MPH 2020: Applied, Accepted, Rejected, Waitlisted

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sploosh said:
One piece of advice to everyone comparing programs is: if you are looking at a 2-year program, talk to a second year student. Most of them are well able to assess what's good and what's bad about their program, especially when it comes to something like finding and working with an advisor for the thesis project (in contrast, here at least, a lot of first years have JUST gotten their advisor and so don't know much about the thesis process).
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Thank you so much for the response! Could I PM you?
 
vc3 said:
i'm still waiting to hear back for hpm columbia finaid and full-time 1 yr hopkins finaid
is anyone else in the same boat or have already heard back? thanks everyone!
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I just heard back from Columbia HPM on Friday night!
 
tryingToGetByMPH said:
All their programs are taking ages in the sph, even phd. They released the MS in Epi yesterday I believe, at least for some, so it should be soon! Fingers crossed.
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Thank you so much for this insight! Do you have any idea when they will be releasing PhD decisions? I'm waiting to hear back and very curious. Thanks!!
 
Finally looked at what time the GW courses actually are, and so many of them start at 3pm (and there are even a lot of 9am-12pm courses)...what happened to being a great option for people working full time LOL

Time to talk to my employer about if taking a 3pm course is even an option
 
app2020 said:
Thank you so much for this insight! Do you have any idea when they will be releasing PhD decisions? I'm waiting to hear back and very curious. Thanks!!
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Honestly don't know, but they have made the decisions or at least a bunch of them. They just need to send it out!
 
tryingToGetByMPH said:
Honestly don't know, but they have made the decisions or at least a bunch of them. They just need to send it out!
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I hope they release them soon!! It's the last school I'm waiting to hear back from so I just want to know either way. Did you contact the school? I've been debating calling but figure it won't speed up the process.
 
sploosh said:
I go to Hopkins. Feel free to ask me anything. In general, resources will depend on your interests (e.g. in my school we have a ton of people working on cardiovascular, HIV, and kidney outcomes because so many professors are involved with the ARIC, MACS/WIHS, and CKID studies; in contrast, I have found that Columbia has more researchers who are looking at substance abuse.

FYI: I have not heard good things about Columbia's PhD program, but a) I'm obviously biased, considering that I'm in an environment where people are going to be prone to say things like that and b) I don't know if those criticisms hold true of their other programs. To try to prove that I'm not just being bitter, I have heard incredible things about the caliber of methodology education at Harvard and think they are almost definitely stronger in that area than we are.



They JUST sent out a round of PhD acceptances. I don't know if the committees are the same - probably not - but from what I can tell their admissions has been slightly behind everyone else (JHU sent out their PhD acceptances on the 14th, UNC was before that, Columbia was around now).
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Can I PM you about Hopkins?
 
Just called Columbia fin aid. They said my GRE scores are high but my GPA is under the cut off for the first batch of scholarships. They said that it is possible I am in a later batch of scholarships--they're nowhere done handing out funding yet. So I guess there's that. I was hoping for a confirmation of a yes or no but the supervisor for this list isn't in the office today apparently.
 
withbobahalfsweet said:
Just called Columbia fin aid. They said my GRE scores are high but my GPA is under the cut off for the first batch of scholarships. They said that it is possible I am in a later batch of scholarships--they're nowhere done handing out funding yet. So I guess there's that. I was hoping for a confirmation of a yes or no but the supervisor for this list isn't in the office today apparently.
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Do you happen to know if financial aid/scholarships are determined by the School of Public Health/Admissions or the department you're admitted to?
 
nfrockwell said:
I applied for 2 year MPH in Epi on 11/18 and haven’t heard back yet. Columbia is a big reach for me, so I wouldn’t be shocked to get rejected.
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Update — still haven’t heard back yet. Reached out to Columbia and was told I will receive a decision in early March and to reach out again if I haven’t heard back by mid-March.
 
vzr05 said:
Do you happen to know if financial aid/scholarships are determined by the School of Public Health/Admissions or the department you're admitted to?
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My impression was that it's by the school of public health/fin aid for most of the general scholarships. The rep on the phone didn't mention the department at all. They're very friendly though so if you want to directly ask them you can call! It's the 212-305 number.
 
app2020 said:
I hope they release them soon!! It's the last school I'm waiting to hear back from so I just want to know either way. Did you contact the school? I've been debating calling but figure it won't speed up the process.
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I contacted them for the mph and they said they were going to have decisions as of 2 fridays ago and send decisions within the next two weeks... so anytime now.
I actually work there and I know that they have at least made some decisions. I am waiting just like anyone else though and have no idea when it will actually be out!

I wish I did! Not been sleeping the best haha
 
rosemary_ said:
Looking at GradCafe results, from the past 5 years, looks like acceptances have been sent out by March 7th and rejections by March 21st at the latest (at least for my field, epi) Berkeley epidemiology • thegradcafe.com
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I will say that I used that to base my accepted MPH news and it has been totally different this year, so I feel like it depends most on the person reviewing and the amount of applications.

I have also heard that there have been a ton of epi phd applicants this year, more than before. They want to accept a certain percent and I imagine they have to figure out funding before they send out the acceptances.
 
Is anyone committing to a school before visiting? I’m leaning towards Hopkins bc it seems to fit my interests better but I have never been to Baltimore.
 
nerdyforepi said:
Hey guys! I was recently accepted to Emory for GELPI (2/3) and was wondering if anyone has insights for how the merit scholarships are disbursed?? I see some people were already notified but I wanted to see if anyone knew how it worked; were all the merit recipients contacted at once, or is it an ongoing process? Thanks!
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Any Emory EPI/GLEPI department people hear back yet? I’m now wondering if it’s done by department. Also sorry for a follow-up post I am just ridden with anxiety these days lol
 
nerdyforepi said:
Any Emory EPI/GLEPI department people hear back yet? I’m now wondering if it’s done by department. Also sorry for a follow-up post I am just ridden with anxiety these days lol
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I’m not sure if it’s done by department but mine is GLEPI and I received the merit award on Feb. 11th
 
ok guys i decided to bite the bullet and commit to hopkins for MSPH in global epi disease and control!! if anyone is attending hopkins this fall and would like to meet up lets chat! also, is there a facebook group or anything?
 
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uk__med said:
ok guys i decided to bite the bullet and commit to hopkins for MSPS in global epi disease and control!! if anyone is attending hopkins this fall and would like to meet up lets chat! also, is there a facebook group or anything?
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I will be going to the admitted students day March 13th, but was admitted to the MSPH in International Health / Health Systems. Not sure about a FB page, but @rassykins is also going to be there.
 
tarheelhealth said:
I will be going to the admitted students day March 13th, but was admitted to the MSPH in International Health / Health Systems. Not sure about a FB page, but @rassykins is also going to be there.
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unfortunately i have a conference on the 13 and can only make it to the april 3 one. i just searched fb and couldnt find anything, but oh well! i hope i can meet up with you all this fall!
 
nerdyforepi said:
Any Emory EPI/GLEPI department people hear back yet? I’m now wondering if it’s done by department. Also sorry for a follow-up post I am just ridden with anxiety these days lol
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I was accepted a few weeks ago (see signature) and just got an email today with my funding package info.
 
withbobahalfsweet said:
Just called Columbia fin aid. They said my GRE scores are high but my GPA is under the cut off for the first batch of scholarships. They said that it is possible I am in a later batch of scholarships--they're nowhere done handing out funding yet. So I guess there's that. I was hoping for a confirmation of a yes or no but the supervisor for this list isn't in the office today apparently.
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Did they tell you what the cutoff is? I heard the cutoff is 3.8 or 3.85. But I know someone received a scholarship with a 3.7 GPA + 320ish GRE.
 
rap15 said:
Finally looked at what time the GW courses actually are, and so many of them start at 3pm (and there are even a lot of 9am-12pm courses)...what happened to being a great option for people working full time LOL

Time to talk to my employer about if taking a 3pm course is even an option
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Would you mind telling me where you found the class times? I've only been able to find course descriptions.
 
uk__med said:
ok guys i decided to bite the bullet and commit to hopkins for MSPH in global epi disease and control!! if anyone is attending hopkins this fall and would like to meet up lets chat! also, is there a facebook group or anything?
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I had emailed JHSPH about a facebook page they only seem to have one for the MPH cohort (Log into Facebook | Facebook).

I'll be attending the March 13 ASD with @tarheelhealth (as he mentioned) but feel free to message the both of us to chat!
 
kelsiliu said:
Did they tell you what the cutoff is? I heard the cutoff is 3.8 or 3.85. But I know someone received a scholarship with a 3.7 GPA + 320ish GRE.
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Someone posted it earlier in the thread, its 3.75 GPA and 80% in all GRE sections. That's for the first round of scholarships I guess. The person I spoke to saw that my GRE was good but my undergraduate GPA is lower than the cut off so he said that it's possible I am still being considered but he couldn't get me a confirmation today yet.
 
withbobahalfsweet said:
Someone posted it earlier in the thread, its 3.75 GPA and 80% in all GRE sections. That's for the first round of scholarships I guess. The person I spoke to saw that my GRE was good but my undergraduate GPA is lower than the cut off so he said that it's possible I am still being considered but he couldn't get me a confirmation today yet.
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On a side note, I noticed you heard back from UCLA, just wondering, which program did you apply for?
I am waiting for one and they said that they will let me know by next week.
 
hujkw said:
Does anyone know anything about the process for appealing for more financial aid and when the best time to do it is? My salary last year was about a quarter of Harvard's tuition alone and they only offered me a 5k work-study haha. I don't have high expectations but I feel like I need to at least try.
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I appealed based on what previous years have suggested once I was awarded an initial amount of financial aid. Past forums haven't been the best about updating whether or not this has worked for them (people fall off posting once they commit), but I'll try my best to let you know if anything comes out of my various appeals. Here's the basic formula I used for Columbia:

1. Explain to them that their school is your top choice due to x, y, z
2. Thank them graciously for the amount they have offered.
3. Indicate that your choice in commitment will ultimately come down to funding. If you've been awarded a substantial amount to somewhere else: "another top program has awarded me x amount, which will reduce my yearly tuition to y amount." You could also bring up your income here (I did) or cost of living differences.
4. Don't ask directly about matching an offer, I said something along the lines of "avenues of alternative funding" or something like that. Ask straight up for the appeal though!

Remember that you've worked really hard to get where you are, and you deserve access to higher education.
 
Thequatch said:
LOL, I was just accepted to my third choice program at Emory (Global Health). Did you guys receive any scholarships in your admission email? Or will I have to wait a few weeks for that?
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Congrats! I didn’t receive scholarship information in my admission email. I am not sure if this is true for all departments but I was told that they would start notifying students about scholarships beginning mid-February. I’m still waiting to hear back about that but it looks like several people have received separate emails with scholarship offers so far.
 
zvarn said:
I appealed based on what previous years have suggested once I was awarded an initial amount of financial aid. Past forums haven't been the best about updating whether or not this has worked for them (people fall off posting once they commit), but I'll try my best to let you know if anything comes out of my various appeals. Here's the basic formula I used for Columbia:

1. Explain to them that their school is your top choice due to x, y, z
2. Thank them graciously for the amount they have offered.
3. Indicate that your choice in commitment will ultimately come down to funding. If you've been awarded a substantial amount to somewhere else: "another top program has awarded me x amount, which will reduce my yearly tuition to y amount." You could also bring up your income here (I did) or cost of living differences.
4. Don't ask directly about matching an offer, I said something along the lines of "avenues of alternative funding" or something like that. Ask straight up for the appeal though!

Remember that you've worked really hard to get where you are, and you deserve access to higher education.
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I second this; this is more or less the strategy I used for BU and I received an additional $10,000 in funding.
 
Raccoonfish said:
Thank you so much for the response! Could I PM you?
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Please do! 🙂 Happy to answer any PMs, though it might take me a few days to respond.

uk__med said:
Can I PM you about Hopkins?
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Sure thing, though it seems like you've already decided - congrats! By the way, as far as I know there's no schoolwide facebook group. There MAY be one for the MPH students but I'm not sure. You could always reach out and ask if they'd make one, though!
 
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Was accepted to Harvard MPH-45 in Health Policy and was offered about 33k in unsubsidized loans. Anyone else accepted have any idea how we are supposed to supplement the rest of the estimated 95K of attendance?? Do most students just take out private loans, gradplus loans, or some other method?

Also, I know the email said that this offer that we received is most likely our final offer, but I spoke to a financial aid rep over the phone yesterday and she mentioned that there might be additional waves of financial aid still to be released? Does anyone know anything about this or did I just misunderstand? Don't want to give anyone any false hope!
 
zvarn said:
I appealed based on what previous years have suggested once I was awarded an initial amount of financial aid. Past forums haven't been the best about updating whether or not this has worked for them (people fall off posting once they commit), but I'll try my best to let you know if anything comes out of my various appeals. Here's the basic formula I used for Columbia:

1. Explain to them that their school is your top choice due to x, y, z
2. Thank them graciously for the amount they have offered.
3. Indicate that your choice in commitment will ultimately come down to funding. If you've been awarded a substantial amount to somewhere else: "another top program has awarded me x amount, which will reduce my yearly tuition to y amount." You could also bring up your income here (I did) or cost of living differences.
4. Don't ask directly about matching an offer, I said something along the lines of "avenues of alternative funding" or something like that. Ask straight up for the appeal though!

Remember that you've worked really hard to get where you are, and you deserve access to higher education.
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Thanks so much for the tips!! I'll definitely use them. Good luck with securing more funding from Columbia 🙂
 
flashinglights said:
Was accepted to Harvard MPH-45 in Health Policy and was offered about 33k in unsubsidized loans. Anyone else accepted have any idea how we are supposed to supplement the rest of the estimated 95K of attendance?? Do most students just take out private loans, gradplus loans, or some other method?

Also, I know the email said that this offer that we received is most likely our final offer, but I spoke to a financial aid rep over the phone yesterday and she mentioned that there might be additional waves of financial aid still to be released? Does anyone know anything about this or did I just misunderstand? Don't want to give anyone any false hope!
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33k was the max you could be offered (it said that on my portal at least). From what I've heard from current Harvard students, they take the rest out in private loans :/ You can also get an RA or TA position, TA's are paid a flat rate of max 5k a semester depending on the credits and RA's are an hourly rate depending on experience and its $18-22/hr. Here's a link a current student shared with me about rates for those positions.

I have also heard students have gotten financial aid offers after the initial offer. Also, if someone turns down the admission offer and they have a scholarship I'm sure they'd give it to someone else, so I'm guessing any time there is the potential for new offers!

Best of luck to you with funding 🙂
 
Finally heard back from JHSPH MPH 11-month Full-Time program. Accepted on the portal.
If it made any difference, I did make a call to their office to get an update (they were very kind and helpful over the phone), and they said to expect something before the end of the week, and when I checked the portal a few hours later, the acceptance was up. Not sure if that was pure coincidence, but I'll take it.

That ends my admission cycle, now gotta commit... :S
 
Thequatch said:
LOL, I was just accepted to my third choice program at Emory (Global Health). Did you guys receive any scholarships in your admission email? Or will I have to wait a few weeks for that?
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Congrats.

You will not receive scholarships in the acceptance letter. They give out merit scholarships from mid to late February and inform you via email only.
 
So, expect to get an email by this Friday regarding an offer of a merit scholarship at the latest.
 
Congrats everyone! Officially accepted my offer for the UCLA HPM program! Curious if anyone else has officially made a decision yet as I have, it would be really awesome to meet and form a group chat.
 
vzr05 said:
I’m really holding out for some kind of scholarship/financial aid but I’m 99% sure I’ll end up there, just need the confirmation of how I feel on campus at admitted students day! Are you thinking of committing?
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I'm still waiting to here from fin aid, but regardless I'm 99% sure I'm putting down my deposit- it's been my dream schools for so long! Are you going to admitted students day on March 6th?
 
VincentWph said:
Hi! Congrats to everyone! I was wondering how many students will choose to attend UC Irvine, and I think we can form a group chat :cat:
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Im probably going to accept UCI, still waiting to hear from UC Davis though. I also applied to the CDC PHAP, so I might take the two year position with them if I get it, not sure though...
 
DPM20 said:
I'm still waiting to here from fin aid, but regardless I'm 99% sure I'm putting down my deposit- it's been my dream schools for so long! Are you going to admitted students day on March 6th?
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Same here! And yes I’ll be there on March 6th. See you there 🙂
 
Joyce777 said:
So, expect to get an email by this Friday regarding an offer of a merit scholarship at the latest.
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Can I ask where you're getting that information from? I called the Emory financial aid office yesterday and they said merit awards would continue to go out from RSPH over the first couple of weeks in March.
 
Seems like the perfect place to bring this up...but is anyone concerned about travel and coronavirus right now? I have all my admitted student visits coming up as I'm sure most of you do too with Columbia next week, Berkeley in two weeks, GW and Emory at the end of the month. Obviously I am aware of coronavirus and all its developments, but have not really seen it as a significant concern for me personally and with domestic travel right now. However, the PI at my research institute told me today there's "no way" I can go and I should cancel my trips or else I may end up stuck there or in quarantine for a month. He's an Epi guy and an MD so I value his input but also really need these student visits to make my decision lol. I think I will still go as of right now just because cancelling everything and not being able to attend these visits would be really frustrating (But I guess so would being quarantined for a month :/). Just wondering if anyone else is dealing with similar concerns/what your plans are! We are the public health ~masters~ anyways 🙂
 
amr2297 said:
Seems like the perfect place to bring this up...but is anyone concerned about travel and coronavirus right now? I have all my admitted student visits coming up as I'm sure most of you do too with Columbia next week, Berkeley in two weeks, GW and Emory at the end of the month. Obviously I am aware of coronavirus and all its developments, but have not really seen it as a significant concern for me personally and with domestic travel right now. However, the PI at my research institute told me today there's "no way" I can go and I should cancel my trips or else I may end up stuck there or in quarantine for a month. He's an Epi guy and an MD so I value his input but also really need these student visits to make my decision lol. I think I will still go as of right now just because cancelling everything and not being able to attend these visits would be really frustrating (But I guess so would being quarantined for a month :/). Just wondering if anyone else is dealing with similar concerns/what your plans are! We are the public health ~masters~ anyways 🙂
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If you’re flying domestic I don’t see a big issue with it
 
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