MPH Columbia MSPH Fall 2014

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delfin said:
Can you access the portal and the supplemental app if you haven't accepted the offer of enrollment yet? I don't have a CU ID, but I figured it's because I haven't enrolled yet.
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If by enrollment you mean accepting their offer, then yes you can access the portal without accepting their offer because I have yet to accept (and I am still pondering on my decision).
 
CrazySexyCool said:
If by enrollment you mean accepting their offer, then yes you can access the portal without accepting their offer because I have yet to accept (and I am still pondering on my decision).
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Yea I haven't accepted either. I just emailed FA Office and OoAdmissions directly.
 
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Officially put down my deposit!!
 
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justin22 said:
I just wanted to echo everyone else and say that I loved the admitted students day! The faculty lunch was great, I was able to speak with 2 of my faculty of interest for nearly 1.5 hours by myself. They were extremely nice and were pretty interested in my work as well. That seemed to be the case, at least with the professors in HPM. I didn't interact with any of the faculty in other depts.

The staff was extremely nice and pretty accommodating. Especially HPM staff, some of the current students said they went above and beyond to help them out.

I was on the edge between umich and columbia but the event definitely swayed me over to columbia. I loved the city, wash heights wasn't bad either. I felt a great sense of community and pride of being at Columbia from the students and faculty, which I didn't expect. That was one of the biggest things for me.

Feel free to ask if you guys have any other specific questions!
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I feel like I've been neglecting the forum. /guilt

I'm late to the conversation, but I had ambivalent feelings about Admit Day. Yes, I agree that everyone was extremely nice, with great senses of humor, and cultured-ness that comes from living in a cosmopolitan city..and students and faculty alike seemed genuinely happy to be there, but it seemed like most people were pushing the prestige factor as well as how much they loved the city. I can't blame them, I love NYC and I fall in love every single time I'm there. However, as a potential graduate student, I was more interested in the program itself. Of the two faculty members that I personally interacted with: 1) straight up said, "I'm not good at selling or pushing things *Looks down at plate* *Continues eating*" 2) Wasn't technically HPM.

Coming from a large research university, I was looking for something more personal, but I don't know. I'm still sort of torn between two schools. At this point, I feel like I'd be more inclined to whichever school gives me money haha. I'm waiting to hear on reconsideration requests for both UM and Columbia.

Emsy said:
Generally they will revise once, after that it just falls on deaf ears. I lived with family and walked out 85k in debt just from tuition and expenses.

My advise to people who are really struggling with the cost, remember this, the job market is bad. Many public health jobs pay in the 50-60K range and some much less. Places that traditionally took a lot of Mailman grads, like the NYC Department of Health are dependent on federal funds and some are losing those grants and can't hire. It's very hard right now to get a job on the federal level.

If your dream is to work in consulting as many Mailman MPH do, remember you will be competing with MHA's and MBA's for the same positions, which makes it that much harder to get those positions.

So if that much debt makes you afraid and you have close to a free ride somewhere, I would take the scholarships and run because you don't know what the job market is going to be like in a year or two and you only get a 6 month grace period with the PLUS loans.
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Solid advice. My parents forced me to create an excel spreadsheet of my top choices and actually looking at the numbers again was a huge wake up call. Astronomical for two years.
 
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Kind of interested in knowing who you spoke with if you want to PM me the professors.

Honestly, I wish I could come to this forum and be like "yeah I was offered a job with my dream organization and I'm making plenty of money to pay off loans" but it's just not the case, especially when you want to focus on policy and are looking at think tanks, state/federal government that are so dependent on federal contracts - which are shrinking.

But don't rely on the ivy "brand name" of the institution, if you do go to Columbia, try to find a professor to connect with, become friends with them and rely on their contacts to help you out. Make that personal connection.
 
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When did everyone get their Student ID numbers? I'm dyin' over here waiting to find out about aid. (Just found out yesterday I got in).
 
KNEboston said:
When did everyone get their Student ID numbers? I'm dyin' over here waiting to find out about aid. (Just found out yesterday I got in).
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I emailed financial aid directly to get mine, since they never sent it to me independently. Congrats!
 
KNEboston said:
When did everyone get their Student ID numbers? I'm dyin' over here waiting to find out about aid. (Just found out yesterday I got in).
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I've been having a rollercoaster of a time with Admissions and the FA office. I got accepted last week and I've been in continual contact with them almost everyday (multiple phone calls and various emails back and forth) about finding out about aid and retrieving my ID. Apparently my profile isn't in the system for FA to look up my 411 to award me anything, they said they were missing ssn#, etc. Finally got the ID# after multiple back and forths between dept but it doesn't matter because my 411 isn't showing up yet. I was then told to check back later in the week to see if anything has been updated.

Have patience because it is a busy time for the offices but start doing the legwork. B/c of our later admittance, we are getting less funding in terms of scholarships. They started giving them out in Feb. Get on it asap. And congratulations!
 
Seems like they are very behind. I can't believe they want me to notify them if I'm accepting the offer by May 1 when they only notified me yesterday. Have any of you asked for an extension?
 
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InsaneObserver said:
when did you hear back about aid?
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I got my financial aid info in mid-March, but I also received my acceptance in late February. Sorry you're having such a difficult time, sounds stressful :(
 
ms26 said:
I got my financial aid info in mid-March, but I also received my acceptance in late February. Sorry you're having such a difficult time, sounds stressful :(
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I just realized I think I asked you that awhile ago. I think it's just frustrating because of the limited funding. If this was Feb or Mar, I probably wouldn't be trippin' over it too much.
 
InsaneObserver said:
I've been having a rollercoaster of a time with Admissions and the FA office. I got accepted last week and I've been in continual contact with them almost everyday (multiple phone calls and various emails back and forth) about finding out about aid and retrieving my ID. Apparently my profile isn't in the system for FA to look up my 411 to award me anything, they said they were missing ssn#, etc. Finally got the ID# after multiple back and forths between dept but it doesn't matter because my 411 isn't showing up yet. I was then told to check back later in the week to see if anything has been updated.

Have patience because it is a busy time for the offices but start doing the legwork. B/c of our later admittance, we are getting less funding in terms of scholarships. They started giving them out in Feb. Get on it asap. And congratulations!
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Thanks for the advice! I've already made a few calls (and received some UNEXPECTED rudeness from the financial aid office when I inquired about working at Columbia to help offset the costs). When I called this am, they told me that the Director of Financial Aid has been out with the flu, so might not get back to me this week.

I received a notification last night of an unsubsidized loan for 20,000...not ideal. The email didn't give any information about scholarships or grants, so I'm assuming that I didn't receive any. Did the scholarship info (for those who received some) come with the loan notification? I'm feeling the pressure since they want us to accept it package by Tuesday... Seems a bit unreasonable to me to expect that quick of a decision. Yikes. Stress.
 
Scholarship information was attached to the acceptance letter but that may have changed. Any need-based aid/grants will be with the loan package sent by financial aid. You will not be able to apply for the grad plus loans until the summer, usually July they send out the survey.
 
Did you guys receive a formal snail-mail letter as well? (I have ALL the questions.)
 
KNEboston said:
Thanks for the advice! I've already made a few calls (and received some UNEXPECTED rudeness from the financial aid office when I inquired about working at Columbia to help offset the costs). When I called this am, they told me that the Director of Financial Aid has been out with the flu, so might not get back to me this week.

I received a notification last night of an unsubsidized loan for 20,000...not ideal. The email didn't give any information about scholarships or grants, so I'm assuming that I didn't receive any. Did the scholarship info (for those who received some) come with the loan notification? I'm feeling the pressure since they want us to accept it package by Tuesday... Seems a bit unreasonable to me to expect that quick of a decision. Yikes. Stress.
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At least they offered you something, because I still don't have anything nor am I still in the system. damn, tuesday is ASAP.
 
InsaneObserver said:
At least they offered you something, because I still don't have anything nor am I still in the system. damn, tuesday is ASAP.
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I'd call them again. I got an email this morning saying that I got an extension since I was accepted late. I'm surprised they didn't place me on the wait list first...seems crazy to send out a normal acceptance this late, no?
 
KNEboston said:
I'd call them again. I got an email this morning saying that I got an extension since I was accepted late. I'm surprised they didn't place me on the wait list first...seems crazy to send out a normal acceptance this late, no?
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i concur. imma check out the chat then call them up.
 
Hey guys, not sure if this would bring any consolation, but... Columbia's financial aid package is actually more attractive than others... and their tuition is surprisingly less than a few other top PH schools and even some schools that aren't ranked.
 
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I received a scholarship from Columbia - 5000$ for a year..
Can anyone tell me about the tuition for Columbia - is it 35000$/yr for 2 years?
 
kt1234 said:
I received a scholarship from Columbia - 5000$ for a year..
Can anyone tell me about the tuition for Columbia - is it 35000$/yr for 2 years?
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It is per year, about $17,500 per semester. Definitely not cheap, but many programs cost more.
 
JQH said:
It really isn't the tuition that gets you, it's the COL.
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Yep... but that's just the price of NYC :/ ... to be honest, NYU's financial package is a bit worse off than the one I received for Columbia... I guess it may vary per person.
 
c0435 said:
Hey guys, not sure if this would bring any consolation, but... Columbia's financial aid package is actually more attractive than others... and their tuition is surprisingly less than a few other top PH schools and even some schools that aren't ranked.
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I've come to that realization a couple of days ago. I just got my revised award package and it might look like I'll come out with a fewer loans at Columbia vs. all of the other schools.
 
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justin22 said:
I've come to that realization a couple of days ago. I just got my revised award package and it might look like I'll come out with a fewer loans at Columbia vs. all of the other schools.
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Yep! Same here!
 
JQH said:
It really isn't the tuition that gets you, it's the COL.
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Well yes, but tuition is one important factor as well. As c0435 said..the COL is mainly down to NYC!

c0435 said:
Yep... but that's just the price of NYC :/ ... to be honest, NYU's financial package is a bit worse off than the one I received for Columbia... I guess it may vary per person.
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How much financial aid did you receive from Columbia?
 
kt1234 said:
Well yes, but tuition is one important factor as well. As c0435 said..the COL is mainly down to NYC!


How much financial aid did you receive from Columbia?
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Actually, the same amount as you. $5k per year.
 
kt1234 said:
k..did you talk to the financial aid department negotiating the aid?
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Yes. They said as some students decline their offers, some students may get more aid... but that it is HIGHLY likely that the package that we have received at this point is final.
 
JQH said:
I'll be declining my offer today. Hopefully one of you snags the aid they offered.
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Where'd you decide to attend? Good luck to you!:)
 
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ms26 said:
I got my financial aid info in mid-March, but I also received my acceptance in late February. Sorry you're having such a difficult time, sounds stressful :(
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Got an aid offer today. Yes, thank goodness!
 
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Anyone else in the MHA program?

Also, why is the health insurance so expensive?! Other schools are substantially less. Plus we have to pay for the health service fee... Anyone know of other health insurances that meet Columbia's requirements so we can waive Columbia's?
 
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Did anyone go to the accepted students day on friday?
 
Anyone have any insight for on-campus housing?
 
Hey did anyone receive this following message when they tried to pay the $500 deposit on Orgsync with their credit card?

The authorization request was approved by the issuing bank but declined by CyberSource because it did not pass the AVS check Note: Your credit card has not been charged.
 
No but my stupid credit card has a limit of $250 and I cant seem to make the deposit. Serves me right for waiting till the last minute. :mad:
 
CrazySexyCool said:
No but my stupid credit card has a limit of $250 and I cant seem to make the deposit. Serves me right for waiting till the last minute. :mad:
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Not really a bad thing. Most of us probably used every last minute to contemplate which place is best for us, or to wait for more financial aid.
 
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labrat_neuro91 said:
what info are you looking for?
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Which dorms are the better options and why are some of the rates listed on the housing website so broad? Bard Hall ranges from $780-1170. I'm looking for the cheapest options but don't want to request Bard if I might end up paying 1170.
 
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