PhD

[travoltage]

hey everyone. i was wondering if i could get some insight from those of you who are in PhD programs. i will be applying this fall for PhD programs, and will be finishing my MPH in health policy and administration from UIC. Im interested:

Harvard PhD in health policy
UPenn PhD in health care management and economics
Cornell PhD in policy analysis and management
Yale PhD in health policy and management
Duke PhD in public policy w/ focus in health care and economics
Dartmouth PhD in health policy

does anyone have an insight into the competitiveness of these programs and/or opinions? thanks!

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[Regression]

Generally with Ph.D. admissions, you should have a very clear idea of what you want to research and with what faculty (not just blanket programs). Having said this, all the schools you listed are "very" competitive and Ph.D. programs are highly subjective based on your performance during your Master's program. Numbers are not prognostic of where you will end up, and in the end, it'll most likely be your Letters of Rec and other academic markers (GPA, publications/presentations, etc.) that will get you into those programs, as well as your overall "fit" with the researchers there.

 

[fangshopper]

I went through the application process for Health Policy/Health Services PhDs this past year. From my experience, the biggest factor in terms of your "competitiveness" for these programs is the "fit".

Make sure you reach out to professors you are interested in working with at these schools. You may have awesome grades, awesome recs, and awesome experience, but if they don't know who you are, what you want to do, and most importantly why you want to go to their program, they will be a lot less likely to admit you.

 

[Stories]

I went through the application process for Health Policy/Health Services PhDs this past year. From my experience, the biggest factor in terms of your "competitiveness" for these programs is the "fit".

Make sure you reach out to professors you are interested in working with at these schools. You may have awesome grades, awesome recs, and awesome experience, but if they don't know who you are, what you want to do, and most importantly why you want to go to their program, they will be a lot less likely to admit you.

This is very true. You also MUST have the great grades, GRE, and other tangible factors as most people applying to each school *is* a good fit (that's why they apply).

All those programs you mentioned, all have <10% acceptance rates. Apply liberally and don't aim at just the big name schools (eg. I applied to 17 when I was in the application cycle).

 

[fangshopper]

All those programs you mentioned, all have <10% acceptance rates. Apply liberally and don't aim at just the big name schools (eg. I applied to 17 when I was in the application cycle).

Agreed. seems like those schools are quite Ivy-centric. Other strong health policy/health econ programs you may want to look into are:
Michigan
UNC
Berkeley
UW
Minnesota

They are all very competitive but certainly worth considering as potential options.

 

[travoltage]

thanks for your wisdom everyone! i will be looking at this extensively. as for the ivy-centric list of schools, my dream has been to attend an ivy league school or a very top notch caliber program, hence why i shortlisted them immediately despite even if they do or don't have my research goals. i am just starting to go through this so i will eventually narrow down what is reasonable. other programs i have been looking at include:

Berkeley
John Hopkins
UNC
Michigan
UChicago (Harris Policy institute)
Georgetown (Health Policy institute)

as for research, i have research goals in mind and have been working with them during my practicum, however i probably wont be publishing anything. is this a bad thing?