MPH 2020: Applied, Accepted, Rejected, Waitlisted

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I just recently got accepted by Tulane but they didnt talk about scholarship or funding at all. Does this mean that I am not getting any?

I received a scholarship in my acceptance letter, did you apply by the priority deadline?
 
I think the biggest thing that I took out of my admissions meeting/tour/meeting with a current student was that they really want to try to emphasize that they are trying to get their students to be active within the community and stress the "practical sides of public health" (they only mentioned The Activist Lab about 50 times). I think the fact that it is in Boston and is within a few miles of many world-class hospitals and other public health institutions is also a really big draw. But I also am not sure how they are viewed by people who are established in public health and could potentially be hiring some of us in the future...

They haven't yet chosen an associate dean for the "Activist Lab" and the funding hasn't ramped up yet, which is what they want the new director of the Activist Lab to work on, so it is a very new endeavor. One student worked with residents of public housing who, (not surprisingly) have higher incidence of certain diseases and put together a "prom" for seniors with bingo games and such in order to combat loneliness and appears to have worked on the high incidence of diabetes among public housing residents. You might also be able to work with youth and families and the BU school of social work. There is a component of arguing for changes in social policy to address such health disparities, i.e. health inequities, and there is a general framework, which has a lot of generalities, regarding the Activist Lab, but if you think it interests you then investigate what opportunities are actually available, especially since it is a new program.

It should be noted that this program parallels the dean's interests which include looking at public health outside of the health care system, so this is more on the social work side of the spectrum, and there are a lot of generalities such as, "In the Lab, the team translates practice and research into real-world change." Some people might cringe calling working with urban public housing residents as being a "Lab", it is marketing too that the Activist Lab ideas are being sold as something totally new and groundbreaking, which they aren't, but it is marketing to appear to be cutting edge, sort of, "Let's throw in some buzz words like social justice, inequities and 'real world' and market it as a new approach to public health."

Doubtlessly, at most, if not all, public health schools you can devote x number of hours working with homeless teens, vulnerable populations, etc., as despite BU's marketing, public health has for over a hundred years worked on helping disadvantage populations where certain public health related diseases tend to concentrate. You don't need to be a public health student to do this type of work, there is some marketing going on here, and in the past BU has had problems getting externships and practicums for public health students, and this experience is still being developed.

With regards to being hired, I think that the issue at the end of the day is the skills that you come out of public health school with, realizing that where you went to school isn't that important, beyond regional reputation, as it is relatively easy to get into a variety of public health schools and many employers are looking for a specific set of hard skills. Apart from students wanting to get a degree, be employable and pursue their public health passions, , BU wants to insert the school into public health policy debate, and they start at home by grooming their students to do this, and also the Activist Lab is a way to market themselves to applicants, and not surprisingly it was mentioned 50 times! BU really pushes marketing of the school to applicants, but realize that you don't need to pay super high tuition, or even have highly specialized public health training, to have this sort of experience at all.

I had a chance to speak with two BUSPH students, one graduate and one current student. Thankfully, both are old friends from my undergraduate cohort so I trust that their opinions/experiences are not excessively biased. From both conversations I took the following Pros/Cons away:

Pros:

-The city of Boston provides a lot of health care related resources/opportunities.

-BUSPH has connections with real-world clients, which allows students to actually engage professionals, organizations, etc.

Cons:

-Intro/core classes may feel very repetitive if you have a background in basic public health courses (i.e. intro to PH, intro EPI, etc.).

-Course projects are a bit excessive. If you are not someone that enjoys group projects, you may not enjoy the structure of BUSPH (this was a comment made by someone in the Project Management concentration).

-Living cost in Boston is very expensive, the train is also very unreliable.

-Some of the management classes feel a bit "useless" (word used by my friend).

-Though resources are plentiful, career placement is not the best. You end up competing with Harvard and Tufts students for many of the positions post-grad.

Overall, BUSPH, for me personally, isn't a school I would attend unless I received a hefty scholarship (50%+). I find it to be too expensive in terms of living cost and tuition, making the ROI low. Just my two cents and takeaways from speaking to a couple of students. Best of luck!

Since 2015 BU has been trying to upgrade their curriculum as past graduates have complained that they feel that they just got, "more undergraduate" and didn't necessarily learn new material, or at least not to a greater depth expected in a masters program. Also, some people don't like the group work or the "students teaching students" ethos as while you can learn a lot from fellow students, you really paid big $$$ tuition dollars to hear experts give their opinion and to learn things from them as well.

Perhaps surprisingly, I would second the comment that to be competitive BU would need to give the (50%) tuition scholarship, or higher, given the new dean and kinks in the curriculum.
 
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Good morning everyone! I have a q regarding financial aid - do most schools have an appealing process to try and get more money?

Ideally I would love to go to Columbia (which was my top choice), but I’m also realistic and have heard they’re not the best with financial aid. One year there = two years at Rutgers NB (out of state tuition).
 
Hi all. JHU is not offering me any Financial assistance for the full time 11 month MPH. I am happy I got accepted but I was wondering if anyone has any ideas/ suggestions about getting some financial aid from external sources. I looked at the funding guide and international student funding loans and scholarships part of JHU website. There are a few hundred options there but most are either for US students or underrepresented students or the deadlines passed last year. I am a medical graduate from India and an Indian citizen and I was hoping if anyone has any advice as to which sources I could look at given the timeframe. The course starts in July. Also, if I wanted to apply for RA or TA positions and campus jobs, would that be after enrolment and after the classes begin? Thanks in advance for all your help.

Anyone going to the admitted student visit day on March 13th?
 
Good morning everyone! I have a q regarding financial aid - do most schools have an appealing process to try and get more money?

Ideally I would love to go to Columbia (which was my top choice), but I’m also realistic and have heard they’re not the best with financial aid. One year there = two years at Rutgers NB (out of state tuition).
I had the same question too. Someone I know mentioned to me that sometimes students need to negotiate by mentioning about the other offers they have received and try and match that with their top choice instt. The idea is to be humble and grounded and at the same time talk about your other offers and request if they can consider giving more aid. I tried this and it didn't work for me but it might work for you.
 
Hi all. JHU is not offering me any Financial assistance for the full time 11 month MPH. I am happy I got accepted but I was wondering if anyone has any ideas/ suggestions about getting some financial aid from external sources. I looked at the funding guide and international student funding loans and scholarships part of JHU website. There are a few hundred options there but most are either for US students or underrepresented students or the deadlines passed last year. I am a medical graduate from India and an Indian citizen and I was hoping if anyone has any advice as to which sources I could look at given the timeframe. The course starts in July. Also, if I wanted to apply for RA or TA positions and campus jobs, would that be after enrolment and after the classes begin? Thanks in advance for all your help.

Anyone going to the admitted student visit day on March 13th?

How did you find out they were not giving you any aid?
 
My transcripts still haven't been received by SOPHAS and I'm getting kind of worried. I submitted all things for NYU prior to the deadline but its still in process. Has anyone had a similar experience? Not sure how if this means I won't be considered?
 
My transcripts still haven't been received by SOPHAS and I'm getting kind of worried. I submitted all things for NYU prior to the deadline but its still in process. Has anyone had a similar experience? Not sure how if this means I won't be considered?
Are you an international student? Call WES and find out. If you are US grad - your uni department and SOPHAS might be able to help. Try calling for status updates. Hope this helps.
 
How did you find out they were not giving you any aid?
I emailed them about considering me for aid and they replied back 3 days later and said that after looking at all the institutional scholarships they have I am not eligible for aid.
 
I had the same question too. Someone I know mentioned to me that sometimes students need to negotiate by mentioning about the other offers they have received and try and match that with their top choice instt. The idea is to be humble and grounded and at the same time talk about your other offers and request if they can consider giving more aid. I tried this and it didn't work for me but it might work for you.

Thank you! Someone I know told me something similar.
 
They haven't yet chosen an associate dean for the "Activist Lab" and the funding hasn't ramped up yet, which is what they want the new director of the Activist Lab to work on, so it is a very new endeavor. One student worked with residents of public housing who, (not surprisingly) have higher incidence of certain diseases and put together a "prom" for seniors with bingo games and such in order to combat loneliness and appears to have worked on the high incidence of diabetes among public housing residents. You might also be able to work with youth and families and the BU school of social work. There is a component of arguing for changes in social policy to address such health disparities, i.e. health inequities, and there is a general framework, which has a lot of generalities, regarding the Activist Lab, but if you think it interests you then investigate what opportunities are actually available, especially since it is a new program.

It should be noted that this program parallels the dean's interests which include looking at public health outside of the health care system, so this is more on the social work side of the spectrum, and there are a lot of generalities such as, "In the Lab, the team translates practice and research into real-world change." Some people might cringe calling working with urban public housing residents as being a "Lab", it is marketing too that the Activist Lab ideas are being sold as something totally new and groundbreaking, which they aren't, but it is marketing to appear to be cutting edge, sort of, "Let's throw in some buzz words like social justice, inequities and 'real world' and market it as a new approach to public health."

Doubtlessly, at most, if not all, public health schools you can devote x number of hours working with homeless teens, vulnerable populations, etc., as despite BU's marketing, public health has for over a hundred years worked on helping disadvantage populations where certain public health related diseases tend to concentrate. You don't need to be a public health student to do this type of work, there is some marketing going on here, and in the past BU has had problems getting externships and practicums for public health students, and this experience is still being developed.

With regards to being hired, I think that the issue at the end of the day is the skills that you come out of public health school with, realizing that where you went to school isn't that important, beyond regional reputation, as it is relatively easy to get into a variety of public health schools and many employers are looking for a specific set of hard skills. Apart from students wanting to get a degree, be employable and pursue their public health passions, , BU wants to insert the school into public health policy debate, and they start at home by grooming their students to do this, and also the Activist Lab is a way to market themselves to applicants, and not surprisingly it was mentioned 50 times! BU really pushes marketing of the school to applicants, but realize that you don't need to pay super high tuition, or even have highly specialized public health training, to have this sort of experience at all.



Since 2015 BU has been trying to upgrade their curriculum as past graduates have complained that they feel that they just got, "more undergraduate" and didn't necessarily learn new material, or at least not to a greater depth expected in a masters program. Also, some people don't like the group work or the "students teaching students" ethos as while you can learn a lot from fellow students, you really paid big $$$ tuition dollars to hear experts give their opinion and to learn things from them as well.

Perhaps surprisingly, I would second the comment that to be competitive BU would need to give the (50%) tuition scholarship, or higher, given the new dean and kinks in the curriculum.
Why are you so obsessed with talking about BU? Literally 75% of your posts are about criticizing BU, it's very strange. Did you go to the program and not like it?
 
Please don't embarrass someone, sweetsailormercury. If you are genuinely interested in learning how she knows so much about BU and why she is so passionate about ways the school can improve, then:

a) politely ask her publicly, or
b) send her a respectful private message.

Public health is about wanting to help others and requires a kind, understanding disposition to be successful. I have a feeling you were trying to be polite but your word choice was unfortunate ("obsessed", "strange", etc. are not kind words to use to describe another person).
We are all posting on a public forum, and I would never intend to purposefully try to embarrass anyone! I’m not sure how else I should phrase my question about someone posting negative comments for five years about one program without any affiliation to that program. We are public health practitioners, we are also trained to be discerning and objective. Not every question is going to make you feel warm and fuzzy inside, that is the nature of the discipline.
 
Super happy to say I got into Brown (1/27) and Columbia (1/29) this past week!! January ended off on such a high point, so I'm just super grateful for these opportunities :happy:
Congratulations. Where are you planning to enrol? I was wondering if you could share your JHU scholarship/aid information. Did they give scholarship as a part of Sommer / Reed Frost / other awards or is it an institutional merit financial aid? Any idea what the criteria for selection could have been? Did they get back to you with the aid along with the admission email or few weeks after that? Thank you so much in advance for your time.
 
Congratulations. Where are you planning to enrol? I was wondering if you could share your JHU scholarship/aid information. Did they give scholarship as a part of Sommer / Reed Frost / other awards or is it an institutional merit financial aid? Any idea what the criteria for selection could have been? Did they get back to you with the aid along with the admission email or few weeks after that? Thank you so much in advance for your time.
Thank you so much! I'm still deciding on where to enroll, since I got into Epi for both programs (I applied Epi to all). I'm planning on going to both student admit days for Johns Hopkins and Columbia. As of right now, I'm leaning towards Columbia, though. I got the Master's scholarship for JHU, which is 25% off first year and 50% off second year, which is about $40K off of ~$110K I think. On JHU's website it just said that the Master's scholarship is given to students' with strong applications I think. So, I'm assuming I got it for my stats, my lab experiences (I'm in a clinical research lab that I started during my junior year and a wetlab that I started this past summer, so I did not even have that much experience, relatively, when applying), and a few extracurriculars. Personally, I don't think I had too much going on, so I was pleasantly surprised with the scholarship. But $70K is still a lot so I really have to think about what to do ahaha. I did some research on Columbia and their tuition I think (I'm not sure I could totally be wrong lol if anyone knows the right number, please lmk lmao) is around $80K, so if they gave me some amount of money, that would be super cool!
 
Emory gifts are in transit, wonder if it’s the same as last years gift haha.

I’m excited to receive mine! Did you receive an email or see a notification on OPUS saying this? Also, what was last years gift? 🙂
 
We are all posting on a public forum, and I would never intend to purposefully try to embarrass anyone! I’m not sure how else I should phrase my question about someone posting negative comments for five years about one program without any affiliation to that program. We are public health practitioners, we are also trained to be discerning and objective. Not every question is going to make you feel warm and fuzzy inside, that is the nature of the discipline.

i have been wondering the same thing.
 
Why are you so obsessed with talking about BU? Literally 75% of your posts are about criticizing BU, it's very strange. Did you go to the program and not like it?

I probably post a lot on BU as I know people who have gone there, and I have more information about that school than others, however I have posted on other schools as well in order to better inform applicants, such as one of NYU's programs:


Even programs and schools that I really admire like JHU I've been critical of, and asked questions about.

In general I think that a word of caution should be given to people applying to MPH programs as these programs have skyrocketed in the past years and schools are using them as cash cows, without the jobs being there, many of these schools have a high percentage of female applicants, so you have to wonder why very high tuition prices are applied to the MPH degrees which often don't lead to well paying careers, but attract more optimistic students who are more easily blinded by what some schools promise, so it is good to call out schools where the ROI doesn't mesh with the tuition and other factors. This is sort of a gender-gap in salary, but it happens during graduate school in the guise of uniform tuition for different fields. I think that BU stands out because:

1. A lot of negative impressions from students and people who are in the process of applying there.
2. One of BU's professors heavily promotes e-cigarettes (a full professor at BUSPH who has a bizarre blog) and is influential enough to have possibly delayed regulation of e-cigarettes and spouts conspiracy theories (should be a red flag for potential BUSPH students).
3. BU decades ago published poorly designed and interpreted research (if it could be called that) which helped to create the opioid epidemic.
4. BU has had a tendency to "market" their school and push their students to promote the school, which really isn't the point of being a student, there is a sort of pyramid scheme at BU in terms of having their students vouch for themselves in order to boost their reputation to get more applicants.
5. BU has run some for-profit masters programs which don't have good outcomes (I don't know much about these, and no I never attended them.)
6. There are a plethora of public health schools in Boston which compete for the same jobs.
7. BU's apparent new curriculum problem and lack of externships in some cases.
8. BU's lack of decent global health opportunities.
9. Pushing BU to do a better job, and treat their students more equitably, is a way to pay it forward and improve public health education and to help applicants know that they can ask for, and negotiate, better tuition prices.

Everything I've read in the past few pages of posts on BU confirm or mirror what I know about the school. Of course people should take what they read on internet forums with a grain of salt, but I'm glad that I have at least given people a starting point to be critical about BU and other schools of public health in terms of what these programs offer versus what they really deliver and the trade offs.
 
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What do you mean? I’m still waiting to hear from Emory... Coming up on 8 weeks.

Emory sends a “gift” along with an enrollment reminder to accepted students.

I’m excited to receive mine! Did you receive an email or see a notification on OPUS saying this? Also, what was last years gift? 🙂

I received an update on my UPS App! Says it’s arriving on 02.07 (I live in WA State). I believe it was an Emory branded organizer/planner, with a slot for an iPad!
 
I probably post a lot on BU as I know people who have gone there, and I have more information about that school than others, however I have posted on other schools as well in order to better inform applicants, such as one of NYU's programs:


Even programs and schools that I really admire like JHU I've been critical of, and asked questions about.

In general I think that a word of caution should be given to people applying to MPH programs as these programs have skyrocketed in the past years and schools are using them as cash cows, without the jobs being there, many of these schools have a high percentage of female applicants, so you have to wonder why very high tuition prices are applied to the MPH degrees which often don't lead to well paying careers, but attract more optimistic students who are more easily blinded by what some schools promise, so it is good to call out schools where the ROI doesn't mesh with the tuition and other factors. This is sort of a gender-gap in salary, but it happens during graduate school in the guise of uniform tuition for different fields. I think that BU stands out because:

1. A lot of negative impressions from students and people who are in the process of applying there.
2. One of BU's professors heavily promotes e-cigarettes (a full professor at BUSPH who has a bizarre blog) and is influential enough to have possibly delayed regulation of e-cigarettes and spouts conspiracy theories (should be a red flag for potential BUSPH students).
3. BU decades ago published poorly designed and interpreted research (if it could be called that) which helped to create the opioid epidemic.
4. BU has had a tendency to "market" their school and push their students to promote the school, which really isn't the point of being a student, there is a sort of pyramid scheme at BU in terms of having their students vouch for themselves in order to boost their reputation to get more applicants.
5. BU has run some for-profit masters programs which don't have good outcomes (I don't know much about these, and no I never attended them.)
6. There are a plethora of public health schools in Boston which compete for the same jobs.
7. BU's apparent new curriculum problem and lack of externships in some cases.
8. BU's lack of decent global health opportunities.
9. Pushing BU to do a better job, and treat their students more equitably, is a way to pay it forward and improve public health education and to help applicants know that they can ask for, and negotiate, better tuition prices.

Everything I've read in the past few pages of posts on BU confirm or mirror what I know about the school. Of course people should take what they read on internet forums with a grain of salt, but I'm glad that I have at least given people a starting point to be critical about BU and other schools of public health in terms of what these programs offer versus what they really deliver and the trade offs.
I’m just curious, where did you end up deciding to get your MPH?
 
Thank you so much! I'm still deciding on where to enroll, since I got into Epi for both programs (I applied Epi to all). I'm planning on going to both student admit days for Johns Hopkins and Columbia. As of right now, I'm leaning towards Columbia, though. I got the Master's scholarship for JHU, which is 25% off first year and 50% off second year, which is about $40K off of ~$110K I think. On JHU's website it just said that the Master's scholarship is given to students' with strong applications I think. So, I'm assuming I got it for my stats, my lab experiences (I'm in a clinical research lab that I started during my junior year and a wetlab that I started this past summer, so I did not even have that much experience, relatively, when applying), and a few extracurriculars. Personally, I don't think I had too much going on, so I was pleasantly surprised with the scholarship. But $70K is still a lot so I really have to think about what to do ahaha. I did some research on Columbia and their tuition I think (I'm not sure I could totally be wrong lol if anyone knows the right number, please lmk lmao) is around $80K, so if they gave me some amount of money, that would be super cool!

Hey there! How soon did you hear back about your scholarships?
 
Hey guys. For those of you who got into UW Global Health track, did you receive an email with your admission decision or an update on the portal?
 
Thank you so much! I'm still deciding on where to enroll, since I got into Epi for both programs (I applied Epi to all). I'm planning on going to both student admit days for Johns Hopkins and Columbia. As of right now, I'm leaning towards Columbia, though. I got the Master's scholarship for JHU, which is 25% off first year and 50% off second year, which is about $40K off of ~$110K I think. On JHU's website it just said that the Master's scholarship is given to students' with strong applications I think. So, I'm assuming I got it for my stats, my lab experiences (I'm in a clinical research lab that I started during my junior year and a wetlab that I started this past summer, so I did not even have that much experience, relatively, when applying), and a few extracurriculars. Personally, I don't think I had too much going on, so I was pleasantly surprised with the scholarship. But $70K is still a lot so I really have to think about what to do ahaha. I did some research on Columbia and their tuition I think (I'm not sure I could totally be wrong lol if anyone knows the right number, please lmk lmao) is around $80K, so if they gave me some amount of money, that would be super cool!
Hello. Did you get an email with the scholarship info?
 
FYI everyone, just called JHU after @weloveanepiqueen's post about their award, and they told me they are still wrapping up scholarship award decisions and we should hear back by end of month if we got one. If not, call them!
When were you accepted to the program/when did you apply? I submitted 12/1 and still havent heard anything.
 
It sounds like a few people have, but I still haven't. My app was in review on 12/20. I don't know what their timeline or decision days look like.
 
Thank you so much! I'm still deciding on where to enroll, since I got into Epi for both programs (I applied Epi to all). I'm planning on going to both student admit days for Johns Hopkins and Columbia. As of right now, I'm leaning towards Columbia, though. I got the Master's scholarship for JHU, which is 25% off first year and 50% off second year, which is about $40K off of ~$110K I think. On JHU's website it just said that the Master's scholarship is given to students' with strong applications I think. So, I'm assuming I got it for my stats, my lab experiences (I'm in a clinical research lab that I started during my junior year and a wetlab that I started this past summer, so I did not even have that much experience, relatively, when applying), and a few extracurriculars. Personally, I don't think I had too much going on, so I was pleasantly surprised with the scholarship. But $70K is still a lot so I really have to think about what to do ahaha. I did some research on Columbia and their tuition I think (I'm not sure I could totally be wrong lol if anyone knows the right number, please lmk lmao) is around $80K, so if they gave me some amount of money, that would be super cool!
Thank you for your response. This is very helpful. I hope that you get some aid from columbia. Keep me posted. Cheers
 
Ugh, anyone still waiting to hear from Brown? I went under review on 12/2. It’s my final school so I’d love to know my status before committing
 
Hi all. JHU is not offering me any Financial assistance for the full time 11 month MPH. I am happy I got accepted but I was wondering if anyone has any ideas/ suggestions about getting some financial aid from external sources. I looked at the funding guide and international student funding loans and scholarships part of JHU website. There are a few hundred options there but most are either for US students or underrepresented students or the deadlines passed last year. I am a medical graduate from India and an Indian citizen and I was hoping if anyone has any advice as to which sources I could look at given the timeframe. The course starts in July. Also, if I wanted to apply for RA or TA positions and campus jobs, would that be after enrolment and after the classes begin? Thanks in advance for all your help.

Anyone going to the admitted student visit day on March 13th?

I'm an international applicant at JHU as well. No fund/TA/RA for MPH which is what I was emailed from them. Some may be available after some courses on your belt.
 
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