PhD Applicants-2015

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Applying to PhD programs in epidemiology concentrating in chronic disease/cardiovascular disease. Nervous that I aimed too high w/ a not great undergrad GPA but I'm prepared to apply for jobs and try again for PhD programs next year. Good luck everyone!

Undergrad:
-Top-25 school: 3.46 international relations and public health with upward trend and high in-major GPA

Grad:
-MPH Epi/Biostats at same school as undergrad: 3.75
-Won program-wide award in quantitative analysis for my Capstone Project

Work (2 years by enrollment fall 2015):
-CDC PHAP Fellowship, 1 year in Tuberculosis Control, 1 year in Minority Health
-presentation on my work in TB Control at program-wide conference

Previous internships at nutrition school and hospital focused on obesity prevention
Teaching assistant for graduate-level survey research methods course

Extracurriculars:

Captain of cross country and track teams during undergrad
Assistant cross country and track and field coach during MPH
Several volunteer abroad experiences in public health during undergrad

GRE: 164Q, 168V, 5W

LORs:
1 from MPH capstone project advisor; 1 from professor who I TA'd for; 1 from professor at nutrition school, 1 from CDC supervisor

Schools/programs:
All epidemiology:

Berkeley
Columbia
Emory
Harvard
Hopkins
UNC
Washington
Yale
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Hi all just got my first decision (Epidemiology). A rejection from Emory :(. Hopefully others will be better.
 
raspberriesp30 said:
Hi all just got my first decision (Epidemiology). A rejection from Emory :(. Hopefully others will be better.
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Sorry to hear. I'm getting so restless that I think I'd be happy just to hear anything from schools!
 
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Changemaker said:
Just saw rejection decision from University of Maryland via their website. This if my first admission decision; feeling very upset:(
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Sorry to hear that. You should not feel upset though... this is one rejection and you will hear many acceptances as well, just keep your spirit high and do not loss hope.

BTW, what do you mean you saw the decision on their website? Where in the website you see decisions, i checked my application with them and I do not think they would leave any decisions in there.. Have they sent you any emails in this regard? were you interviewed and when? I am in the same boat but still can not see any decisions.

Thanks and good luck for the rest of your apps
 
Thanks 2015iscoming and Ne.Fateh for the kind words. Keeping my fingers crossed:)

[QUOTE="BTW, what do you mean you saw the decision on their website? Where in the website you see decisions, i checked my application with them and I do not think they would leave any decisions in there.. Have they sent you any emails in this regard? were you interviewed and when? I am in the same boat but still can not see any decisions.

Thanks and good luck for the rest of your apps[/QUOTE]

If you log on to the page where you submitted your application, you should be seeing "Decision available" and then you click on the link. (That link wasn't there earlier). I saw the that way ahead(since I crazily kept checking everyday). Later, I think after a week, they emailed me to check the website. Which department dd you apply to? Mine was Community and behavioral sciences. May be if your one is a different department, they haven't made decisions yet.

I'd write to the graduate chair and just ask. On gradcafe, I saw that UMD made admission decisions for many departments, so your one either is already made or will be soon!
 
Changemaker said:
Thanks 2015iscoming and Ne.Fateh for the kind words. Keeping my fingers crossed:)

[QUOTE="BTW, what do you mean you saw the decision on their website? Where in the website you see decisions, i checked my application with them and I do not think they would leave any decisions in there.. Have they sent you any emails in this regard? were you interviewed and when? I am in the same boat but still can not see any decisions.

Thanks and good luck for the rest of your apps
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How long ago did you apply?

I applied to their Epi program in early December and my application status finally changed to 'Completed' today on the Grad College site.
 
Just received my decision from University of Pittsburgh. Was accepted to the PhD in epidemiology! Does anyone know about funding there?
 
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I just got an interview request from University of Rochester for Feb 5-7! It's actually not that high on my list but it's some good news nonetheless :).
 
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agh2415 said:
How long ago did you apply?

I applied to their Epi program in early December and my application status finally changed to 'Completed' today on the Grad College site.
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Hi! The priority deadline in the department I applied to was in Nov. 1. So, I applied before that
 
JaneOakmede said:
Just received my decision from University of Pittsburgh. Was accepted to the PhD in epidemiology! Does anyone know about funding there?
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Finally some good news on the PhD thread! Big congratulations and hope to hear more offers soon!
 
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Someone posted this in Grad Cafe in the results for Yale Epi PhD: "Didn't receive an actual rejection, but emailed administrator and she said interview notifications have already been sent out."

Not sure which concentration this is, but it makes me nervous! Have only heard back from Emory so far, where I'm interviewing in February. Bummed about potential rejection to Yale.
 
kang6789 said:
Someone posted this in Grad Cafe in the results for Yale Epi PhD: "Didn't receive an actual rejection, but emailed administrator and she said interview notifications have already been sent out."

Not sure which concentration this is, but it makes me nervous! Have only heard back from Emory so far, where I'm interviewing in February. Bummed about potential rejection to Yale.
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If they still follow the same format as they did years ago, they invite all PhD applicants across all disciplines at the same time.
 
Did anyone apply to epi at GWU? If so, have you heard anything? I know people in previous years started to hear back towards mid-January.
 
Do you know if UNC, GWU, JHU or BU, Epidemiology PhD programs have sent any results yet?
 
Has anyone heard from Hopkins- Pop Fam Dept yet?
 
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for those of you who did interviews already (congratulations first!), would you share your experience? E.g., things you wish you could've prepared better, tips, questions to ask, how your interview affected your decision to attend / not attend?
 
Got an email acceptance from UW Madison Epi today :). So nice to have an acceptance!
 
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2015iscoming said:
for those of you who did interviews already (congratulations first!), would you share your experience? E.g., things you wish you could've prepared better, tips, questions to ask, how your interview affected your decision to attend / not attend?
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I second this. I had skype interviews with faculty members that won't be there in person but I still have my in-person interview next weekend.

The skype interviews went pretty well, I think. They seemed pretty informal. They explained to me how the department is structured, talked about their work, etc. They asked me about the different projects I have worked on. Some things I asked them were about class composition (who else other than other Epi PhD students takes those courses), how many publications do most students have before completion, about funding, where most of their students end up after receiving their degree, etc.

My main suggestion would be make sure you go over some of your old projects so you can easily explain and answer any questions they might have. If you've done anything directly Epi-related, they might ask you about your methodology, or why you were interested in that topic, etc.
 
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kang6789 said:
Someone posted this in Grad Cafe in the results for Yale Epi PhD: "Didn't receive an actual rejection, but emailed administrator and she said interview notifications have already been sent out."

Not sure which concentration this is, but it makes me nervous! Have only heard back from Emory so far, where I'm interviewing in February. Bummed about potential rejection to Yale.
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Hey! What's the interview day at Emory. I am waitlisted. So, just wondering when I may hear back!
 
The interviews are this Thursday and Friday. Good luck with everything! Fingers crossed we all start hearing good news soon.
 
Rejection from Brown. I got an email saying to check the website.
 
And just got a rejection email from UW. Looks like it's a rejection day today... I have a feeling I'll be hearing from Boston U soon too because someone just posted on Gradcafe that they got an interview from them.
 
raspberriesp30 said:
And just got a rejection email from UW. Looks like it's a rejection day today... I have a feeling I'll be hearing from Boston U soon too because someone just posted on Gradcafe that they got an interview from them.
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Admitted to UW, no word on funding.
 
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kang6789 said:
The interviews are this Thursday and Friday. Good luck with everything! Fingers crossed we all start hearing good news soon.
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Hope your interview went great. It'd be awesome if you can share the experience.
 
Has anyone received an interview invitation for Harvard's DrPH program?
 
Frederc3 said:
Has anyone received an interview invitation for Harvard's DrPH program?
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I didn't apply to the DrPH program, but it seems a few people have got interview invites (from GradCafe). Hope this week brings more good news to the PhD thread!
 
For anyone who has been waiting to hear from UCLA, I received an email from them this morning with my decision.
 
JaneOakmede said:
I applied to epi, and unfortunately was not accepted :(
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Aw bummer I'm sorry. It's the only program I applied to so I'm paying really close attention to the boards with regards to anything UCLA.

Would you mind posting a rough sketch of your application profile?
 
Masgniw said:
Aw bummer I'm sorry. It's the only program I applied to so I'm paying really close attention to the boards with regards to anything UCLA.

Would you mind posting a rough sketch of your application profile?
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Not at all. I actually don't have a master's degree so that is probably a big reason why I did not get in! My UG GPA is 3.79, degree in econ, post bac in microbiology. Research includes senior thesis on health care econ, and lab research on MRSA. I am also currently working on an epi research project. I have 7 years of post bac work experience (not in public health), and 3 years of health care related volunteer experience. Done a few stints abroad as well too. My GRE is 165 V, 163 Q, and 3.5 W. Hope that helps! And good luck!!
 
JaneOakmede said:
Not at all. I actually don't have a master's degree so that is probably a big reason why I did not get in!
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Thanks, Jane. I in my 5+ years in the field I've come across of total of one person who went to a PhD in epi w/o their MPH already in hand. Good luck with the rest of your apps.
 
Hey! Has anyone on here applied to the epidemiology PhD at University of Illinois at Chicago? Several on gradcafe have said that they have recieved acceptances or rejections but I've heard nothing.
 
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