone any funding aid. They don't respond to email. Where am I heading to actually? How can a university this big function so poorly in the admin? And Drexel portal keeps saying no decision made! Really? I mean this is the mid of March! When they are gonna make a decision? Like ever?

 

[Robinssmc]

Rejection from Tulane Trop Med PhD. A mailed letter received. no email

 

[PhDHopeful623]

Late, but just accepted into UTSPH doctoral program in Public Health!

 

[NUUM4ward]

Late, but just accepted into UTSPH doctoral program in Public Health!

Congrats! Is anyone close to making a final decision? I feel like this is odd, but I'm still waiting on a few places.

 

[Robinssmc]

Late, but just accepted into UTSPH doctoral program in Public Health!

Which campus? Congrats!

 

[PhDHopeful623]

As of now, I'm admitted to Maryland and UTSPH and waitlisted at Brown. I'm waiting to hear back from them before I make a decision. So stressful! NUUM4ward, who are you waiting to hear back from if you don't mind me asking?

Robinssmc, thanks! I believe the program is the one in Houston.

 

[NUUM4ward]

As of now, I'm admitted to Maryland and UTSPH and waitlisted at Brown. I'm waiting to hear back from them before I make a decision. So stressful! NUUM4ward, who are you waiting to hear back from if you don't mind me asking?

Robinssmc, thanks! I believe the program is the one in Houston.

I'm still waiting to hear from Minnesota and USC (SoCal). I also got waitlisted at NYU. I'll probably end up calling all of them if I don't hear by the end of the week.

 

[Robinssmc]

Rejection from Drexel!

 

[Changemaker]

Me also--I am currently in a PhD program and applied twice so if anyone has any questions feel free to ask. I got my MPH and am getting my PhD in Health Behavior/Community Health

Hi! Thanks for being willing to help May I ask which school you are going to? I am also interested to apply to HBHE PhD programs in 2015. I would have some specific questions if you are in one of my shortlisted schools

 

[ilikecatsalot]

As of now, I'm admitted to Maryland and UTSPH and waitlisted at Brown. I'm waiting to hear back from them before I make a decision. So stressful! NUUM4ward, who are you waiting to hear back from if you don't mind me asking?

Robinssmc, thanks! I believe the program is the one in Houston.

Congrats on your acceptance!! Which program at UTSPH or which campus? I'm still waiting to hear back about an MPH degree there!

 

[PhDHopeful623]

Congrats on your acceptance!! Which program at UTSPH or which campus? I'm still waiting to hear back about an MPH degree there!

Thank you! I got into the DrPH program in Management, Policy, and Community Health. They're really disorganized though. Also, they told me that until I accept my offer, they cannot inform me about funding opportunities. As in, GA-ships or TA-ships. They said once I accept, they'll give me a log in for it. Then I was told that I'm not even GUARANTEED funding of any sort even if I accept! So ridiculous. I'll obviously be declining my offer.

 

[NUUM4ward]

Now that the process is over (for me), I thought I'd leave my stats for future applicants.

Undergrad GPA: 3.6
Major/Minor: Psychology
GradGPA (if applicable): 3.7
Grad Studies (if applicable): MPH in Health Behavior
GRE: 155 V, 161 Q, 4.5 AW
Experience/Research: 5 years research experience (worked on multiple studies/projects), 4 pubs (1 first author), 6 conference presentations, 2 Public Health Undergrad Summer Internships

Applied: USC (SoCal) Health Behavior Research, UCLA (Epid), Minnesota (Social Epid), Northwestern (Translational Outcomes), UIC (Community Health Sciences), UIC (Community & Prevention Research - Psych Dept.), Pitt (Behavioral & Community Health Sciences), UMiami (Epid), NYU (Sociobehavioral Health)
Accepted: USC (23k/year), Minnesota, Northwestern (29k/yr for 2 years), UIC - CHS, UIC - CPR (16k/yr through guaranteed TAship), Pitt (21k/year), UMiami (28k/year for 1 year - director said they never had trouble getting students funding in subsequent years)
Rejected: UCLA
Waitlisted: NYU

I committed to Pittsburgh (BCHS)! Beautiful city, decent funding package, great research fit with mentor.

Anyone else considering Pitt?

 

[FutureKDEpi]

.

 

[kerewin21]

Leaving my stats too, in case it helps someone next year:

Undergrad GPA: 3.8
Major/Minor: Psychology
GradGPA (if applicable): 3.8
Grad Studies (if applicable): MPH in Population/Family Health; MD
GRE: 170 V, 165 Q, 5.5 AW
Experience/Research: 5 years research experience (fellowship after residency, 3 years working at a global public health organization), 8 publications (2 first author), multiple conference presentations

Applied: Harvard (ScD epi), Johns Hopkins (PhD epi), UNC (PhD epi), U Washington (PhD Implementation scienceO
Accepted: Harvard (full tuition for duration + RA position, $ not yet defined), Hopkins (full tuition years 1 and 2), UNC (full tuition, fees, health insurance + stipend year 1), UW (full tuition, fees, health insurance + stipend for duration)
Final decision: Harvard

Because I am already a physician I anticipate by working part-time clinically I will be fine; otherwise I would have chosen one of the programs that offered me a stipend. One thing I learned is that even though some of these schools have LOTS of research money that doesn't necessarily correspond to good support for grad students (for instance, Harvard's SPH gets the least amount of funding from the endowment of any of the schools).

I hope everyone has made their decision by now and is looking forward to starting!

 

[TheUnderdogSupreme]

Leaving my stats too, in case it helps someone next year:

Undergrad GPA: 3.8
Major/Minor: Psychology
GradGPA (if applicable): 3.8
Grad Studies (if applicable): MPH in Population/Family Health; MD
GRE: 170 V, 165 Q, 5.5 AW
Experience/Research: 5 years research experience (fellowship after residency, 3 years working at a global public health organization), 8 publications (2 first author), multiple conference presentations

Applied: Harvard (ScD epi), Johns Hopkins (PhD epi), UNC (PhD epi), U Washington (PhD Implementation scienceO
Accepted: Harvard (full tuition for duration + RA position, $ not yet defined), Hopkins (full tuition years 1 and 2), UNC (full tuition, fees, health insurance + stipend year 1), UW (full tuition, fees, health insurance + stipend for duration)
Final decision: Harvard

Because I am already a physician I anticipate by working part-time clinically I will be fine; otherwise I would have chosen one of the programs that offered me a stipend. One thing I learned is that even though some of these schools have LOTS of research money that doesn't necessarily correspond to good support for grad students (for instance, Harvard's SPH gets the least amount of funding from the endowment of any of the schools).

I hope everyone has made their decision by now and is looking forward to starting!

Congrat's on all of your success - though, did you ever really doubt you would struggle to get in at any of those schools? I mean - if you don't get in... no one gets in. You have near perfect numbers, you are a physician, and you have very reasonable research experience. I am only a little envious.

 

[Robinssmc]

So now I am stuck with this frustrating cycle of calling the UT folks asking for documents (such as a "physical offer letter"), them not holding the call, then asking to spell my name and finally saying "oh, you should have got that by now" or "oh, the mail was sent on the 3rd Feb". No funding, absolutely zero, but they gave me a password to apply for internal RA position. I did, got an interview invitation only to be withdrawn when they found out that I can't begin before Fall 2014! The most frustrating part is that the administration asked me to show guaranteed funding in my Bank account for the first year (which I did); but also "projected" funding for the rest of the years (they have 4 years listed in the form)! Now, I don't know what is a "projected" funding; how can I have four years' worth of money sitting in my bank account? If I submit a sponsor's name from family, he/she might not have that much money kept in the bank for support in 2016, 2017, 2018 (after all they asked for "projected" not "guaranteed"). So ridiculous! UT administration is a nightmare, really! Any word of advise?

 

[Stories]

So now I am stuck with this frustrating cycle of calling the UT folks asking for documents (such as a "physical offer letter"), them not holding the call, then asking to spell my name and finally saying "oh, you should have got that by now" or "oh, the mail was sent on the 3rd Feb". No funding, absolutely zero, but they gave me a password to apply for internal RA position. I did, got an interview invitation only to be withdrawn when they found out that I can't begin before Fall 2014! The most frustrating part is that the administration asked me to show guaranteed funding in my Bank account for the first year (which I did); but also "projected" funding for the rest of the years (they have 4 years listed in the form)! Now, I don't know what is a "projected" funding; how can I have four years' worth of money sitting in my bank account? If I submit a sponsor's name from family, he/she might not have that much money kept in the bank for support in 2016, 2017, 2018 (after all they asked for "projected" not "guaranteed"). So ridiculous! UT administration is a nightmare, really! Any word of advise?

See if you can speak to a faculty member that you might work with rather than administrators. They'll often give you a more straight forward answer. That's always been my experience.

 

[Robinssmc]

So, the saga continues. I sent my scanned documents to UT; they reviewed it and said "these look good" but wanted hard copy documents. I FedEx the documents like crazy; the tracking confirmed delivery at the reception desk. But a week has gone by, no response what-so-ever. Emailed them twice about the status of the documents, no response. Not even acknowledgement email. My wait seems endless; life has become stressful. My employer wants to know when I am leaving; they want a formal notice from me. How long should I wait?

 

[Stories]

So, the saga continues. I sent my scanned documents to UT; they reviewed it and said "these look good" but wanted hard copy documents. I FedEx the documents like crazy; the tracking confirmed delivery at the reception desk. But a week has gone by, no response what-so-ever. Emailed them twice about the status of the documents, no response. Not even acknowledgement email. My wait seems endless; life has become stressful. My employer wants to know when I am leaving; they want a formal notice from me. How long should I wait?

Call UT. Get a person and then you can get a direct answer.