MPH Fall 2015: Applied, Accepted, Waitlisted, Rejected!

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So much work, so much stress, and TWO waitlist rounds later....I got accepted to UNC (MPH/RD Nutrition) yesterday!!!!!!:soexcited:

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I just found this thread for better or for worse...but your situation sounds similar to mine. This is my second year applying to the UNC MPH/RD program and the second year in a row that I got waitlisted. Very frustrating! Any news?
Hey! Yes it sounds like we have been experiencing the same frustrations! I haven't been on this forum in weeks because I needed to get the situation off my mind, it was driving me crazy. I just signed on today to post that I was actually accepted yesterday off the waitlist!!
I hope you hear back soon and that it is good news!! Good luck and definitely keep me posted!!:xf::)
 
Any advice from anyone in regards to being waitlisted? Did you just wait it out... Or proactively see if there was something you could do?


I'm not sure how waitlisting works? Is it first come first serve, or do they reevaluate each candidate and give a spot to the strongest applicant in the waitlist pile when a seat is open?



Edit/Side Note: Anyone in the MPH for Health Policy and Administration program concerned that the HPA program is geared more towards Health Policy and less the Management (Admin) side?
 
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@spanishkid did they reject you or just say no more seats? Sounds confusing!!!
@IntriguedStudent I would still wait, it seemed like more people were getting onto the wait-list?

GWU just sent me a reminder email to deposit my $300 but I am really leaning towards rejecting them. Doesn't help though that I am still not accepted to a program that has everything I want. I think its best if I reject the programs I have been accepted into at this point, and pray I get off the waiting list @columbia



I wish I did! I'm wondering if its too late now :/ just finished taking my GRE this week! Unfortunately MBA programs wouldn't waive MBA programs. You think its too late? lol


They said they couldn't make a decision because they got a lot of applications. It sounds like a rejection to me but was trying to look at it on the bright side.
 
Called Columbia today to figure out why I haven't heard anything about my application even though I submitted at the beginning of November. Was told that my application was with the department and that they needed to "verify something" before they could notify me, but that I should hear within the next couple of weeks. Sounds to me like they may have lost my application at some point. I'm very disappointed with how the application season has gone with Columbia. They don't seem to have everything together up there.
 
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Oh wow! 100% acceptance so far, that is really helpful information, thanks! Are you currently a student at UMich?

I'm not a student but I was considering the same program and did a lot of research!
 
Called Columbia today to figure out why I haven't heard anything about my application even though I submitted at the beginning of November. Was told that my application was with the department and that they needed to "verify something" before they could notify me, but that I should hear within the next couple of weeks. Sounds to me like they may have lost my application at some point. I'm very disappointed with how the application season has gone with Columbia. They don't seem to have everything together up there.
They said they couldn't make a decision because they got a lot of applications. It sounds like a rejection to me but was trying to look at it on the bright side.



@spanishkid call/email them for a definite answer. Especially if they're telling @IntriguedStudent they're still reviewing. And yes I agree I'm very disappointed as well. I waited over 2 months weeks to hear that something wasn't verified as well when i was notified via email that it was verified a few days after I submitted my application. But I'm waitlisted now so I have a new hurdle to overcome now.

But get a definite answer @spanishkid. They owe you that much at least.
 
@spanishkid call/email them for a definite answer. Especially if they're telling @IntriguedStudent they're still reviewing. And yes I agree I'm very disappointed as well. I waited over 2 months weeks to hear that something wasn't verified as well when i was notified via email that it was verified a few days after I submitted my application. But I'm waitlisted now so I have a new hurdle to overcome now.

But get a definite answer @spanishkid. They owe you that much at least.
This whole process with them has been incredibly frustrating. When I originally began this application cycle, they were my first choice, although I later moved them down on my list for financial reasons. However, having had the experiences I have had with them, I don't know that I would even apply there given the chance to do it again. Every time I have spoken with them, they have been rude, dodgy, and/or clueless. There is a high amount of disorganization within the school and they don't place an emphasis on helping out potential students. Although it may be a great fit for some, I have learned that they would not be a good fit for me. I definitely urge future applicants, if they are reading this, to make sure they find out all of the information they can about schools before they apply. Fit is very important for an MPH.
 
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Called Columbia today to figure out why I haven't heard anything about my application even though I submitted at the beginning of November. Was told that my application was with the department and that they needed to "verify something" before they could notify me, but that I should hear within the next couple of weeks. Sounds to me like they may have lost my application at some point. I'm very disappointed with how the application season has gone with Columbia. They don't seem to have everything together up there.

That's the same thing the epi individual I contacted. She was like they were in the process of verifying something in my application.
 
@spanishkid call/email them for a definite answer. Especially if they're telling @IntriguedStudent they're still reviewing. And yes I agree I'm very disappointed as well. I waited over 2 months weeks to hear that something wasn't verified as well when i was notified via email that it was verified a few days after I submitted my application. But I'm waitlisted now so I have a new hurdle to overcome now.

But get a definite answer @spanishkid. They owe you that much at least.

I will because all of this has been confusing!
 
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That's the same thing the epi individual I contacted. She was like they were in the process of verifying something in my application.
Did you speak directly with the epi department? I only spoke with somebody in the SPH. They still weren't able to tell you what they had to verify?
 
Did you speak directly with the epi department? I only spoke with somebody in the SPH. They still weren't able to tell you what they had to verify?

Yeah she's the Epi Admissions info person. She just said there was something in my application they were looking at to verify but she didn't tell me what.
 
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Just went to accepted students day at BU SPH yesterday, kinda overcast rainy day but love Boston and pretty sure im set on going there. Conc. in Epi.

anyone else go there?
I wasn't able to attend their accepted students day, could you share your experience and impressions?
 
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I will because all of this has been confusing!

You put time effort and $ in your application; all schools owe prospective students (applicants )that much.
I absolutely find it disrespectful when they don't respond the entire cycle; lol I would call that grounds for a refund :cool:
 
I'll see you there!!! I JUST paid my admissions deposit and I could not be more excited!
Yay!! :highfive: I am still waiting on the official notice from the grad school, and then i'll be paying that deposit ASAP! Is there a UNC-specific forum on here yet?
 
Just received a 14,000 scholarship from Drexel.
 
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Yay!! :highfive: I am still waiting on the official notice from the grad school, and then i'll be paying that deposit ASAP! Is there a UNC-specific forum on here yet?

I think there is... but it wasn't made for this year so the posts weren't very relevant last time I checked. It could be worth making a new one if that's still the case! I would love to connect with people before getting there because I won't know anyone!
 
Omg...I got my financial aid from columbia and it said the cost of attendance is 74k. Am I misinterpreting the financial aid website???!!! (Already picked UW but was just curious)
 
Omg...I got my financial aid from columbia and it said the cost of attendance is 74k. Am I misinterpreting the financial aid website???!!! (Already picked UW but was just curious)

My e-mail said $59,000. Woah that's weird because I already committed to Columbia...
 
Hi all! I am an International Student. I got acceptance from Georgetown University into the MS in Global Health Fall 2015 program. I was wondering if I could get some help in deciding the pros and cons of the course before I make a decision. Thank you!
 
Hi everyone! I have been reading through all the responses this afternoon and I am going to join in. I'm coming in a little late, but most of my applications aren't due until February/March. My friends and family are tired of hearing me talk about the application process haha, so I think this will be really helpful. :)

Well here goes! Thank you in advance for all of your feedback and support! :)

Undergrad School:
California State University, Fullerton
Undergrad GPA: 3.77 (cumulative) 3.80 (major)
Major/Minor: Health Science
GRE: 144 Q, 143 V, & 3.5 W (yikes:()
Experience/Research (please, be brief):
3 months- Volunteer at Girls Inc. (local nonprofit focusing on health education)
7 months- Research assistant to MPH student
4 months- American Diabetes Assoc. intern
1.5 years- Clinical Care Extender intern (interned at hospital)
1.5 years- CHOC hospital volunteer
3 months- CSUF peer health university network volunteer
Other experience:
7 months- Mentor to incoming CSUF freshmen
1 year- CSUF Autism Speaks U volunteer
8 months- Volunteer at local preschool to help kids with reading

*Applied: CSUF (Health Promotion), CSULB (Community Health Education), CSUN (Health Promotion), SDSU (Health Promotion & Behavioral Sci.) & University of Nebraska Medical Center (Maternal & Child Health)
*I haven't applied yet, but I plan on submitting my app about 2-3 weeks before the deadlines

Is anyone else applying to any of these schools? I would love to hear about your experiences. :)

What are your thoughts on GRE scores? Do you think my GRE score will hurt my chances at the schools I'm applying to? CSUF, CSUN, and CSULB, do not have minimum acceptable scores. I don't think SDSU has a minimum acceptable score, but on their website they mention that average GRE score is 150V and 150Q. UNMC doesn't really have a minimum GRE score either, but they claim that successful applicants have scores to at or above the 40th percentile. I don't really want to retake it due to time constraints and because I just don't do well on standardized tests.

Also, any thoughts on having an extra letter of recommendation? I wasn't sure if one of my references was going to be able to follow through, so I ended up having to ask someone else. Well it turns out that they ALL ended up coming through, so now I have an extra letter of rec for some of the schools I'm applying to. I only have an extra letter of rec for CSUF, SDSU, and UNMC. As I'm sure many of you know, the application for SDSU and UNMC is submitted via SOPHAS. Both SDSU and UNMC only requires 3 letters of rec, but you are allowed to submit up to 5. I don't want to burn a bridge with any of my references, but I'm a little worried that an extra letter may not be good. Do you think the extra letter of rec will hurt my chances?


I'm applying to UNMC as well, my GPA is lower but my GRE is good. I'm really nervous about applying! Good luck!
 
Has anyone applied to Georgetown's Master of Science in Global Health program or Columbia's Accelerated MPH program? Anyone heard anything back from either of these?

This waiting game sure is not fun...
Hi I got acceptance from Georgetown!
 
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Omg...I got my financial aid from columbia and it said the cost of attendance is 74k. Am I misinterpreting the financial aid website???!!! (Already picked UW but was just curious)
Nope, that's what my estimated cost was as well. Hence the no go :)
 
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Congrats! :) Do you mind sharing when you applied? I'm still waiting to hear back from them.

Sure thing
SOPHAS App - 11/28, UIC Sup App - 1/8, Admitted - 3/30

If you're still waiting, I would give them a call. I had to call to determine the status of my application because I need to make a decision very soon and UIC is up there on my list.
 
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Just received a
Sure thing
SOPHAS App - 11/28, UIC Sup App - 1/8, Admitted - 3/30

If you're still waiting, I would give them a call. I had to call to determine the status of my application because I need to make a decision very soon and UIC is up there on my list.
Did you go to UIC's admitted student's day yesterday?
 
Also, for those on the Columbia waitlist:

Did you receive an email from the financial aid office about getting a NetPartner account? It's their website for viewing your financial aid.

The reason I'm asking is because yesterday, I got an email from Emory that said I was admitted and contained information about financing the degree as well as the Admitted Student Portal link. About an hour and a half later, I received another email from them saying that I received the previous one as a mistake and I am still on the waitlist. I was just wondering if, in the case of Columbia, they are assigning their NetPartner accounts to all on the waitlist or just admitted students.
 
ahhhh, Just hashed out tuition info with my parents. I think i'm ready to commit to Emory!!

But I have an offer of assistantship+stipend from GSU and a ~15k Scholarship from Drexel. I know that they're merit scholarships have already been given out, so it's a long shot, but do you think it's worth it letting Emory know and to ask for some money from Emory before putting down a deposit?
 
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Also, for those on the Columbia waitlist:

Did you receive an email from the financial aid office about getting a NetPartner account? It's their website for viewing your financial aid.

The reason I'm asking is because yesterday, I got an email from Emory that said I was admitted and contained information about financing the degree as well as the Admitted Student Portal link. About an hour and a half later, I received another email from them saying that I received the previous one as a mistake and I am still on the waitlist. I was just wondering if, in the case of Columbia, they are assigning their NetPartner accounts to all on the waitlist or just admitted students.



Nothing other than you're on the waitlist and they'll let me know as seats open
 
ahhhh, Just hashed out tuition info with my parents. I think i'm ready to commit to Emory!!

But I have an offer of assistantship+stipend from GSU and a ~15k Scholarship from Drexel. I know that they're merit scholarships have already been given out, so it's a long shot, but do you think it's worth it letting Emory know and to ask for some money from Emory before putting down a deposit?

I don't know specifically about Emory. I just sent a couple of emails out to Harvard asking if they had money to give out and also mentioned that I got merit scholarships at both Yale and BU. This was done very very politely :). But I was shot down right away!! I was expecting that but if I hadn't written I wouldn't know. Short answer - yes! No harm done asking.
 
I don't know specifically about Emory. I just sent a couple of emails out to Harvard asking if they had money to give out and also mentioned that I got merit scholarships at both Yale and BU. This was done very very politely :). But I was shot down right away!! I was expecting that but if I hadn't written I wouldn't know. Short answer - yes! No harm done asking.

How did you word your letter?
 
How did you word your letter?

Here you go. Some pleasantries before and after. Hope that helps.

"I am strongly leaning towards accepting my offer from Harvard. But, to be very honest, I was also hoping to get some kind of funding to defray some of the cost of attending school. Unfortunately, Harvard is expensive and the only school I didn't get any funding for. Is there any possibility of grants or funds becoming available for me before I start in the fall?"

Good luck!
 
Here you go. Some pleasantries before and after. Hope that helps.

"I am strongly leaning towards accepting my offer from Harvard. But, to be very honest, I was also hoping to get some kind of funding to defray some of the cost of attending school. Unfortunately, Harvard is expensive and the only school I didn't get any funding for. Is there any possibility of grants or funds becoming available for me before I start in the fall?"

Good luck!

Thank you!
 
Woo! Just accepted my offer at UCLA and turned down the last of my schools. I had a 25k merit scholarship to Columbia so I hope someone else gets a very great financial update soon! Happy Friday to everyone here :)
 
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Omg...I got my financial aid from columbia and it said the cost of attendance is 74k. Am I misinterpreting the financial aid website???!!! (Already picked UW but was just curious)
Is it for the accelerated/one-year program, maybe?
 
Woo! Just accepted my offer at UCLA and turned down the last of my schools. I had a 25k merit scholarship to Columbia so I hope someone else gets a very great financial update soon! Happy Friday to everyone here :)
May I ask why you chose UCLA over Columbia? & which dept? Thank youuu~!
 
May I ask why you chose UCLA over Columbia? & which dept? Thank youuu~!

Sure! I'm in for CHS at UCLA and was in for SMS at Columbia. Here were my top 3 reasons:
  • I currently live/work in LA and hope to stay here after finishing with my MPH, so the networking aspect of going to school where I hope to work was important to me. I also think that the LA and surrounding areas have a variety of high-risk, high-need populations that I'm eager to work with, so being immersed in that environment while going to school is appealing.
  • Financially, UCLA is cheaper for me. I'm in-state, I received a 10k scholarship to UCLA, and can stay in my current apartment that I share with my boyfriend, keeping my cost of living very low. At Columbia, even with a scholarship, I was looking at taking out over 40k in loans.
  • I'm very interested in research, and already am familiar with a few of the projects going on in various UCLA centers. I felt that the students and professors were encouraging of students wanting to become involved and pursue research. At Columbia, I was able to talk to a few students and professors but got the feeling that many first-year students weren't considered for research positions or found it hard to connect.
I know this decision is very personal, so the things I saw as strengths/weaknesses might not be applicable to you, or anyone else! But those were my thoughts while going through this process. :)
 
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Sure! I'm in for CHS at UCLA and was in for SMS at Columbia. Here were my top 3 reasons:
  • I currently live/work in LA and hope to stay here after finishing with my MPH, so the networking aspect of going to school where I hope to work was important to me. I also think that the LA and surrounding areas have a variety of high-risk, high-need populations that I'm eager to work with, so being immersed in that environment while going to school is appealing.
  • Financially, UCLA is cheaper for me. I'm in-state, I received a 10k scholarship to UCLA, and can stay in my current apartment that I share with my boyfriend, keeping my cost of living very low. At Columbia, even with a scholarship, I was looking at taking out over 40k in loans.
  • I'm very interested in research, and already am familiar with a few of the projects going on in various UCLA centers. I felt that the students and professors were encouraging of students wanting to become involved and pursue research. At Columbia, I was able to talk to a few students and professors but got the feeling that many first-year students weren't considered for research positions or found it hard to connect.
I know this decision is very personal, so the things I saw as strengths/weaknesses might not be applicable to you, or anyone else! But those were my thoughts while going through this process. :)
Thanks for this! Was your undergrad in SoCal as well? I want to work in LA as well, but I did UCLA for undergrad & am wondering if it would be a good idea to branch out for two years. Such a hard choice. :bag:
 
Thanks for this! Was your undergrad in SoCal as well? I want to work in LA as well, but I did UCLA for undergrad & am wondering if it would be a good idea to branch out for two years. Such a hard choice. :bag:

Yes I did, but not at UCLA. I went to that other school across the way ;)

I personally am not originally from Southern California, but moved here for my undergrad and now know this is where I want to live and work. I also have various personal ties that make moving not the most desirable option at this point, but if you don't have that, why not? 2 years isn't long at all. :)
 
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Nope, that's what my estimated cost was as well. Hence the no go :)
It makes me feel so much better about choosing UW. UW's estimated cost of attendance for my program (MS, not MPH) is 48k. Still a lot, but I can handle that.
 
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Summer 2015

Undergrad School: UC Irvine
Undergrad GPA: 3.5
Major/Minor: Biology
GradGPA
(if applicable): 3.5
Grad Studies (if applicable): Dentistry
GRE (including date taken) or Other Test (if applicable): Waived due to graduate degree
Experience/Research (please, be brief): Dentist, Specialist, Part-time faculty at university
Applied: Berkeley online/on-campus (Generalist), Umass Amherst online- PHP
Accepted: Berkeley online/on-campus, Umass Amherst online
Rejected:
Waitlisted:

I accepted Berkeley. I don't know how competitive it is or how many people they accept. Since their SPH is ranked #9, I figured the Online/On-campus program should be good as well.

If anyone is going or has any info on this program, I'd like to hear your thoughts. Thank you.
 
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Hi again! I'm currently between Drexel SPH and UPenn, does anyone have any advice?
 
confirmed to Johns Hopkins and declining NYU, BU, GW, and Emory (even though I do love Emory)
good luck to anyone on the waitlist at those schools. and for people also attending JHSPH - see you in the fall!

Does anyone know if there is a Facebook page for people attending JHSPH? I couldn't find one
 
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Couldn't find one either. Should we start one or should I write to them and hint at starting one? Which program/degree will you be attending?
 
Will be declining Emory, Columbia, Pitt, Albany, Buffalo tomorrow. I hope I'm freeing up some spots for others Good luck to everyone still deciding. Hang in there, you only have a few more days to stress about it!
 
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Paid my Columbia deposit and I couldn't be more excited! I feel like it's always been Columbia for me and I think it will be the best fit.
Declining at several other places (see my original post for where I applied, I think it's on page 2 of this thread) so hopefully others should hear back if they are on the wait-list there.
 
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Stuck between BU (Global Health) and Tulane (International Health Programs). Anyone have any advice for me?
 
Couldn't find one either. Should we start one or should I write to them and hint at starting one? Which program/degree will you be attending?

I'm doing the MSPH in International Health-SBI. How about you?
If they haven't started a FB group we probably could
 
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