MPH 2019: Applied, Waitlisted, Accepted!

[Memm77]

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.

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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[uptodate1990]

anyone know how rigorous the harvard MPH program is in terms of hours/difficulty of courses?

 

[brokenboujie]

Hi everyone! I was recently put in contact with an epidemiologist who has been in the field for 10 years and has worked several jobs(nonprofit, health department, pharma and in global health efforts). She gave me some valuable insight and I wanted to share it with y'all:
- Epidemiology is a very hot field and she and most other people she's known haven't had trouble finding a job
- When making a decision about grad school and then enrolling in classes, be very critical and avoid the superficial, fluff classes. Ex: take classes that give you practical skills of how to use R or SAS, travel abroad as a part of the practicum
- There's no difference between an MPH and an MSPH, in-fact a MSPH might be better(more in depth)
- If you want to do hard epi(quant and science based), you'll find it in academia and pharma; might be harder to come by in nonprofit
- Your first job after MPH will most likely be titled something like "research analyst" or "research associate", just make sure the work you're doing is epi
- Best way to make a decision is by attending the admitted students day/open houses and speaking to the faculty and current/former students; make sure to prepare well for this and ask several different people the same questions to hear different perspectives
- State health departments can be great to work for depending on the state; the downside is it's lower paying and the politics involved

Hopefully this is helpful to some of you!

 

[Nb30]

Hi everyone!! Is anyone going to Tulane Admitted Students Day on 3/15?

 

[cramerb83]

I received my email. Got 20k from Harvard. Not much but something i guess.

NOT MUCH??

 

[NeuroGeeK07]

NOT MUCH??

Sorry. Didnt mean to came up arrogant. I am an international student from Malaysia. 20k is yes a huge amount of money but the balance + stipend will cost me quite a bit more. Thus the statement above. Nonetheless, I am grateful for the funding. I am still trying to find money for the remainder of the cost. Sorry to if I hurt anyone because of my statement.

 

[ac2019applicant]

50% scholarship from Harvard!

I received my email. Got 20k from Harvard. Not much but something i guess.

Would y'all mind sharing which programs you were admitted to?

 

[ktenn10]

Has anyone else not heard back from UNC yet?? I just called and was told they only recently received my GRE scores which is why my application was being held up. I just checked SOPHAS and my application to their Health Behavior dept. says it was manually processed, but my other concentration choice for UNC Health Equity was verified like all my other apps. I'm kind of confused how all my other SOPHAS apps were verified but this one department's wasn't.

 

[kinasekinasekat]

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.?

Yes! Every student I met was doing at least one research assistant-ship, goes to their concentrations events, community service, and at least 1 additional extra-curricular activity like a student symphony. They said that courses are fast paced and time consuming but taught really really well. I think the student body is made up of people who do too many things and I related strongly haha.

To answer the career question: I am interested in consulting or being in biotech/pharma and I asked about that recruiting process. They said that students who go that route from the beginning are pretty successful in getting a job.

 

[mika444]

When visiting schools, where have people been staying? Air Bnbs, on campus, hotels, etc?
Do any of the schools provide travel reimbursement? Any tips?

 

[docyosh]

Yes! Every student I met was doing at least one research assistant-ship, goes to their concentrations events, community service, and at least 1 additional extra-curricular activity like a student symphony. They said that courses are fast paced and time consuming but taught really really well. I think the student body is made up of people who do too many things and I related strongly haha.

To answer the career question: I am interested in consulting or being in biotech/pharma and I asked about that recruiting process. They said that students who go that route from the beginning are pretty successful in getting a job.

Thanks for such a detailed response. I too want to move to consulting or pharma industry post MPH so your response was a bit of relief..

 

[TD2018]

Hi everyone!! Is anyone going to Tulane Admitted Students Day on 3/15?

I'm going to be there! Leaving Thursday night

 

[sploosh]

Any insight on Columbia vs Hopkins for Epidemiology?

I go to Hopkins! I can't speak for Columbia but I feel like my epidemiology training has been very very strong. The main epidemiology series is very in depth and very well-made. I would choose to come here again if faced with the same decision.

However, I do feel like sometimes Hopkins can be a little "our way or the highway"; for instance, all of the statistics training we get in the first year (which, keep in mind, will be your only year if you're an MPH student!) is in a software program called Stata, but the programs SAS and R are much more common in the real world, to the point where every teacher I've met basically has told me "oh, I don't really use Stata, I use [Python/SAS/R]".

Moreover, they emphasize that a lot of terms that are common in the field are "technically wrong" and we get dinged for it...but that can be frustrating for people, especially people with prior Epi experience, since the "wrong" uses are so common as to basically be accepted. (For an example of what I mean, "mortality rate", as in "The mortality rate among prisoners was 5%", is a misnomer, since it's almost always a proportion, not a rate. But the "wrong" use is really common and everyone knows what it means.)

 

[sploosh]

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!!

Just FYI having been at Hopkins a year I feel I've started to get a "sense" of how the field perceives different schools, and UWash has an EXCELLENT reputation in Epi, especially for certain specialties. It doesn't have the same name brand among people not in the field, which can be a downside if you're applying to, say, consulting positions, but in academia itselg it's widely regarded as one of the better schools. Or at least that's the sense I get.

 

[gg.mn14]

Has anyone heard from Emory or UNC lately about financial aid awards?

 

[flawedmph]

Just FYI having been at Hopkins a year I feel I've started to get a "sense" of how the field perceives different schools, and UWash has an EXCELLENT reputation in Epi, especially for certain specialties. It doesn't have the same name brand among people not in the field, which can be a downside if you're applying to, say, consulting positions, but in academia itselg it's widely regarded as one of the better schools. Or at least that's the sense I get.

Hi @sploosh! Would you mind telling us why you chose JHU over Emory and Columbia? I'm not Epi but I'd love to know what your thought process was when selecting a school. I'm having a really hard time choosing between some really great programs. Honestly, I'm vibing with all of them.

 

[flawedmph]

Has anyone heard from Emory or UNC lately about financial aid awards?

I reached out to UNC and they said they will be sending out scholarship notifications until the end of March and that graduate students are "packaged" on April 1st. Hope this helps!

 

[sk8rgirl]

Hey everyone,

First time commenting but been watching this thread for a bit. I am a current 3rd-year medical student. I applied to and was accepted into MPH at Emory-Health Policy, JHU, advanced professional MPH at Yale-Health Policy, and Harvard-45 in Health Policy. Received full tuition award at Harvard on Friday, March 8th, and I will be attending admitted students day on March 29th, hope to see some of you there! On Friday, I also received the Horstmann from Yale as well and was accepted into the Maternal & Child Health Certificate Program at Emory on Friday. So it seems that financial aid seems to be trickling in from schools.

 

[kegreatness25]

When visiting schools, where have people been staying? Air Bnbs, on campus, hotels, etc?
Do any of the schools provide travel reimbursement? Any tips?

I’ve been staying at Airbnb’s when visiting my prospective grad schools. It can be fairly cheap depending on the area, especially when compared to hotels. The only school I’ve ever seen give a travel stipend is Emory

 

[eskiiit]

Hi everyone!! Is anyone going to Tulane Admitted Students Day on 3/15?

i am!

 

[Nb30]

I'm going to be there! Leaving Thursday night

i am!

Hope to meet you guys there! I'll be going for their epi program and I'm arriving late Thurs. night

 

[neurotrash]

Big congrats to everyone with all this amazing news coming in!!!

Lol, I made a big oopsie today when I inpulsively emailed the fin aid director at Yale to ask if it was possible for her to update me on my aid status. (Specifically, I phrased it as wanting to know if I would not be getting any scholarships so I could decide on another program expediently.) Now I really wish I hadn’t sent that email and hope she doesn’t find it out of line. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Northwestern and Tufts offered me partial scholarships. Vanderbilt offered full tuition for two years, and I have a fellowship at OSU that will cover the first year of tuition and stipend, with RA opportunities the second year. I’m pretty ready to commit to OSU and just want to see this process to completion ASAP, hence my question to Yale.

 

[Missaayyyy]

Soooo no one heard from UCB today?

 

[dubbz09]

Big congrats to everyone with all this amazing news coming in!!!

Lol, I made a big oopsie today when I inpulsively emailed the fin aid director at Yale to ask if it was possible for her to update me on my aid status. (Specifically, I phrased it as wanting to know if I would not be getting any scholarships so I could decide on another program expediently.) Now I really wish I hadn’t sent that email and hope she doesn’t find it out of line. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Northwestern and Tufts offered me partial scholarships. Vanderbilt offered full tuition for two years, and I have a fellowship at OSU that will cover the first year of tuition and stipend, with RA opportunities the second year. I’m pretty ready to commit to OSU and just want to see this process to completion ASAP, hence my question to Yale.

Loool, I hope she is understanding! Because I have the same question!! Please let us know how your luck is with her response!
Also, your track record of scholarships so far sounds amazing! Congrats!!

 

[eskiiit]

Soooo no one heard from UCB today?

love how their admit day/visit day is a week from today & STILL no word hahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahah

 

[Missaayyyy]

love how their admit day/visit day is a week from today & STILL no word hahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahah

Right lol like at this point it’s not even an option if I’m accepted but i’d really like to just finish out this longgg process (especially since they had the longest and most expensive application!)

 

[#notadoctor]

going on a related tangent (since my impression is that Berkeley just hasn't sent out a lot of results?) but I literally still haven't heard back from Columbia yet and admitted student's day is already past so lmao

 

[EHS_MPHapplicant]

grain of salt, but new US news ranking is out... slight shifts - just sayin'

 

[doc_tfk]

Would y'all mind sharing which programs you were admitted to?

50% as well over here...MPH-45 HSB

 

[doc_tfk]

going on a related tangent (since my impression is that Berkeley just hasn't sent out a lot of results?) but I literally still haven't heard back from Columbia yet and admitted student's day is already past so lmao

Haven't heard back from Columbia yet either :/. I don't think I ever will...

 

[neurotrash]

Loool, I hope she is understanding! Because I have the same question!! Please let us know how your luck is with her response!
Also, your track record of scholarships so far sounds amazing! Congrats!!

Thank you! I’ll let you know if/once I get a reply!

 

[dubbz09]

Thank you! I’ll let you know if/once I get a reply!

Heyy, heads up! Looks like all scholarship info was already sent out.

 

[mph2019!]

I received a reply mail from the financial aid director at Yale informing that the students who have received scholarship have been notified already. Implies no more scholarship offers coming up.

 

[Bloops]

At the Global Health webinar the faculty notified us that all merit scholarships have been given out at Emory.

 

[mhmph]

ok WOW. I tried calling Berkeley's SPH admissions and it has a generic voice recording that says "please check our website or email us" and no options to talk to anyone or leave a message. I am so frustrated with this school, this is such a turn off at this point. I've been told some people have also received rejections in the past couple weeks so I don't understand why they can't just let us know at this point.

 

[miraenn]

To those waiting on UCB/Cal news... I attended UCLA's admit day and talked to someone who worked for UCB's public health dept. She stated that all admissions and rejections have gone out. Those who have not heard back are most likely on the wait list. UCB will most likely not notify them of acceptance/rejection until enough admits have either confirmed or rejected admissions into the program. This was why some students did not hear back until mid-April last year as they were most likely on the wait list.

FYI, I am also still waiting for UCB to get back to me. It's stupid that they won't just notify us if we are wait-listed.

 

[brokenboujie]

Does anyone know if Hopkins offers a travel stipend for their Admitted Students day?

 

[Missaayyyy]

ok WOW. I tried calling Berkeley's SPH admissions and it has a generic voice recording that says "please check our website or email us" and no options to talk to anyone or leave a message. I am so frustrated with this school, this is such a turn off at this point. I've been told some people have also received rejections in the past couple weeks so I don't understand why they can't just let us know at this point.

This IS all very much a turn off, considering that it was my top choice going into this whole thing. It's still my cheapest option which is so frustrating for me. If we're not getting in, let us know -_-

To those waiting on UCB/Cal news... I attended UCLA's admit day and talked to someone who worked for UCB's public health dept. She stated that all admissions and rejections have gone out. Those who have not heard back are most likely on the wait list. UCB will most likely not notify them of acceptance/rejection until enough admits have either confirmed or rejected admissions into the program. This was why some students did not hear back until mid-April last year as they were most likely on the wait list.

FYI, I am also still waiting for UCB to get back to me. It's stupid that they won't just notify us if we are wait-listed.

I know that this forum is only a small number of people compared to how many people apply every year, but it seems weird that so many of us on the forum haven't received any decision at all....how can we ALL be waitlisted? And to top it off, after getting into UNC and Emory, attending Cal's Fall Day, reaching out to professors and getting assistance with writing my applications through their Diversity office, I thought I was a sure thing at Berkeley. And yet......

I'm sorry we're all going through this very annoying thing. After everything we put into applying, we definitely deserve better treatment.

 

[armchair_cosmonaut]

So... is Yale not offering need-based and institutional funding this year? Because if so then Yale is definitely out of the running for me.

I believe they are referring to merit scholarships. Everyone should still definitely get notified about need-based aid. They said they will get everything back within 10 days of admission--if that means 10 business days, then we should know by March 19th.

 

[krequals10]

Hey guys!

At this point, I'm deciding between BU and Emory. I love Emory in so many ways, however, they seem to have much lower employment stats. Roughly 15% in GH and 11% overall are still searching for jobs 11 months after graduation according to the 2016 stats (which are the most recent I can find). Whereas Boston states that 92% are either employed or continuing education within six months. This is for the whole school. I couldn't find it for GH only.

Does anyone have any insight on this?

 

[Greentree1]

Does anyone know if Hopkins offers a travel stipend for their Admitted Students day?

When is this?

Im still waiting on a decision (my app was 'complete' mid feb due to delay in my gre's...) but wanted to know JIC (being too hopeful, possibly) as Im planning a trip to the east coast for other ones!

 

[annizizi15]

Has anyone been able to open their provisional award letter from UCLA? Mine isn't available and I would like to know soon. I called a few weeks ago and were told they basically don't have any information.

 

[brokenboujie]

When is this?

Im still waiting on a decision (my app was 'complete' mid feb due to delay in my gre's...) but wanted to know JIC (being too hopeful, possibly) as Im planning a trip to the east coast for other ones!

Good luck, I'm sure there's good news coming your way! And it's on Friday, April 5th

 

[brokenboujie]

Has anyone received aid from Hopkins? I just got the acceptance email with the notification that MSPH students receive 75% tuition in their second year but no need based yet.

 

[sinigual]

Has anyone received aid from Hopkins? I just got the acceptance email with the notification that MSPH students receive 75% tuition in their second year but no need based yet.

When I interviewed, the admissions rep made it very clear to me that they don’t offer merit-based aid other than the scholarships you actively apply for.

 

[BeHappy97]

In at Columbia for Sociomedical Sciences/Global Health!!!

 

[Greentree1]

Good luck, I'm sure there's good news coming your way! And it's on Friday, April 5th

OMG I think I just got into Hopkins. I mean its updated on the portal but i haven't received an email?! It's not a mistake right?! #freakingout

EDIT: Oh I just read I'll receive an email in 24-48hrs. Freaked out before reading all of it. If this isn't a mistake, thanks for the luck! Haha.

And in that case I'm also deciding between JHU & Columbia. If you've started a convo/thread, could you please let me know?

Thank you!

 

[cramerb83]

OMG I think I just got into Hopkins. I mean its updated on the portal but i haven't received an email?! It's not a mistake right?! #freakingout

Congrats, you're in!

 

[cramerb83]

Has anyone received aid from Hopkins? I just got the acceptance email with the notification that MSPH students receive 75% tuition in their second year but no need based yet.

if you're in good standing by the second year, yeah. We are all still waiting, although I check the fin aid portal every few days and it keeps changing slightly.

 

[PublicHealthScholar]

What are people's opinions on Yale's reputation in the public health world (especially given the recent rankings)?