columbia's mph deadline

[Catz12]

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Can anyone explain the difference between Columbia's soft deadline and the regular deadline for a MPH? According to SOPHAS the deadline is Dec 1st, but according to Columbia's website it's Jan 15th....

 

[epinerd]

I don't know, but I tried emailing them about this a couple of months ago, and no one ever got back to me. *shakes fist*
You could try emailing admissions yourself. Or maybe calling them would get you an answer quicker?

 

[phstudent20]

I believe the "soft" deadline of the first is similar to an early action deadline and the hard deadline is the actual deadline as the website says "Candidates who submit all of their materials by the soft deadline of December 1 may, though not always, receive an early decision on their application."
That's just my perception though. It's probably best to check with the school.

 

[paristokyo]

Same issue here. I talked to both of them and Columbia says they'll accept applications until jan 15th, but there is no way to do so in SOPHAS past december 1st. Shrug

 

[DeeLovely79]

SOPHAS can take anywhere from 1 week to 4 weeks to process your application. As deadlines get closer and more people start submitting applications the processing time gets longer. I submitted my application Nov 10th and it didn't get mailed to schools until Nov 22nd and I am still getting e-mails from some of those schools requesting additional information/verifying the completeness of my application. If Columbia's deadline is Jan 15th I would advise you to submit your application by December 1st.
Think about it, SOPHAS is going to be flooded with applications from practically every SPH and there will be atleast a week around the end of the year when their staff will be on vacation and so very few applications will be processed.

 

[cloosh10]

so you're saying if we submit our application to sophas say one or two weeks before the school deadline but it doesn't get processed in time then it will not be counted?

 

[EpiWin]

ya I feel like that wouldn't be the case, and that there's a mechanism in place to indicate to a school that you've e-submitted before the deadline, even if the app itself isn't mailed out yet. Anyone with more knowledge can confirm/deny?

 

[cloosh10]

i just sent sophas an email about this. will post when i hear back.

 

[cloosh10]

so i called up sophas and they said MOST schools mean you have to E-SUBMIT your application by the deadline. so it doesn't (mostly) depend on the processing time. so you have to call the schools you're applying for to double check if they want it processed by the date or e-submitted by the date. i haven't called columbia so someone may want to. i will be submitting a month before the deadline either way.

 

[RumbaToMD]

I too was confused. I called SOPHAS and was told that Columbia made an error by setting their "soft" deadline of December 1st as their "final" deadline and was directed to contact Columbia. So I called Columbia and was told that we can submit the application post-December 1st via SOPHAS...I'm interested to see if this is in fact true.

 

[EpiWin]

so i called up sophas and they said MOST schools mean you have to E-SUBMIT your application by the deadline. so it doesn't (mostly) depend on the processing time. so you have to call the schools you're applying for to double check if they want it processed by the date or e-submitted by the date. i haven't called columbia so someone may want to. i will be submitting a month before the deadline either way.

Columbia and UC Berkeley are the same, the deadline is for e-submit (UCB tonight!)

 

[undergrad1234]

I submitted my SOPHAS app on November 25, and I believe I'm in the "processing" phase right now. SOPHAS just got one of my transcripts yesterday. I also planned on taking the GRE in january. Does this mean that my complete application will be sent out to the school past the hard deadline of January 15, or will the application be sent to the school as "incomplete" until my GRE scores are received? This still confuses me!

 

[OneDay81]

It seems to me that your application is incomplete until your GRE scores are received, which is why schools recommend you take it early (so that your scores can be received by the deadline). Since SOPHAS doesn't require your GRE scores (it's a school requirement) I think SOPHAS will count it as complete but your school won't.