MPH 2019: Applied, Waitlisted, Accepted!

Started by el.mo19
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pinkboba said:
Does anyone hane any info of the MPH Environmental Health departments at UCLA or UCB? Each school has great programs, but I wanted to learn if there are main differences between the two within the EH concentrations. I am open to attending either university but I'm not sure which one would be better for me. I've never been to either schools but I am planning on going to both of their admitted student days this month.
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I don't know about UCLA but I can share my thoughts. Reputation wise, UCB is unparalleled by the other UCs, it is considered the best period. The environmental health faculty at Berkeley is top-notch yet accessible, frankly the SPH is one of the few schools at Berkeley where teachers care. Environmental health research at UCB has a huge focus on environmental and social justice, lots of work investigating effects of different environmental policies and practices on marginalized or poor communities. If you care about social justice, advocacy and not just lab work, UCB is a good option. As far as funding UCLA and UCB are both governed by the same regents so there isn't a realistic expectation that UCLA will have better resources, in fact since Berkeley is the research giant it gets more federal funding, NIH grants etc.
 
safeandsound0103 said:
Hi everyone, congrats to everyone's admittance letters! I'm hoping if I could get some advice from you guys. I'm an undergraduate at UW, planning to go to either UW or Harvard for masters, and then possibly medical school (for now). Here's some stuff I'm considering so far, but I would love your input!

University of Washington (MPH: Epidemiology- MCH focus)
- cheaper tuition (almost half of Harvard)
- connections I've built since undergraduate
- the director of MCH has been very involved in keeping contact with me
- seems like there are various opportunities for TA and RA, which could lead to tuition waiver
- medium reputation in public health (?)
- small cohort for MCH program

Harvard University (SM-80: Global Health and Population)
- expensive tuition
- great resources and networking
- small cohort of students
- many opportunities to grow for practicum and research internship
- great reputation
- has MCH concentration and research centers

Couple tag along questions: will the MPH vs. SM make a big difference? I didn't apply to epidemiology for Harvard and I was wondering if I were to pursue getting a job would it be a problem in the epidemiology field? Lastly, how much does the 'brand name' really matter in your opinion?

Thank you in advance!!
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for me, you could have stopped after UW being *half* the cost of Harvard. Decision made.
 
_basquiat said:
Think of it this way: if it were binding, the schools wouldn't have waiting lists at all. A waiting list implicitly acknowledges that a program may be taking a student who may have 'committed' elsewhere prior to April 15th. It's a mutual understanding between programs and part of the process with these schools, and you don't deserve to feel any guilt whatsoever about committing to your program of choice if a spot opens up.
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So true. These institutions have millions of dollars and thousands of students, don't ever feel bad for doing what you need to do to get to where you want to be.
 
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kc142909 said:
Any one know about (accepted students) starting the harvard mph-45 in the summer? They emailed about it, but said to apply through Sophas express...which is trying to make me re-enter all of my Sophas application info and pay $50!
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Yeah, I got the same email too. Though it does sound tempting to start school in the Summer, it however won't work for me as I have already made some conflicting engagements which I can't get out of.
By the way, any word from the Financial Aid Office yet?
 
PrestonNotBurke said:
Yeah, I got the same email too. Though it does sound tempting to start school in the Summer, it however won't work for me as I have already made some conflicting engagements which I can't get out of.
By the way, any word from the Financial Aid Office yet?
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My mph program starting this summer but i enroll into the PCE program in Brigham. Not sure if that’s the same
 
Hi everyone!

I was wondering if anyone could give me any advice on deciding between BU or Columbia for a MPH in Epi? I really like both programs and was fortunate to have been accepted to both. But I am conflicted over which one to pick.

I attended BU for undergrad and did not enjoy my time there. I know that BU SPH may be a completely different experience, but I am still hesitant to pick their MPH program over Columbia.

Any thoughts would be very much appreciated.

Thanks!!
 
Anyone deciding between Yale vs. Columbia? I know Yale has a smaller program than Columbia (and is more expensive in tuition), but Columbia is in essentially in the hub for public health opportunities.

I’ve done my research on both schools but wanted to hear what you all think!

Any insights into either program as a whole (Social and behavioral science and HPM) would be helpful!
 
anyone else choosing between columbia and UW for HPM? thoughts on this in terms of alumni network, job opportunities, reputation?
 
enviroprotector said:
Anyone deciding between Yale vs. Columbia? I know Yale has a smaller program than Columbia (and is more expensive in tuition), but Columbia is in essentially in the hub for public health opportunities.

I’ve done my research on both schools but wanted to hear what you all think!

Any insights into either program as a whole (Social and behavioral science and HPM) would be helpful!
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I remember during admitted students day at Yale last year a decent number of students said they had internship opportunities in New York and were able to commute for them since a train runs from New Haven to New York. If you like the smaller cohort size and the program better at Yale it’s possible to also partake in some of the opportunities Columbia students have due to the location of Columbia.
 
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If the program you're interested in is lacking a good series of coursework for one or more languages such as SAS, STATA, R, SAS, SPSS, etc., what would you suggest? It's not a determining factor in my school choice, but it would be nice to graduate with another marketable skill...

Does anyone know when UCLA is announcing financial aid awards?
 
only federal direct loans and federal work study from harvard, which especially since they don’t allow deferrals makes it a HARD pass. honestly a little thankful they made that decision for me!
 
TreeTrunks said:
If the program you're interested in is lacking a good series of coursework for one or more languages such as SAS, STATA, R, SAS, SPSS, etc., what would you suggest? It's not a determining factor in my school choice, but it would be nice to graduate with another marketable skill...
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I think it depends on which ones you already know. I learned STATA first and then SAS through coursework. SAS would've been impossible to learn on my own regardless, but I think I could have figured out STATA on my own if I had previous SAS knowledge. I've used some free online courses to mess around in R but am no means proficient and will probably need to take a data analysis or biostats course that uses R eventually. I can use SPSS just fine without any formal training because of my STATA and SAS experience.

You should definitely leave an MPH program proficient in STATA, SAS, or R. Don't attend a program where you don't learn any of those.
 
TreeTrunks said:
Does anyone know when UCLA is announcing financial aid awards?
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I emailed financial aid person and she said, "If you receive a scholarship, then I would notify you in the next month. For loan, ensure that your social security number is inputted in my.ucla.edu under the ‘settings’ tab. This will allow the financial aid office to generate a loan notice for you."
I entered in my SS info and then they generated a provisional award letter (all loans).
 
Ramaq Chishti said:
I was just wondering how far along is everyone in their decision making/offer acceptance/finding housing and finances process?

And to those who attended, how was the visiting day at Hopkins?!
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I was at Hopkins day! I thought it was really good. All of the professors and deans were really approachable and obviously had a good relationship with the students. All of the students I talked to (primarily full time MPH students) were very happy, a little overwhelmed due to the nature of the program, and loved baltimore.

My major concerns were having enough time to establish relationships with professors and ROI. All of the students said that RA positions are readily available and I had a nice chat with career services that lessened my career prospect concerns. Overall I was very pleased and leaning more toward going to Hopkins.
 
kinasekinasekat said:
I was at Hopkins day! I thought it was really good. All of the professors and deans were really approachable and obviously had a good relationship with the students. All of the students I talked to (primarily full time MPH students) were very happy, a little overwhelmed due to the nature of the program, and loved baltimore.

My major concerns were having enough time to establish relationships with professors and ROI. All of the students said that RA positions are readily available and I had a nice chat with career services that lessened my career prospect concerns. Overall I was very pleased and leaning more toward going to Hopkins.
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What are your thoughts on the career prospects after talking with the career services at Hopkins?
 
PrestonNotBurke said:
Got 50% off Harvard tuition! Much better than my Columbia offer but I still need to figure out the remainder of the tuition plus living expenses. +pity+
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Congrats! Which program had you applied in Harvard? and was this scholarship nationality-based or special in any other means?
 
kinasekinasekat said:
I was at Hopkins day! I thought it was really good. All of the professors and deans were really approachable and obviously had a good relationship with the students. All of the students I talked to (primarily full time MPH students) were very happy, a little overwhelmed due to the nature of the program, and loved baltimore.

My major concerns were having enough time to establish relationships with professors and ROI. All of the students said that RA positions are readily available and I had a nice chat with career services that lessened my career prospect concerns. Overall I was very pleased and leaning more toward going to Hopkins.
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Thanks for this! I wasn’t able to attend. My biggest concern is also that the full-time MPH is too short. Did you get the impression that current students were able to fully participate in extra-curricular things like research, seminars, school events, etc.?
 
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Hi everyone!

What are some pros and cons of Johns Hopkins MSPH Global Disease Epidemiology and Control program (or just Bloomberg in general) that you know of/have heard of?
 
Memm77 said:
Congrats again! But I cannot really understand how they make their decisions! 50% tuition award for a 157 score in quant, in the Quantitative Methods MPH program! Good for you...
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I understand we’re all under a lot of stress, especially with regards to finances and how the hell we’re gonna support ourselves through grad school. But this comment is pretty condescending.

It’s apparent that public health programs take a holistic approach during the admissions process AND giving out scholarships. We just really can’t guess how it’s all gonna work out, but we CAN lift each other up while we’re at it, as we’ve been doing.

I’m really not trying to come at you. Just wanted to throw out a general reminder that comparison is the thief of joy. I’m proud of everyone in this forum and convinced we’re all gonna do good things for the world.
 
flawedmph said:
I understand we’re all under a lot of stress, especially with regards to finances and how the hell we’re gonna support ourselves through grad school. But this comment is pretty condescending.

It’s apparent that public health programs take a holistic approach during the admissions process AND giving out scholarships. We just really can’t guess how it’s all gonna work out, but we CAN lift each other up while we’re at it, as we’ve been doing.

I’m really not trying to come at you. Just wanted to throw out a general reminder that comparison is the thief of joy. I’m proud of everyone in this forum and convinced we’re all gonna do good things for the world.
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I completely agree with you and I deleted my comment. Please accept my apology! However, I think the holistic approach should be done just for admission, to allow students with different degrees, different backgrounds, and different levels of skills come into the programs. But for merit-based awards, I cannot understand how our competency could be evaluated holistically and fairly at the same time!
you know better than me that the word "holistic" is sometimes used just for convincing us that the process was completely fair and academic, and we were not just competent enough! In this regard, although I criticized the Columbia strict cut-offs in this thread when I see the results of some other schools, I think that the strict but transparent cut-offs of Columbia and even GW are fairer than absolutely mysterious holistic methods of some other schools! It seems so disappointing that we see our efforts for improving our GPA, and acing the GRE was almost resultless; for instance, I think I could receive the admission from almost all of my applied programs with a significantly lower GPA and GRE score. Regarding merit-based awards, I think, in some schools, communications and connections, the reputation of the undergrad school, and even an applicant's nationality are sometimes more important than having a high GPA, high GRE, and the number of research articles.
 
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Does anyone have any information on NYU's MPH program (not cross-continental, but traditional) or is considering them?

I am debating between Emory, GW, and NYU... I really love Emory's program but haven't receieved aid offers, and GW's offer was still going to make it $30,000 more expensive than what NYU offered me. So far, financially NYU will be the most affordable but I haven't been able to find many people considering their program to talk to. Feel free to offer any input!
 
Bloops said:
Does anyone have any information on NYU's MPH program (not cross-continental, but traditional) or is considering them?

I am debating between Emory, GW, and NYU... I really love Emory's program but haven't receieved aid offers, and GW's offer was still going to make it $30,000 more expensive than what NYU offered me. So far, financially NYU will be the most affordable but I haven't been able to find many people considering their program to talk to. Feel free to offer any input!
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Hey! I am also considering NYU's MPH but cant find anyone who's done it. I've emailed them to get me in touch with a couple of current students, so awaiting their reply. It seems to be a fairly new program. I'm deciding between NYU & Columbia so both my options will be in NYC. What department at NYU did you apply to? I've applied for Policy & Management to both. Their program does look pretty good though and they offered me a scholarship as well, so I'm definitely considering.
 
Greentree1 said:
Hey! I am also considering NYU's MPH but cant find anyone who's done it. I've emailed them to get me in touch with a couple of current students, so awaiting their reply. It seems to be a fairly new program. I'm deciding between NYU & Columbia so both my options will be in NYC. What department at NYU did you apply to? I've applied for Policy & Management to both. Their program does look pretty good though and they offered me a scholarship as well, so I'm definitely considering.
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I applied for the global health programs at all of my schools... I would think NYC would be a good place for it considering all of the connections to international organizations, but Emory also has a good network. It's hard for me to pass up the offer, but then again with cost of living and what not it might not be in cheaper than Emory. I'm on NYU's admitted students facebook page and it doesn't seem to be much help either.
 
Memm77 said:
I completely agree with you and I deleted my comment. Please accept my apology! However, I think the holistic approach should be done just for admission, to allow students with different degrees, different backgrounds, and different levels of skills come into the programs. But for merit-based awards, I cannot understand how our competency could be evaluated holistically and fairly at the same time!
you know better than me that the word "holistic" is sometimes used just for convincing us that the process was completely fair and academic, and we were not just competent enough! In this regard, although I criticized the Columbia strict cut-offs in this thread when I see the results of some other schools, I think that the strict but transparent cut-offs of Columbia and even GW are fairer than absolutely mysterious holistic methods of some other schools! It seems so disappointing that we see our efforts for improving our GPA, and acing the GRE was almost resultless; for instance, I think I could receive the admission from almost all of my applied programs with a significantly lower GPA and GRE score. Regarding merit-based awards, I think, in some schools, communications and connections, the reputation of the undergrad school, and even an applicant's nationality are sometimes more important than having a professional degree, high GPA, high GRE, and the number of research articles.
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I agree that schools could do a better job of being more transparent about criteria for scholarships. But I think the way you're thinking about "holistic" is missing a few factors. There's a lot more to an applicant's profile than just GPA and GRE. Relevant work experience, positive recommendations, and the ability to convey exactly what you plan to get out of the degree program in an SOP are equally (if not more) important. I think these (admittedly more subjective, but nonetheless important) aspects of an application have more bearing on decisions than the things you've mentioned like connections and communications (or maybe I'm naive). Being that an MPH is a professional degree, I personally think it makes sense to weigh relevant professional experience more heavily than academic success. Standardized test scores have been shown to poorly predict success in the future anyway.
 
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MPAfya_19 said:
I agree that schools could do a better job of being more transparent about criteria for scholarships. But I think the way you're thinking about "holistic" is missing a few factors. There's a lot more to an applicant's profile than just GPA and GRE. Relevant work experience, positive recommendations, and the ability to convey exactly what you plan to get out of the degree program on an SOP are equally (if not more) important. I think these (admittedly more subjective, but nonetheless important) aspects of an application have more bearing on decisions than the things you've mentioned like connections and communications (or maybe I'm naive). Being that an MPH is a professional degree, I personally think it makes sense to weigh relevant professional experience more heavily than academic success. Standardized test scores have been shown to poorly predict success in the future anyway.
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You convinced me at least more than programs 🙂 I think the structure of this forum--our Signatures which only shows our stats and awards--sometimes makes us confused! As you mentioned, SOP, LORs, and experiences can be as important as stats, but when some schools allocate their awards ONLY based on stats, I think it's improbable that others have a completely different method.

Although I absolutely agree that stats might not be prognostic for one's future success, I think they are more objective and maybe fair when it comes to ranking applicants in terms of something which programs call "Merit". Of course, MPH admission as a professional or terminal degree should be different from Law or Med school, and they should take subjective factors into account. But regarding the MPH Merit awards, when it comes to thousands of dollars, this non-transparent holistic approach doesn't seem so reasonable and convincing!
 
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MPAfya_19 said:
I agree that schools could do a better job of being more transparent about criteria for scholarships. But I think the way you're thinking about "holistic" is missing a few factors. There's a lot more to an applicant's profile than just GPA and GRE. Relevant work experience, positive recommendations, and the ability to convey exactly what you plan to get out of the degree program on an SOP are equally (if not more) important. I think these (admittedly more subjective, but nonetheless important) aspects of an application have more bearing on decisions than the things you've mentioned like connections and communications (or maybe I'm naive). Being that an MPH is a professional degree, I personally think it makes sense to weigh relevant professional experience more heavily than academic success. Standardized test scores have been shown to poorly predict success in the future anyway.
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Additionally, as you mentioned the professional or terminal feature of MPH programs, I should mention that I've applied for eight academic programs--MS, MSPH, SM, and MHS--which are heavily dependent on quantitative skills, and I taught that the score of 170 in both of my GRE attempts may help me to receive some awards, but it didn't...
You are fully aware that how much difficult this accomplishment for a non-stem degree holder could be; therefore, you can imagine how much disappointed I can be, particularly for these Non-MPH programs.
 
Memm77 said:
Additionally, as you mentioned the professional or terminal feature of MPH programs, I should mention that I've applied for eight academic programs--MS, MSPH, SM, and MHS--which are heavily dependent on quantitative skills, and I taught that the score of 170 in both of my GRE attempts may help me to receive some awards, but it didn't...
You are fully aware that how much difficult this accomplishment for a non-stem degree holder could be; therefore, you can imagine how much disappointed I can be, particularly for these Non-MPH programs.
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I hear you! You definitely have an impressive set of stats and experiences to be very proud of, and I think are deserving of funding. I know others have mentioned this before, but I think reading this forum can distort the reality of the amount of scholarships given out. It might seem like everyone with scores X and Y was awarded a merit scholarship at Z university, when in reality it's only people with scores X and Y who post on SDN who were awarded a scholarship.

Regardless, I'm sorry that this has been frustrating for you. Have you tried to reach out to any of the schools to get more information on their merit award criteria? It seems like a lot are unwilling to negotiate awards, but maybe they could at least answer some of your questions about how the award recipients are determined. It could be that they do have specific criteria that they don't make available publicly (I agree they should). I got a small grant from Harvard because I mentioned wanting to go into public service/working for the US government in my application. I wasn't aware that award existed until I was given it.
 
Memm77 said:
Additionally, as you mentioned the professional or terminal feature of MPH programs, I should mention that I've applied for eight academic programs--MS, MSPH, SM, and MHS--which are heavily dependent on quantitative skills, and I taught that the score of 170 in both of my GRE attempts may help me to receive some awards, but it didn't...
You are fully aware that how much difficult this accomplishment for a non-stem degree holder could be; therefore, you can imagine how much disappointed I can be, particularly for these Non-MPH programs.
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Whatever's meant to be will be. If you get a merit scholarship, great! If you do not, it's not the end of the world. Having the opportunity to get accepted into such prestigious schools should already be an amazing accomplishment. It's cheesy to say but we all have our own gifts and talents, so stressing about things that cannot be changed will only affect your own mental health.

Just go with the flow, accept what already has happened, try not to compare yourself, and give it your all for future opportunities.
 
MPAfya_19 said:
I hear you! You definitely have an impressive set of stats and experiences to be very proud of, and I think are deserving of funding. I know others have mentioned this before, but I think reading this forum can distort the reality of the amount of scholarships given out. It might seem like everyone with scores X and Y was awarded a merit scholarship at Z university, when in reality it's only people with scores X and Y who post on SDN who were awarded a scholarship.

Regardless, I'm sorry that this has been frustrating for you. Have you tried to reach out to any of the schools to get more information on their merit award criteria? It seems like a lot are unwilling to negotiate awards, but maybe they could at least answer some of your questions about how the award recipients are determined. It could be that they do have specific criteria that they don't make available publicly (I agree they should). I got a small grant from Harvard because I mentioned wanting to go into public service/working for the US government in my application. I wasn't aware that award existed until I was given it.
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With taking the 19 "likes" of Flawedmph’s first message into consideration, I can conclude that readers have probably thought that I'm an arrogant or selfish person because I emphasize on my stats and my depression because of lack of funding! Therefore, I should tell you my story to understand my feeling! I'm an MD from Iran--a country which is governed by a dictatorial religious regime for 4 decades! As you may know, we are extremely under oppression by our government, just for instance, after my graduation, only for reception of my MD degree and transcript from my University, I had to work in rural areas for 2 years with a monthly wage of 50$! Unbelievable! (they call it "return of service"!)

Last year, When I received my documents from the Ministry of Health and I decided to apply for a masters degree in Public health,1$ was equal to 38000 IRR--our currency unit--and during recent 9 months our currency value drastically decreased by 250%, and now, each USD is equal to 140000 IRR! (Can you believe it?)
I've sold my little apartment, and my car to quickly exchange to US$! In recent months, my wife and I were visiting patients for more than 350 hours per month! (4$/hr)

In this terrible situation, I took GRE two times and I got 170 in the quantitative section of both of them, and I participated in five epidemiologic papers, learned SPSS, and I was hopeful that at least I will receive a considerable partial tuition waiver, which could at least decrease the financial burden, but I couldn't so far.

The worst part of this long journey is that due to the Trump Ban--the long administrative processing of Iranian students' Visa from 3 to 8 months--I cannot take a risk and wait for negotiation for others' declined offers in April and May. Therefore, I HAVE to make my decision in the next week and schedule a visa interview as soon as possible, because If I go to the Embassy after mid-April, probably I have no chance for getting a visa, on-time arrival, and joining you 🙂

P.S: we do not have a US embassy in Iran, therefore we should go to other countries for a 5-minute interview!

Please accept my apology for this long weired message...
 
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Memm77 said:
With taking the 19 "likes" of your first message into consideration, I can conclude that readers have probably thought that I'm an arrogant or selfish person because I emphasize on my stats and my depression because of lack of funding! Therefore, I should tell you my story to understand my feeling! I'm an MD from Iran--a country which is governed by a dictatorial religious regime for 4 decades! As you may know, we are extremely under oppression by our government, just for instance, after my graduation, only for reception of my MD degree and transcript from my University, I had to work in rural areas for 2 years with a monthly wage of 50$! Unbelievable! (they call it "return of service"!)

Last year, When I received my documents from the Ministry of Health and I decided to apply for a masters degree in Public health,1$ was equal to 38000 IRR--our currency unit--and during recent 9 months our currency value drastically decreased by 250%, and now, each USD is equal to 140000 IRR! (Can you believe it?)
I've sold my little apartment, and my car to quickly exchange to US$! In recent months, my wife and I were visiting patients for more than 350 hours per month! (4$/hr)

In this terrible situation, I took GRE two times and I got 170 in the quantitative section of both of them, and I participated in five epidemiologic papers, learned SPSS, and I was hopeful that at least I will receive a considerable partial tuition waiver, which could at least decrease the financial burden, but I couldn't so far.

The worst part of this long journey is that due to the Trump Ban--the long administrative processing of Iranian students' Visa from 3 to 8 months--I cannot take a risk and wait for negotiation for others' declined offers in April and May. Therefore, I HAVE to make my decision in the next week and schedule a visa interview as soon as possible, because If I go to the Embassy after mid-April, probably I have no chance for getting a visa, on-time arrival, and joining you 🙂

P.S: we do not have a US embassy in Iran, therefore we should go to other countries for a 5-minute interview!

Please accept my apology for this long weired message...
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Thanks for sharing your story! We really only get a small snapshot into people's backgrounds on this forum, so it's impossible to know what people are going through.

I'm really sorry about the visa process and the current administration that is making it so much more difficult for you 🙁 I wish I had something more helpful to say, but my only advice would be to make your case to the financial aid offices if you haven't already. It can never hurt to ask for more funding, or to reach out to see if they can expedite their decision.

I really do admire your dedication! I'm sure no matter where you end up, that drive will lead you to success in your career.
 
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Memm77 said:
With taking the 19 "likes" of your first message into consideration, I can conclude that readers have probably thought that I'm an arrogant or selfish person because I emphasize on my stats and my depression because of lack of funding! Therefore, I should tell you my story to understand my feeling! I'm an MD from Iran--a country which is governed by a dictatorial religious regime for 4 decades! As you may know, we are extremely under oppression by our government, just for instance, after my graduation, only for reception of my MD degree and transcript from my University, I had to work in rural areas for 2 years with a monthly wage of 50$! Unbelievable! (they call it "return of service"!)

Last year, When I received my documents from the Ministry of Health and I decided to apply for a masters degree in Public health,1$ was equal to 38000 IRR--our currency unit--and during recent 9 months our currency value drastically decreased by 250%, and now, each USD is equal to 140000 IRR! (Can you believe it?)
I've sold my little apartment, and my car to quickly exchange to US$! In recent months, my wife and I were visiting patients for more than 350 hours per month! (4$/hr)

In this terrible situation, I took GRE two times and I got 170 in the quantitative section of both of them, and I participated in five epidemiologic papers, learned SPSS, and I was hopeful that at least I will receive a considerable partial tuition waiver, which could at least decrease the financial burden, but I couldn't so far.

The worst part of this long journey is that due to the Trump Ban--the long administrative processing of Iranian students' Visa from 3 to 8 months--I cannot take a risk and wait for negotiation for others' declined offers in April and May. Therefore, I HAVE to make my decision in the next week and schedule a visa interview as soon as possible, because If I go to the Embassy after mid-April, probably I have no chance for getting a visa, on-time arrival, and joining you 🙂

P.S: we do not have a US embassy in Iran, therefore we should go to other countries for a 5-minute interview!

Please accept my apology for this long weired message...
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I have the utmost respect for you for excelling in your field despite these horrible circumstances!

My initial reply to you was made to say that I found your comment to another poster disparaging and that comparing stats and looking at outcomes is wholly unproductive when considering what a crapshoot grad school admissions and funding are. But you deleted your original comment and took responsibility for it, so thank you! Really, that's all that matters.

I will echo other posters by saying you should absolutely reach out to the admissions and FA offices where you've been accepted with your story and with a request to increase or at least match scholarships. I wish you and your wife the best of luck and hope for the best outcome for you both!
 
Memm77 said:
With taking the 19 "likes" of your first message into consideration, I can conclude that readers have probably thought that I'm an arrogant or selfish person because I emphasize on my stats and my depression because of lack of funding! Therefore, I should tell you my story to understand my feeling! I'm an MD from Iran--a country which is governed by a dictatorial religious regime for 4 decades! As you may know, we are extremely under oppression by our government, just for instance, after my graduation, only for reception of my MD degree and transcript from my University, I had to work in rural areas for 2 years with a monthly wage of 50$! Unbelievable! (they call it "return of service"!)

Last year, When I received my documents from the Ministry of Health and I decided to apply for a masters degree in Public health,1$ was equal to 38000 IRR--our currency unit--and during recent 9 months our currency value drastically decreased by 250%, and now, each USD is equal to 140000 IRR! (Can you believe it?)
I've sold my little apartment, and my car to quickly exchange to US$! In recent months, my wife and I were visiting patients for more than 350 hours per month! (4$/hr)

In this terrible situation, I took GRE two times and I got 170 in the quantitative section of both of them, and I participated in five epidemiologic papers, learned SPSS, and I was hopeful that at least I will receive a considerable partial tuition waiver, which could at least decrease the financial burden, but I couldn't so far.

The worst part of this long journey is that due to the Trump Ban--the long administrative processing of Iranian students' Visa from 3 to 8 months--I cannot take a risk and wait for negotiation for others' declined offers in April and May. Therefore, I HAVE to make my decision in the next week and schedule a visa interview as soon as possible, because If I go to the Embassy after mid-April, probably I have no chance for getting a visa, on-time arrival, and joining you 🙂

P.S: we do not have a US embassy in Iran, therefore we should go to other countries for a 5-minute interview!

Please accept my apology for this long weired message...
Click to expand...
I see that you were accepted into the MS Epidemiology program at UCLA, which is in a very good school of public health. Congrats on your funding! A couple of months ago, I emailed the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health's Financial Aid Director for funding opportunities beyond grants/scholarships. She told me that it is possible to get a fair amount of tuition remission by working as a Teaching Assistant (TA) or a Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) for the School of Public Health. Since we are both out of state students (you are an international student) this can help a lot. By working 10-19 hours per week, we can get the "out-of-state" portion of the tuition waived while earning a little bit of salary. By working 20 or more hours per week, UCLA will waive "out-of-state" + "in-state" tuition while providing you a salary. Thus, the admissions counselor stated that it is possible to graduate from UCLA's program with no tuition debt (however, out of the programs I was accepted to, only UCLA offers this sort of funding opportunity). Since you have experience as a practicing physician, I think that you might have a decent shot at being considered for a TAship or a GRAship. Check out this website for some info: https://grad.ucla.edu/funding/working-at-ucla/

Also, be sure to call up the financial aid office to state your case for funding. Best wishes to you.
 
MPAfya_19 said:
Thanks for sharing your story! We really only get a small snapshot into people's backgrounds on this forum, so it's impossible to know what people are going through.

I'm really sorry about the visa process and the current administration that is making it so much more difficult for you 🙁 I wish I had something more helpful to say, but my only advice would be to make your case to the financial aid offices if you haven't already. It can never hurt to ask for more funding, or to reach out to see if they can expedite their decision.

I really do admire your dedication! I'm sure no matter where you end up, that drive will lead you to success in your career.
Click to expand...

_basquiat said:
I quite enjoyed this 'long weird' message and I'm glad you provided some context for how you are feeling. My parents have a very similar story to yours-- their 'return of service' requirement was several years too! I still remember how agonizing it was for them even though I was only 4 years old then. For what it's worth, I don't think you're arrogant or selfish, but your frustration is palpable as it should be given the situation. We can't have control over all the pieces, but I hope you get the outcome and support you deserve.
Click to expand...

flawedmph said:
I have the utmost respect for you for excelling in your field despite these horrible circumstances!

My initial reply to you was made to say that I found your comment to another poster disparaging and that comparing stats and looking at outcomes is wholly unproductive when considering what a crapshoot grad school admissions and funding are. But you deleted your original comment and took responsibility for it, so thank you! Really, that's all that matters.

I will echo other posters by saying you should absolutely reach out to the admissions and FA offices where you've been accepted with your story and with a request to increase or at least match scholarships. I wish you and your wife the best of luck and hope for the best outcome for you both!
Click to expand...

You made me really surprised by your kind sympathetic message, I feel realllly lucky and happy that I’m joining your sophisticated community, and great country 🙂
I believe that the atmosphere of public health professionals is really wonderful, and this is one of the reasons for my transition from clinical medicine to public health.
I’ve made a lot of negotiations and requests with departments coordinators and FA offices, but unfortunately It didn’t work so far.

**An advice for the next year applicants like me who really need financial aids: I think my chance for an award could be higher if I had applied for a Non-Epi degree program. For example, I know Emory and UofMich ranked their applicants in each department separately, not the whole pool of applicants of the school, which results in a lower chance for obtaining a merit award with a similar score, in Epi-Bios programs compared to Enviro, SBS, or HPM. However, even if I were aware of this matter, honestly I could’nt ignore my deep passion for Epidemiology! 🙂
 
MuppetLord said:
I see that you were accepted into the MS Epidemiology program at UCLA, which is in a very good school of public health. Congrats on your funding! A couple of months ago, I emailed the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health's Financial Aid Director for funding opportunities beyond grants/scholarships. She told me that it is possible to get a fair amount of tuition remission by working as a Teaching Assistant (TA) or a Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) for the School of Public Health. Since we are both out of state students (you are an international student) this can help a lot. By working 10-19 hours per week, we can get the "out-of-state" portion of the tuition waived while earning a little bit of salary. By working 20 or more hours per week, UCLA will waive "out-of-state" + "in-state" tuition while providing you a salary. Thus, the admissions counselor stated that it is possible to graduate from UCLA's program with no tuition debt (however, out of the programs I was accepted to, only UCLA offers this sort of funding opportunity). Since you have experience as a practicing physician, I think that you might have a decent shot at being considered for a TAship or a GRAship. Check out this website for some info: https://grad.ucla.edu/funding/working-at-ucla/

Also, be sure to call up the financial aid office to state your case for funding. Best wishes to you.
Click to expand...

Wow, it sounds great!! I didn’t know these details at all! They gave me a fellowships which covers the in-state tuition, fees, and insurance for the first year, but 18k for first year out-of-state + 34k for the second year was not covered, and I think that I should pay more than 50k for tuition and fees. However, if I have to pay for example only 25k for the whole 2-years, 24 months living expenses in LA would be hard to afford! Also, my research field is Cardiovascular Epi, and UCLA faculty do not research in this field, they are heavily focused on HIV, and Socio-environmental Epi. The strongest programs in CVD Epi are JHU, Harvard, UNC, Emory, and UMN.

I think I have to give the priority to 1-year programs--Yale and Harvard in my case. Although their 1-year tuition is almost equal to other 2-years programs, but 12 months living expense is easier to afford.

Appreciate any insights on this matter: 1-year vs 2-year programs in terms of affordability.
 
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