I will be joining the MPH Global Health and Population program.I am an international student. I attended the Open House today and wanted to convey some of the info I received there to those of you who couldnt attend. This is not complete information; I am just listing things that you could check-out/consider. And please reconfirm/recheck all the information Ive written here, since I got it verbatim it might not be very accurate.
The MPH is 42.5 credits. You have a certain number of core courses that you are required to take. You can either take them individually or you may enroll in an integrated foundation course (Some divisions are not eligible for this, so please check the details). The foundation course (from what I was told) uses up less credits than taking the same courses individually would, and it is a case based integrated format of study. So people who do not need/want much quantitative skills could consider this as it saves your credits for the elective courses that you might wish to take. This is offered in Fall. I dont know the details please check website or contact HSPH for details. Not all divisions are eligible for this, Some people said that it may not give you sufficient depth into the quantitative subjects but others were quite happy with it.
The summer session starts on July 1st. And it is divided into summer - 1 (July 1 24) and Summer 2 (July 27 August 14). The deadline for registering for this was March 1st but since we asked about it we were told that we should let them know by today itself if we still want to join. I asked if I can tell them by Monday and they agreed. Please write to them if you are interested in this. It is very intense classes from 8 am to 5 pm - 5 days a week in the core subjects. So essentially you will have covered most of the core requirements by the time the fall session starts freeing up you time later on a little bit.
Most students I spoke to were not doing part time work. It may be possible to work part time but I personally dont think it is wise to stress yourself out on it unless it is something directly related to/adding to your interests/profile. It is not a matter of availability; you would find jobs if you look for them but its a question of whether you want to spend time from your precious 9 months to work.
Housing Please fill the Shattuck application ASAP as it fills up very fast. No cost to apply so do apply in order to have a backup. Vanderbilt is Dormitory style you have your own room but you share the kitchen and bathroom with the other people on the floor. Also explore and apply on the Harvard Real Estate Services website. You can also find roommates there. If you do look for other housing on craigslist or otherwise try to get housing which includes heating in the rent because heating bills can be very high like 200-250 for winter.
There are a lot of student clubs Toastmaster club, Tango club, South Asian Club etc. You can also get involved in Student Government and other activities.
Academic Advisors will be assigned to you by June sometime.
If you want to change your concentration once you come here you can do it within the first two weeks of classes. There also seems to be some possibility of converting MPH to SM2 etc.
Student Financial services said that they are in the process of reinstating the loans for international students that did not require a co-signer. She said that the bank contract hadnt been signed yet so she could not talk about it or commit anything right now. But she will send out an email within a week with details about it. So all international students should be able to apply for loans without a US cosigner.
The one thing I didnt like about the day was the fact that being an MPH student I didnt get much time with faculty. It was just a half-an-hour session with no interaction, the faculty just introduced themselves and spoke about their courses. Although they did spend more time with the PhD and SM2 students. They did appear quite friendly and approachable and current students also said that faculty is indeed very approachable. This was one of the facts that had bothered me I had wondered whether faculty at a place like Harvard would be student-focused or not. But it appears to be pretty ok. I felt a bit starry-eyed seeing some of the great figures in their fields in the same room as me , so I guess even if I was given more time to interact I would have ended up babbling nonsense
.
Trivia - All students get lockers in the school.
By the way, the subway in Boston is splendid, I am in love with it.
I will be joining the MPH Global Health and Population program. I attended the Open House today and wanted to convey some of the info I received there to those of you who couldnt attend. This is not complete information; I am just listing things that you could check-out/consider. And please reconfirm/recheck all the information Ive written here, since I got it verbatim it might not be very accurate.
The MPH is 42.5 credits. You have a certain number of core courses that you are required to take. You can either take them individually or you may enroll in an integrated foundation course (Some divisions are not eligible for this, so please check the details). The foundation course (from what I was told) uses up less credits than taking the same courses individually would, and it is a case based integrated format of study. So people who do not need/want much quantitative skills could consider this as it saves your credits for the elective courses that you might wish to take. This is offered in Fall. I dont know the details please check website or contact HSPH for details. Not all divisions are eligible for this, Some people said that it may not give you sufficient depth into the quantitative subjects but others were quite happy with it.
The summer session starts on July 1st. And it is divided into summer - 1 (July 1 24) and Summer 2 (July 27 August 14). The deadline for registering for this was March 1st but since we asked about it we were told that we should let them know by today itself if we still want to join. I asked if I can tell them by Monday and they agreed. Please write to them if you are interested in this. It is very intense classes from 8 am to 5 pm - 5 days a week in the core subjects. So essentially you will have covered most of the core requirements by the time the fall session starts freeing up you time later on a little bit.
Most students I spoke to were not doing part time work. It may be possible to work part time but I personally dont think it is wise to stress yourself out on it unless it is something directly related to/adding to your interests/profile. It is not a matter of availability; you would find jobs if you look for them but its a question of whether you want to spend time from your precious 9 months to work.
Housing Please fill the Shattuck application ASAP as it fills up very fast. No cost to apply so do apply in order to have a backup. Vanderbilt is dormitory style you have your own room but you share the kitchen and bathroom with the other people on the floor. Also explore and apply on the Harvard Real Estate Services website. You can also find roommates there. If you do look for other housing on craigslist or otherwise try to get housing which includes heating in the rent because heating bills can be very high like 200-250 for winter.
There are a lot of student clubs Toastmaster club, Tango club, South Asian Club etc. You can also get involved in Student Government and other activities.
Academic Advisors will be assigned to you by June sometime.
If you want to change your concentration once you come here you can do it within the first two weeks of classes. There also seems to be some possibility of converting MPH to SM2 etc.
Student Financial services said that they are in the process of reinstating the loans for international students that did not require a co-signer. She said that the bank contract hadnt been signed yet so she could not talk about it or commit anything right now. But she will send out an email within a week with details about it. So all international students should be able to apply for loans without a US cosigner.
The one thing I didnt like about the day was the fact that being an MPH student I didnt get much time with faculty. It was just a half-an-hour session with no interaction, the faculty just introduced themselves and spoke about their courses. Although they did spend more time with the PhD and SM2 students. They did appear quite friendly and approachable and current students also said that faculty is indeed very approachable. This was one of the facts that had bothered me I had wondered whether faculty at a place like Harvard would be student-focused or not. But it appears to be pretty ok. I felt a bit starry-eyed seeing some of the great figures in their fields in the same room as me , so I guess even if I was given more time to interact I would have ended up babbling nonsense
.
Trivia - All students get lockers in the school.
By the way, the subway in Boston is splendid, I am in love with it.
Thats all I remember for now, if anything else comes up Ill let you people know. Good luck with your decisions!
There is a facebook group HSPH - Entering class 2009 which you all could consider joining.
