EIS 2019

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Dodadoctah

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So...not sure if anyone else is applying to CDC's EIS this spring for 2019 start but applications open in a few weeks and are due by 22JUN!!!

Also, what appears to be big news from the CDC application webpage, "The United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps is no longer offered as a hiring mechanism for EIS unless the applicant is commissioned into the Corps prior to acceptance into EIS." ?!?

No option for commissioned corps in PHS is a big deal...maybe due to budget cuts?
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Hey just jumping into the conversation. I've been working on my essay and application materials for the EIS 2019 class. Looking forward to getting through this process with everyone else applying. I met with an EISO the other day who was in the USPHS. He mentioned they suspended the pathway to the CC because of potential budget cuts and restructuring the current administration has suggested.
 
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I've been watching the EIS threads for several years now, so I'm very excited that it is time for the 2019 applications. Best of luck to everyone that will be applying this year :)

Thanks for the update on the reasoning behind the change to the Commissioned Corps, I saw that on their page and was curious as well.

Looking forward to the EIS conference and meeting other applicants next week! Is anyone else planning to attend?
 
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I'm counting:
66 Class of 2018 (incoming class based on EIS conference agenda)
71 Class of 2017
78 Class of 2016

Diminishing numbers...I wonder the count for class of 2019?
 
So anybody here get to go to the EIS conference this year? I wasn't able to attend. I'm curious to know if there were any major updates or news about the EIS program for next year?
 
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Oomph said:
So anybody here get to go to the EIS conference this year? I wasn't able to attend. I'm curious to know if there were any major updates or news about the EIS program for next year?
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I attended and went to the recruitment session as well. The major update seemed to be that they will not be offering the commissioned corps for EIS officers for the foreseeable future, budgetary reasons being cited.

In addition to diminishing class sizes, it sounded like they have also encountered increased barriers for international applicants. The competition for international spots sounds incredibly intense.

Most of the recruiting session was interested applicants asking about the application process and what to expect if you are accepted into the program.

Not a bunch, but I hope that helps some!
 
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Hello,
I'm new here, am really excited about applying to EIS - but I'm an international so sadly I'm worried about those budget cuts :(
Still, it's always worth a try!
 
Excited to apply this year! I attended the EIS conference as well and agree with EpiBee, nothing was shared besides that that was particularly useful.
I was slightly disappointed because last year you could go to various booths set up by the centers and interact with EIS officers and supervisors, but this year it was all off limits and I was asked to leave the area so they could focus on recruitment.
 
I'm applying. The only thing I have to do is submit letters of recommendation. I'm kind of stressed out about that. I'm currently at the CDC in another fellowship and it would be great to have some of the people I know write recommendation letters for me. But only 2 letters are allowed from CDC employees. I asked my PhD chairs to write letters for me but I don't trust one of them. With my 2 CDC letters and 2 PhD chairs, that's technically 4 letters. But as I said I don't trust one of the PhD chairs. So, I'm looking for alternative writers. I contacted 2 other people I know from my doctoral but they haven't responded yet. Today, I contacted people from my master's program, just in case I don't hear from the people from my doctoral program, but I haven't spoken to one of them in at least 2 years and the other since I graduated about 7 years ago. I talked to a few former EIS officers I currently work with and they said that the application previously required 3 letters, but now it's 4. That's a lot of letters. But I guess they are asking for that many because the program is becoming more selective each year.
 
I'm in the same boat as you now @Docsweettea
Finally finished my personal statement last night. I am also a fellow at CDC and have 2 letters from CDC folks, and 2 from my dissertation committee. I applied last year and had one of my PhD committee members submit my letter 2 hours before the deadline, bout gave me a heart attack haha. We'll see how it goes this year, hoping I can get in!
 
docsweetea said:
I'm applying. The only thing I have to do is submit letters of recommendation. I'm kind of stressed out about that. I'm currently at the CDC in another fellowship and it would be great to have some of the people I know write recommendation letters for me. But only 2 letters are allowed from CDC employees. I asked my PhD chairs to write letters for me but I don't trust one of them. With my 2 CDC letters and 2 PhD chairs, that's technically 4 letters. But as I said I don't trust one of the PhD chairs. So, I'm looking for alternative writers. I contacted 2 other people I know from my doctoral but they haven't responded yet. Today, I contacted people from my master's program, just in case I don't hear from the people from my doctoral program, but I haven't spoken to one of them in at least 2 years and the other since I graduated about 7 years ago. I talked to a few former EIS officers I currently work with and they said that the application previously required 3 letters, but now it's 4. That's a lot of letters. But I guess they are asking for that many because the program is becoming more selective each year.
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I have to say the LORs also stress me out a bunch too! Mostly because it's out of my hands and relying on the writers to submit on time. For your questionable letter writer, I'd give them an 'out' so to speak if they feel like they couldn't provide you a strong recommendation. No point in having the writer go through the motions if it's not going to benefit you or them. Try to make it as easy as possible for them. Write up some bullet points to jog their memory. Remind them of the great work you did and your relevant achievements so they can work it into the letter. And for those tardy letter writers--periodic reminders are a must. I find that chocolate and an early thank you card usually motivates them to work on your letters!
 
Theefisherman said:
I'm in the same boat as you now @Docsweettea
Finally finished my personal statement last night. I am also a fellow at CDC and have 2 letters from CDC folks, and 2 from my dissertation committee. I applied last year and had one of my PhD committee members submit my letter 2 hours before the deadline, bout gave me a heart attack haha. We'll see how it goes this year, hoping I can get in!
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Kudos on finishing the statement! I've been working on this one for a while now and it's definitely one of the harder statements I've written-especially with the word limit.
 
docsweetea said:
I'm applying. The only thing I have to do is submit letters of recommendation. I'm kind of stressed out about that. I'm currently at the CDC in another fellowship and it would be great to have some of the people I know write recommendation letters for me. But only 2 letters are allowed from CDC employees. I asked my PhD chairs to write letters for me but I don't trust one of them. With my 2 CDC letters and 2 PhD chairs, that's technically 4 letters. But as I said I don't trust one of the PhD chairs. So, I'm looking for alternative writers. I contacted 2 other people I know from my doctoral but they haven't responded yet. Today, I contacted people from my master's program, just in case I don't hear from the people from my doctoral program, but I haven't spoken to one of them in at least 2 years and the other since I graduated about 7 years ago. I talked to a few former EIS officers I currently work with and they said that the application previously required 3 letters, but now it's 4. That's a lot of letters. But I guess they are asking for that many because the program is becoming more selective each year.
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Could you request a letter from your dean in place of the PhD chair you don't trust?
 
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Oomph said:
Kudos on finishing the statement! I've been working on this one for a while now and it's definitely one of the harder statements I've written-especially with the word limit.
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Luckily I had my one from last year to go off of, so I just modified about half of it and kept half. It is SUPER tough though.

I wanted to try to included more personal stuff, but also make sure I provide an adequate answer to all four of the questions.
 
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EpiBee said:
Could you request a letter from your dean in place of the PhD chair you don't trust?
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I actually was able to get in contact with 2 other people, so I think I am fine now. Now the challenge will be getting them all to submit on time. Luckily we still have a month before the LORs are due.

Actually before the application was open, I spoke to my department chair about the EIS program because he was an officer (even his father was an officer). He recommended that I get LORs from people I actually worked with. I originally considered him because MDs have to get a dean's letter so I thought a letter from him would be equivalent. He wrote letters for me in the past whenever an application required a letter from a department chair or dean. Also, I thought it was an added bonus because he was a former officer.

MDs seem to have it slightly easier when it comes to securing LORs. They are given a deans letter by default, so they technically only have to convince 3 people.
 
docsweetea said:
I actually was able to get in contact with 2 other people, so I think I am fine now. Now the challenge will be getting them all to submit on time. Luckily we still have a month before the LORs are due.

Actually before the application was open, I spoke to my department chair about the EIS program because he was an officer (even his father was an officer). He recommended that I get LORs from people I actually worked with. I originally considered him because MDs have to get a dean's letter so I thought a letter from him would be equivalent. He wrote letters for me in the past whenever an application required a letter from a department chair or dean. Also, I thought it was an added bonus because he was a former officer.

MDs seem to have it slightly easier when it comes to securing LORs. They are given a deans letter by default, so they technically only have to convince 3 people.
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That was my thought, since MDs are required to have one from their dean, other disciplines could use that too. I see your point about it being someone who you've actually worked with though. Glad you got it taken care of!
 
Theefisherman said:
Luckily I had my one from last year to go off of, so I just modified about half of it and kept half. It is SUPER tough though.

I wanted to try to included more personal stuff, but also make sure I provide an adequate answer to all four of the questions.
Click to expand...

That was my struggle too. I actually wrote mine before the application period opened and was WAY over the word count when I finally saw it. Still working on cutting it down, but including all the important information!
 
Just submitted my EIS application this morning and feeling super excited about it. Good luck to everyone finishing up the app this week. Hopefully we'll all get the chance to meet up in Atlanta in September!!!
 
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I just submitted my application. Still waiting on 2 people to submit their recommendation letters but they assured me that they are submitting them tomorrow (the deadline). I'm so excited.

I didn't realize they have us select preferred interview dates when the application is submitted. That part caught me by surprise. I'm looking forward to having an interview on one of those days.

Good luck everyone!
 
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Finally got my application submitted! All letters uploaded just in the nick of time! Now we wait...

Good luck everyone.
 
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Got all 4 letters of recommendation, one more person is submitting a letter later today. I went from being stressed about the letters to having more than the minimum.
 
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Just got my last letter in and everything is submitted! Good luck to everyone who is finishing up or still waiting on letters!

Everyone be sure to complete the applicant survey with interview dates and preferred assignments as it is part of the full application and doesn't appear to be fully submitted until that goes through. Or if you get stuck waiting until the last minute, leave yourself some time to fill it out!

Can't wait to hear about everyone's progress and hope to see you in Atlanta for interviews! Best of luck to everyone!
 
Dodadoctah said:
Found this annual update quite interesting:

More PhDs than MDs. 2018 class only has 5 (out of 66) non-US citizens. 51/80 remained at CDC after fellowship for 2015 class.
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Thanks for sharing! That class makeup does seem quite different from previous years where MDs tended to dominate. My understanding is the desired makeup for the class changes each year depending on their projected needs. I wonder if this year's will be similarly diverse or if they will go back to being primarily MDs.
 
EpiBee said:
Thanks for sharing! That class makeup does seem quite different from previous years where MDs tended to dominate. My understanding is the desired makeup for the class changes each year depending on their projected needs. I wonder if this year's will be similarly diverse or if they will go back to being primarily MDs.
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The shift from mostly physicians (MDs & DOs) to more equal distribution with vets and PhDs is because of CDC's OneHealth initiative (from the mouth of a former CDC advisor). It wouldn't make sense to be based on project needs (i.e. epidemics). EIS officers are federal employees...we probably have budget cuts to thank for those diminishing numbers. \ :
 
DenverBioNerd said:
The shift from mostly physicians (MDs & DOs) to more equal distribution with vets and PhDs is because of CDC's OneHealth initiative (from the mouth of a former CDC advisor). It wouldn't make sense to be based on project needs (i.e. epidemics). EIS officers are federal employees...we probably have budget cuts to thank for those diminishing numbers. \ :
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I had heard that it depended some on the projected project needs from someone at CDC too, but the OneHealth reasoning does make more sense!

Speaking of cuts...I saw an article that the government has proposed to make even more to USPHS (the article cited up to 40%). I wonder if that will happen.
 
Can anyone tell their display status right now? It says "Application Under Review". I hope everything is fine and they are reviewing the applications.
 
Expertz said:
Can anyone tell their display status right now? It says "Application Under Review". I hope everything is fine and they are reviewing the applications.
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I submitted my application on 6/15 and the status changed to “Application Under Review” within a few hours. It seems like last year it took longer for the applications to switch to under review. I wonder if they are getting to them sooner or if they are simply switching automatically once everything is in.
 
Hey everyone! I’m late to this thread but I’ve also submitted for this years cycle. Super excited!!! Anyone have any clue when interview emails will start going out?
 
DocB1920 said:
Hey everyone! I’m late to this thread but I’ve also submitted for this years cycle. Super excited!!! Anyone have any clue when interview emails will start going out?
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I haven't received an interview invite or a rejection. Would love to hear if anyone has heard back.
 
doc_proc said:
I haven't received an interview invite or a rejection. Would love to hear if anyone has heard back.
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No, I haven't heard back yet. I asked my coworker to check her email from last year so I could get an estimated timeline. She was notified of the interview 28 days before. Since she was pregnant and due the same week of her original interview date, she moved it up a week. So she had her interview 3 weeks after she was notified.

Interviews are supposed to begin the first week of September so we should be hearing back by the 2nd week of August (8/6-8/10). That's just my assumption based. That's also in line with the time frame they have on the EIS website.
 
docsweetea said:
No, I haven't heard back yet. I asked my coworker to check her email from last year so I could get an estimated timeline. She was notified of the interview 28 days before. Since she was pregnant and due the same week of her original interview date, she moved it up a week. So she had her interview 3 weeks after she was notified.

Interviews are supposed to begin the first week of September so we should be hearing back by the 2nd week of August (8/6-8/10). That's just my assumption based. That's also in line with the time frame they have on the EIS website.
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Thanks for the estimated deadline. I'm so nervous about it, let's hope we can hear something next week! I saw in the EIS 2018 thread that they started getting the email by the last week of August but I think their interviews were late September.
 
NYCmicro said:
Thanks for the estimated deadline. I'm so nervous about it, let's hope we can hear something next week! I saw in the EIS 2018 thread that they started getting the email by the last week of August but I think their interviews were late September.
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Yes, they submitted applications later than we did this year. That's why I asked my coworker to count the days between the email notification and her original interview date so I could get an idea of when to hear from them. It seems like every year they are pushing up the application deadline. 2 years ago the application deadline was late August.
 
Hey everyone

Applied for the first time as International applicant. Status "under review ". Anxiously waiting for a response.

Good luck everone
 
I am also new to the thread and excited to hear back soon. Is anyone applying for additional EIS programs(not in the U.S.) or applied epidemiology experiences?
 
chem9872 said:
I am also new to the thread and excited to hear back soon. Is anyone applying for additional EIS programs(not in the U.S.) or applied epidemiology experiences?
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I have not applied to any other CDC fellowship. Did you apply?
 
Can you suggest any similar EIS programs accepting international applicants ??
 
Anyone coming to ICEID-2018 in Atlanta 26-29 August?
 
Still waiting on that email...

waiting...

waiting...
 
I wonder if they will be sticking with the preferred interview dates we selected when we submit our applications. The earliest interview date (according to the dates listed during the application survey) is now 2.5 weeks away. I'm local, but I thought they would give more advance notice for people who need to travel for the interview. I hope we find out this week.
 
docsweetea said:
I wonder if they will be sticking with the preferred interview dates we selected when we submit our applications. The earliest interview date (according to the dates listed during the application survey) is now 2.5 weeks away. I'm local, but I thought they would give more advance notice for people who need to travel for the interview. I hope we find out this week.
Click to expand...

I hope they push back the interview dates a bit. We're coming close to the selected interview dates and some of us (like me) are traveling from out-of-state. It definitely puts a dent in your wallet to book flights and hotels on such short notice. Does anybody know if CDC helps to offset the costs in anyway? I know we're responsible for travel costs, but this can become prohibitively expensive...especially if you're unemployed!
 
Current EISO I talked to said they traveled from overseas to ATL with only 3 weeks notice for their interview. Expensive. There is not compensation or offsetting. You bear the full cost.

I also had high expectations for today. I’ll just keep refreshing my email.:nailbiting:
 
I've definitely felt my heart rate jump up each time my phone got an email notification today! We will surely know within the next few days...
 
Has anyone heard anything about the EIS? I beginning to think I didn't get interview.
 
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