Columbia '13 - Waitlisted then Accepted

[Beckage]

Hello again everyone!

I was waitlisted for Columbia's MPH Epi program in early April and decided to send my acceptance an deposit to Pitt (not wanting to put grad school on hold if I didn't get into Mailman). I was notified yesterday that I was finally accepted at Columbia and was wondering if anyone was facing a similar situation or if anyone has any thoughts or advice?

Thanks again to you all (this forum has been a lifesaver)!

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[TennisFan013]

Congratulations! If Columbia is your dream school, what are you really losing to Pitt-- a $200 deposit or something? It's only May, and you still have plenty of time to switch gears and work on the financial and housing aspects of Columbia and NYC respectively.

I don't think you can make a bad choice. Have you visited both schools? I just wouldn't let losing a small deposit stand in the way.

 

[Beckage]

Wow! Thanks for getting back so quickly! It’s not so much the deposit I’m worried about (although I admit, at first I didn’t even know if it was possible to switch) it’s the other $50-$60 grand a year lol — especially because Pitt is in-state for me (huge cost difference ahhhh). I visited Pitt and really liked it. But I’m now thinking I’ll be making a trip to NY this weekend....I’ve been on the Columbia thread a lot and I’ve seen a lot of the“is it worth the $?” question. It doesn’t seem that ALL the students are thrilled there (although this is probably true at every school, in every program).

Housing is a big deal and I know that they actually HAVE on-campus housing for students but I’m not sure if this is available for public health students (?). A friend of mine went to PT school there and lived in the on-campus housing for a year and loved it because it was so close. I’m on the younger end of the age-spectrum for Mailman’s student body (at least according to what they’ve posted) so I’m not as well-versed in financial aid as some. My friend who went to PT school got all of her loans through Columbia and it covered housing. However, the financial aid email I got only offered about a $30K a year unsub loan —does this mean I’d have to get a loan for another $25K (per year) somewhere else? Yikes!


I figured there might be others with the same problem here as their waitlisted notifications just came out. Everyone I’ve asked for advice has strong opinions so I really appreciate the outside advice!