Has anybody got scholarships, really?
Harvard MPH Admitted 2015
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From what I've heard (not officially of course), it seems that most of the money goes to doctoral students.
hmmm.. is the cost of living really that high for Boston or are the figures a tad exaggerated?
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It is pretty expensive, but I would say most of that expense will come from the high rents.
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Was it a scholarship or need-based aid? I don't think the deadline mattered at all for the scholarships.
Also, does anyone know if theres a facebook page for the incoming class? Most other schools seem to have one, and it'd be cool to get to know people ahead of time.
I got a scholarship for $20k/year, offered the Tuesday after I received my letter of admission. That's about half off tuition. Definitely makes Harvard a more affordable option, even if Boston itself is still expensive!
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It was a scholarship.
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Ah congrats! And yeah that sounds consistent since the financial aid deadline was for need based aid.
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Also, does anyone know if theres a facebook page for the incoming class? Most other schools seem to have one, and it'd be cool to get to know people ahead of time.[/QUOTE]
I haven't seen anything. I do wish there was one though so we could connect there. I see a lot of communication on the Yale and BU facebook page about housing and other things. Maybe we should start one? Or ask if HSPH will start one?
I haven't seen anything. I do wish there was one though so we could connect there. I see a lot of communication on the Yale and BU facebook page about housing and other things. Maybe we should start one? Or ask if HSPH will start one?
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There is a page, "Harvard Chan Students 2015." It's not very active though
Thanks! I wonder if it also for admitted students.
Having exactly the same concern. Will Harvard be better than Hopkins in job searching?
Now there's only a week before the final decision and still not sure where to go.
They both look good and I was leaning forward Johns Hopkins based on the ranking. Not a big difference between #1 and #2 but to be #1 for 20 years they must have something.
I'm trying not to care about city life. There are people living in Baltimore, anyway.
But now I am getting more confused. Will the HARVARD brand play a big role in job market, over Johns Hopkins?
I'm not sure if it is bigger than Hopkins at least in health-related industry.
If anybody chose Harvard over Hopkins, please tell me your reasons!!
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Yeah those reasons do make sense for your career goals. However as I am extremely determined to get a PhD and go into academia or some other research based career, Harvard is the ideal choice for me by a longshot.
Since BU's MPH is much more practice oriented, it wouldn't be as ideal for me, while it would be for many others.
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I did not apply to hopkins as I honestly didnt think that I'd be competitve at top level schools, and I applied to harvard essentially on a whim, but my understanding is that there won't be a huge level of difference between the two. Harvard's name is better known internationally and is also better known by fields that are outside or on the peripheral range of public health.
I'm not sure on this but I think at hopkins you typically do a practicum while at harvard you write a thesis instead, but I could be wrong.
Also if you're especially interested in global health or global epi, don't disregard LSHTM, which obviously can't be in the US ranking system and is probably the best school for that field, or UNC chapel hill which is another of the top schools, but I don't know as much about them as I was disinterested in North Carolina.
Guys what are you doing about hosing!! i need to start looking, but i doubt anything concrete is possible till i reach Boston and that won't be till August. Anybody interested in sharing an apt with me, pls let me know. And we realllly need to get a Fb group or something. BU ppl are way too active
didn't apply to Hopkins.
but i have been told Harvard is a wise choice.
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I agree that BU people are really active on FB. There is one for Harvard too but it's fairly quiet. Nothing happening on there. I, too, am looking for housing and plan on starting that soon.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/HarvardChanStudents2015/
but i think it includes SM as well. I wish there was just an MPH group
so, I might sound extra paranoid because that's just who I am, but for those of you who have sent your deposit/accepted their financial aid awards, have you heard anything from Harvard lately? after I sent mine I got an email confirmation but that's the only thing I've recieved from them aside from Accepted Students Day emails. I just want to make sure I'm not the only one with silence I guess haha.
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Ha ha you are not alone in feeling paranoid! I too just received the registration confirmation and then silence.
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Yeah same here. I've been corresponding with an administrator from the department I'll be a part of to visit this week (since I have my school's spring break right now) and my boyfriend is having a job interview in the area so I decided I'd come with and just check the school out, even though I've already paid my deposit and whatnot, so it'll be weird, since most students that visit don't officially make up their minds and pay the deposit till later, its just that the April 15th deposit deadline keeps me from doing that, since I won't be visiting until two days after that. I will ask when I'm their, when I can expect to find out information about advising, class registration, and stuff like that.
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Of course! I'll be sure to ask about class registration and stuff. Can you think of any other general things I should ask about? And which degree/department will you be doing?
hmmm I'm unfortunately bad at coming up with questions for schools, I generally just flow along with whatever goes down. but I guess I have a question about where to stay for orientation. basically all leases in Boston (at least outside of student housing) start on September 1st, but I think I read on the website that the first day of school is the 2nd, with orientation being the last week of August. I don't mind moving in in a day (I mean, I'm getting a studio so I'll have space for like three things in there), but they don't mention that they are providing a place to stay for orientation, and since even the cheapest Boston hotel I can find is like $150-200, it's kind of daunting to think that I'd have to pay that much for a place to stay for a week. aside from that, I'd just be interested to hear about anything you learn, like how common it is for students to have part time jobs or research positions while they go to school there.
oh, and I'm in the Epi SM2 program (I know I'm in the MPH group but I have nowhere else to go! haha PLUS the only reason I'm not MPH is because I don't have a previous graduate degree so I'm really in the same boat as yall are)
Got an email today with the same. Like you I filled the form after the deadline and am not a US student. So happy, as it will make such a difference for me.
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Alright I will see what I can learn about those questions! And yeah the orientation thing is rough now that I think about it.. I'll post back here Saturday or Sunday when I get back about that stuff.
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I remember someone asking about this during admitted students day. He asked if it would be possible for the money (loans/whatever) be disbursed end of August to help with moving and paying rent etc and they said no. All money will be given out for sept 1 and after.
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Has everybody on here found a place to live? I was just put on the wait list for Shattuck housing and I seriously doubt I will get in. Anybody on here interested in sharing an apartment? Need room mates? I'm going to post this on the facebook page as well.
I have just accepted my offer for the MPH in GH. I am very happy. I got an apartment in the Shattuck house. I am defining if I can take it or not. I also requested to join the Facebook group. We should get in touch.
Hi everyone, long overdue post here since I have been in Cuba for the past four weeks and Internet access is tough (and no time for Internet anyway, too many better things to do here, like salsa dancing every night ).
I was extreeeeeemely excited, after receiving two emails in March from the financial aid office telling me nope, nada for you (in fancier terms), and a similar email from the department, to get a third email from the financial aid office a week ago (which I expected to be similar to the first two) telling me I was awarded a half-tuition scholarship!! 
I was shocked and immediately started jumping up and down .
I accepted the offer of admission yesterday (the scholarship made the decision between Harvard and Hopkins, which I had been agonizing over, much, much easier!).
So I will be starting the Epi SM2 program in the fall!
Looking forward to meeting you all!
).I was extreeeeeemely excited, after receiving two emails in March from the financial aid office telling me nope, nada for you (in fancier terms
), and a similar email from the department, to get a third email from the financial aid office a week ago (which I expected to be similar to the first two) telling me I was awarded a half-tuition scholarship!! I was shocked and immediately started jumping up and down .I accepted the offer of admission yesterday (the scholarship made the decision between Harvard and Hopkins, which I had been agonizing over, much, much easier!).
So I will be starting the Epi SM2 program in the fall!
Looking forward to meeting you all!
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Hi everyone, long overdue post here since I have been in Cuba for the past four weeks and Internet access is tough (and no time for Internet anyway, too many better things to do here, like salsa dancing every night
I was extreeeeeemely excited, after receiving two emails in March from the financial aid office telling me nope, nada for you (in fancier terms
I accepted the offer of admission yesterday (the scholarship made the decision between Harvard and Hopkins, which I had been agonizing over, much, much easier!).
So I will be starting the Epi SM2 program in the fall!
Looking forward to meeting you all!
Congrats! I think there might be a chance that more scholarship offers could be given out as the deadline for admission offers is today, and I'm sure some students may have declined to attend to go to hopkins or a school with even benter financial aid opportunities.
Lucky! I got waitlisted for Shattuck and now I'm agonizing over where I should look next!
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Yeah, for me I'm planning on living with my boyfriend so it's nice that we'll be able to split costs and stuff, but we have no idea where we'll live yet.. but I might look into things when I visit.Me too
We were thinking about applying to Shattuck but since we're not married or in a domestic partnership (and won't be for some time) we wouldnt have been able to get it.
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Alright so today I was able to visit the EH department today and I learned a few things that I feel I should share with you guys!
Note that most of this information is mainly focused for the SM students, so I'm not sure if it'll all translate to the MPH programs as perfectly.
1. The SM program is changing a bit next year, so that it will be more research focused and will have fewer requirements that are more similar to that of an MPH program.
2. There seems to be a lot of research opportunities for students, at least in the EH department. It seems especially possible during the summers between years and the 3 week J-term in January, and in general it seems like professors tend to look for masters students to do research a lot.
3. Classes are either 2.5 credits or 5 credits, and 5 credit classes meet 4 hours per week while 2.5 credit classes meet 2 hours per week. There seems to be a lot of faculty-student interaction in general, and professors want us to learn a lot while also building good connections with them and our classmates.
4. The students said it was pretty rigorous in general, but the focus is less on getting good grades as it is learning the material and developing needed skills. The class I sat in on in the EH department was really small (like 10 students) and there were lots of opportunities to ask questions and just talk to the teacher and the TA. It did sound like some of the more basic epi/biostats classes that we'll be taking the first semester are larger lecture type classes though.
5. For housing, one of the students I talked to recommended using a Facebook page called Harvard Grad Market that apparently had resources for those in all of the Harvard graduate schools looking for apartments/roommates/etc.
6. We should be notified of who our academic advisor is within the next few weeks, but we don't choose/register our classes until orientation.
7. During orientation, since we have to be in Boston before September 1st (aka the day of housing mania in Boston), it seems that most people just try to stay at a friends/relatives place for that week until they can move in, if possible.
8. There is room to take relevant electives while we're here based on our interests and we can cross register at other schools withing Harvard, like the law school or medical school or even MIT.
So yeah those were my impressions from my visit. All in all, I can say that I'm very glad I chose this school and that it really does seem like a perfect fit for me. I just have to decide what areas of EH/epi I really want to get into in terms of research.
Note that most of this information is mainly focused for the SM students, so I'm not sure if it'll all translate to the MPH programs as perfectly.
1. The SM program is changing a bit next year, so that it will be more research focused and will have fewer requirements that are more similar to that of an MPH program.
2. There seems to be a lot of research opportunities for students, at least in the EH department. It seems especially possible during the summers between years and the 3 week J-term in January, and in general it seems like professors tend to look for masters students to do research a lot.
3. Classes are either 2.5 credits or 5 credits, and 5 credit classes meet 4 hours per week while 2.5 credit classes meet 2 hours per week. There seems to be a lot of faculty-student interaction in general, and professors want us to learn a lot while also building good connections with them and our classmates.
4. The students said it was pretty rigorous in general, but the focus is less on getting good grades as it is learning the material and developing needed skills. The class I sat in on in the EH department was really small (like 10 students) and there were lots of opportunities to ask questions and just talk to the teacher and the TA. It did sound like some of the more basic epi/biostats classes that we'll be taking the first semester are larger lecture type classes though.
5. For housing, one of the students I talked to recommended using a Facebook page called Harvard Grad Market that apparently had resources for those in all of the Harvard graduate schools looking for apartments/roommates/etc.
6. We should be notified of who our academic advisor is within the next few weeks, but we don't choose/register our classes until orientation.
7. During orientation, since we have to be in Boston before September 1st (aka the day of housing mania in Boston), it seems that most people just try to stay at a friends/relatives place for that week until they can move in, if possible.
8. There is room to take relevant electives while we're here based on our interests and we can cross register at other schools withing Harvard, like the law school or medical school or even MIT.
So yeah those were my impressions from my visit. All in all, I can say that I'm very glad I chose this school and that it really does seem like a perfect fit for me. I just have to decide what areas of EH/epi I really want to get into in terms of research.
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Glad you came away with good impressions. A couple of questions:
1) Are you saying we can't register for classes until orientation?
2) Do you know if we can meet with our faculty advisor before orientation to help decide on our classes?
3) Do you know if classes are taught by faculty or TA's mostly?
I really like the fact that we can cross register across schools. From what I've heard, the only difficulty is in scheduling.
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I'm looking for a 2BR place to share with another incoming MPH student - I seemed to have lucked out and found a nice roomie. I will leave my husband behind during week and spend weekends back home.
I was just speaking with a realtor and asked if I was too early and he said I was too late
lol. Did you find a good realtor yet? I haven't - just looked at a couple of listings.
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1. Yup.
2. I don't know for sure but I assume that would have to be the case or else I could register for 15 credit hours of Advanced contemporary tap dance.
3. The class I went to was all taught by the professor. It was a class on air pollution and the teacher is a renowned researcher in the field. The TA mostly just sat in the corner and helped the teacher if he was having smart board/technology issues, and she gave us all handouts of the powerpoint slides to take notes on. It seems like smaller classes would be mostly taught by the faculty, but this may not be the case for the larger introductory courses. I also got the sense that they try to have lots of guest lecturers if possible to help enhance the scope of the class.
Another thing I forgot to mention is that everyone in the EH department seemed to be on a pretty first name basis. All the students would call the teacher by their first name and stuff like that, which I thought was interesting.
And about housing, I may have lucked out. I have one friend from undergrad who currently lives in Boston and is moving to a new place September 1st and she said I could have her place. Her rent's cheap and she lives really close to the green B line (our school would be near the Green D line) so I feel like that could be a good option but I'll have to get more details.
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Thanks! Generally in grad school everyone's on first name basis - atleast that's how it was during my PhD.
Good luck with the house.
If you guys need a realtor I just had a great one help me find my studio in Boston. I had a literal like 6 hours total in Boston to see places and she was super helpful, offered to pick me up from the airport and everything (we ended up meeting in South Station because I'm very familiar with the T ride into the city since my best friend went to BU for undergrad). She is super attentive to price range and any special needs like pets (my cat), and I ended up finding a place because I'm not super picky, but she basically offered to go into apartments on her own and record the place for me if I were to remain indecisive after my trip, which I thought was awesome. I've never had to have a realtor before, but she made life like 6,000 times easier and now I have a studio that's a 7 minute walk from campus so life is great haha. Her name is Ginger Kesler and she's with Boston City Properties.
I like your #2 news. I hope there are a lot of opportunities as well in the epidemiology department
I was notified of who my academic advisor is back in March, but haven't gotten in contact with him... I don't really know what to say to him yet!
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I like your #2 news. I hope there are a lot of opportunities as well in the epidemiology department
I was notified of who my academic advisor is back in March, but haven't gotten in contact with him... I don't really know what to say to him yet!
The professors seem really happy to meet new students, so even if you just emailed your advisor just to introduce yourself, I'm sure he'd appreciate it!
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I received an email a few days ago telling us to look at the admitted students page, so we don't forget to send in health forms or final transcripts, and that there'd be webinar type thing for those that had questions and stuff, this wednesday 5:30-7:30 EST.
No idea. I'm not worrying about it tbh. Even if it comes out in August it not really going to change much in terms of preparation... We can always use this years curriculum to begin to form broad ideas about what we want to do.
