MPH 2020: Applied, Accepted, Rejected, Waitlisted

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Does anyone know how hard it is to switch programs at Columbia (or in general)? I was admitted into Sociomedical Sciences and (if I decide to go), am actually heavily considering switching into Population and Family Health.
 
gabatha said:
Does anyone know how hard it is to switch programs at Columbia (or in general)? I was admitted into Sociomedical Sciences and (if I decide to go), am actually heavily considering switching into Population and Family Health.
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I am in the same boat! From speaking with students, it seems like a relatively smooth process. The student I was speaking to from PopFam said she didn't know of anyone who tried to switch who wasn't able to. I am wanting to switch from Epi to PopFam and think I will request for a switch tomorrow (you can try and switch now or wait until first sem). I'd recommend emailing Chelsea Kolff if you haven't already, if you are wanting to switch and want more info!
 
eed888 said:
I am in the same boat! From speaking with students, it seems like a relatively smooth process. The student I was speaking to from PopFam said she didn't know of anyone who tried to switch who wasn't able to. I am wanting to switch from Epi to PopFam and think I will request for a switch tomorrow (you can try and switch now or wait until first sem). I'd recommend emailing Chelsea Kolff if you haven't already, if you are wanting to switch and want more info!
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Thank you!
 
Hello everyone, just stumbled across this forum. However, I'm super excited to be starting my MPH in the Fall! I will be attending Columbia in the Sociomedical Sciences dept. Does anyone know of any admitted student groups (Facebook, GroupMe, etc.) to network and meet people before orientation?
 
I had a couple of people DM me about my academic/work background so here it is:

Undergraduate School: UC Davis c/o 2014
Undergrad GPA/Major GPA: 3.04 (last two years under 3.0... oops)
Major/minor: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (B.S.)
Grad GPA (if applicable): 3.98 Post Bacc
Grad studies (if applicable): Post Baccalaureate Certificate at CSU East Bay 2018 (aka 5th year undergrad)
GRE (Aug/Sept 2019): V 161 (88th) Q 160 (73rd) AW 5 (92nd)

Experience/research:
-4 years leadership for various pre-health, professional organizations
-2 years research in academia and healthcare at UC Davis
-2+ years HIV Epi research for transgender community in greater Bay Area
-2 years health education/health promotion in underserved community in Oakland.
-1+ year in data analytics, medical panel management at non-profit FQHC/Health Center in San Francisco
-1+ year HIV Test counselor, harm reduction counselor, substance use counselor
-2 years medical shadowing & volunteering
-Career changer: switched from pre-med to public health in 2017. after some deep introspection. I withdrew my medical school applications.

Letters of Rec:
-current supervisor at health clinic
-mentor and prior epidemiology professor (played a huge role in career change)
-PI of HIV research and former virology professor

Interested in: STI/STD epidemiology in underrepresented POC women, women health, sexual health.

Application (ordered by preference): UC Berkeley, UCLA, UW, Emory, Johns Hopkins, UNC, Columbia, UMich, Boston, OHSU-PSU, UT-Health Houston, SDSU (withdrew app)
Accepted: JHU-ScM (12/13) +75% yr 2/25% yr 1 & 50% yr 2 & 12K, UMich (12/20), UT-Houston (1/13), UWash-MPH(1/28), OHSU-PSU (1/29), Emory+ 10k+10kREAL (2/3), BU (2/18) +35%, Columbia +5k (2/28), UCLA (3/20), UC Berkeley (3/30)
Rejected: UNC - Chapel Hill (4/9)
Waitlisted: none

Attending: UC Berkeley! (All declines sent out 4/13)

My grades weren't all that impressive and my essays had a fair amount of typos, but I still made it! Work hard, write strong & meaningful statements, and have clear intentions. Also, follow up if you got a rejection and find out why. It may suck, but it will give you valuable insight on how you present yourself (or unveil systematic and administrative error!!). Best of luck in your future programs everyone. Make a difference in the world!
 
ENK98 said:
Hello everyone, just stumbled across this forum. However, I'm super excited to be starting my MPH in the Fall! I will be attending Columbia in the Sociomedical Sciences dept. Does anyone know of any admitted student groups (Facebook, GroupMe, etc.) to network and meet people before orientation?
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me too 🙂
 
Alright y’all, I officially did it- I submitted my enrollment deposit for Emory!!! :soexcited::clap:I’ll be in the MPH Epidemiology program! I’m beyond excited and I can’t thank this thread enough for keeping me sane during this process. Sending good vibes to everybody still making their decisions 🙂
 
ENK98 said:
Hello everyone, just stumbled across this forum. However, I'm super excited to be starting my MPH in the Fall! I will be attending Columbia in the Sociomedical Sciences dept. Does anyone know of any admitted student groups (Facebook, GroupMe, etc.) to network and meet people before orientation?
Click to expand...
They said during one of their virtual events that an admitted student's group would be made after april 15th!
 
Has anyone had success appealing for more funding at Drexel? They offered the dean's scholarship (12k over 56 credits) just wondering if they are open to giving more.
 
I don't know if "buyer's remorse" comes in because the amount I'll be taking out in loans has started to set in or if it's just that not being able to visit the schools makes it hard to envision myself anywhere but I am hoping I made the right decision because I feel very uneasy right now about my decision but I also don't feel a strong pull to any of the other schools either so just feeling some post-decision making anxiety that I hope will soon go away :/
 
Officially committed to Yale today! So glad this whole process is over and done with🙂. Also, I reached out for an appeal from Yale a few days ago and they didn't offer me an increase to my scholarship but they did offer me a teaching fellowship position so I'd say the appeal process was a positive one! Congrats to everyone!
 
Hi everyone! I just came across this page, and first want to say congrats to all! I'm curious to hear about anyone else's experience requesting more merit $ from Columbia - I requested a few weeks ago and was told I would receive an email if they chose to give me aid, but haven't heard from their fin aid department since. Not sure if it's better to wait it out or ask them again. Anyone have a similar experience?
 
Just submitted my deposit for UMich Global Health Epidemiology! It was super hard deciding between Michigan and Emory but I know this program is the right fit for me. Good luck to everyone else who is making their decisions today!!
 
Officially committed to the University of Washington. I was offered an RA position by a research consulting group founded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the UW Department of Global Health. I am excited!!:soexcited::soexcited: Thank you, everybody, for all your insights, support, and help! I wish you luck in your future endeavors, and I hope you acquire the skills you need to become resourceful members of the global team that seeks to improve health in every corner of the world. I would also love to connect with anyone who will be attending UW this fall. Please feel free to text me.
 
University officials say they hope to welcome students back on campus in late August, but much will depend on the public health outlook, the availability of COVID-19 testing, and state rules about large public gatherings. And even if students are allowed to return, international students may be blocked from entering the United States or have trouble getting their visas on time. Have a look in the below article:
Already, universities are planning for a fall without students on campus — just in case - The Boston Globe
 
Officially committed to Brown after a successful appeal for more merit funding. I’m so excited!! I wanted to thank everyone for all of the helpful advice. Lurking in this group made me feel like I wasn’t alone in making the tough decision about where to go in the fall. Please, message me if you will be joining me in Providence. I would love to connect! 🙂
 
Accepted into Emory for HPM!! I was later to apply than most of you (applied in March). This thread has been incredibly helpful during the application process, so thank you to everyone!! I haven't sent in my enrollment deposit yet but I will soon. Is there any chance there is an Emory MPH Facebook group or something? I saw someone posted something but I am unable to find it...If there's anyone else that will be at Emory in the Fall for HPM feel free to reach out!!
 
HMC_CORPSMAN9000 said:
I will never understand why some you apply to 8 - 10 schools. Such a waste of money. I applied to only 2 schools. One that I have a strong chance of getting into, and then Harvard. Got into both. SMH.
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Financial aid matching for one - schools will ask you to show documentation of aid from other universities before upping their scholarship awards - it helps to have some (maybe lower ranked) universities with aid offers so you can negotiate with the one you really want to attend. For another, the admissions process is pretty revelatory of the kind of school you're going to - most of that kind of info comes after the deadline. Also, there's absolutely nothing wrong with being undecided and taking the chance of a few $100 in application fees and taking time on a hugely important decision, both professionally and financially.

Glad your process worked out for you though.
 
Anyone else still waiting to hear back from schools?

I am waiting to hear back from ONLY 1 school and I'm getting really impatient /: I just really want to commit so I can get something off my plate!

I already contacted them and they said they send decisions out in mid April-May 🙁
 
Has anyone heard back from Rutgers or Dartmouth? Rutgers in particular has been completely unresponsive to my emails.
 
mphstudent said:
Hi everyone! I just came across this page, and first want to say congrats to all! I'm curious to hear about anyone else's experience requesting more merit $ from Columbia - I requested a few weeks ago and was told I would receive an email if they chose to give me aid, but haven't heard from their fin aid department since. Not sure if it's better to wait it out or ask them again. Anyone have a similar experience?
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Hi, here's my experience with appealing with Columbia: if you don't have a 3.75 GPA and above 80th percentile on all sections of your GRE you aren't considered for merit scholarships. Also, $5,000 is the max for the need-based grant. I appealed and was told I didn't meet the criteria and wouldn't be considered. But I later received a $5,000 fellowship for my practicum. Maybe that was because I tried to appeal but who knows!

I ended up declining because I couldn't justify the loans I would need to take out. I would email again since the decision deadline was yesterday!
 
global_Premed3 said:
Has anyone heard back from Rutgers or Dartmouth? Rutgers in particular has been completely unresponsive to my emails.
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I did hear back from Rutgers! They were very unresponsive, I emailed them a few times since I never got confirmation that my application was received and I never heard anything back. I called them and was able to finally get an answer. This was in January/February so before everyone was working from home.
 
HMC_CORPSMAN9000 said:
I will never understand why some of you apply to 8 - 10 schools. Such a waste of money. I applied to only 2 schools. One that I have a strong chance of getting into, and then Harvard. Got into both. SMH.
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I do agree with this poster to some extent, but I'm also one of the people who applied to 8-10 schools. I think that in general, it's just super difficult to figure out what schools are looking for. I was really fortunate to get into all the MPH programs I applied into (well...let's not call Oxford MSc an MPH haha), but at the beginning of the cycle, I was seriously doubting whether I was even remotely qualified for any of the programs I applied into since my background is very bio+cs focused. I think if schools are more transparent about their admissions statistics, I could have easily cut down my list to 4 schools.
 
HMC_CORPSMAN9000 said:
I will never understand why some of you apply to 8 - 10 schools. Such a waste of money. I applied to only 2 schools. One that I have a strong chance of getting into, and then Harvard. Got into both. SMH.
Click to expand...
For some people like myself, it's all about uncertainty. I applied to 8 schools because I have a pretty low GPA and didn't know where that would get me. I was rejected from 6 state schools and only got into my back up, along with a school I thought I had a 10% chance of getting in to. I spent a lot of money applying, but I'm glad I did because I almost didn't apply to the one school I actually got in to.
 
epiman94 said:
For some people like myself, it's all about uncertainty. I applied to 8 schools because I have a pretty low GPA and didn't know where that would get me. I was rejected from 6 state schools and only got into my back up, along with a school I thought I had a 10% chance of getting in to. I spent a lot of money applying, but I'm glad I did because I almost didn't apply to the one school I actually got in to.
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I see that does make sense to me now. I apologize for anyone that I offended in my earlier post. Good Luck!

Anyone going to Dartmouth on Campus MHP?
 
allmymoons said:
I did hear back from Rutgers! They were very unresponsive, I emailed them a few times since I never got confirmation that my application was received and I never heard anything back. I called them and was able to finally get an answer. This was in January/February so before everyone was working from home.
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This was also my experience. I emailed to find out if they received my application. They were the only school who had not confirmed receipt. Ironically, they emailed last night saying they had received my application. Thank you for your response!
 
Last edited:
gbr101 said:
When Columbia offers you $40k 2 days after the deadline...reconsidering now...
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Wow! Congratulations! Had you declined their acceptance and they reached back out? Or was your acceptance still open with them? And had you previously appealed them?
 
amr2297 said:
Wow! Congratulations! Had you declined their acceptance and they reached back out? Or was your acceptance still open with them? And had you previously appealed them?
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I hadn't declined them officially, not for any reason other than laziness lol. Guess my appeal to them worked!
 
For those wondering about scholarship appeals, I was just offered an additional $10,000 from BU. I’ve already put down my deposit at another school, but wanted to share in case anyone is nervous as they are waiting on an appeal or just thinking about requesting one. Good luck!
 
jj23boston said:
For those wondering about scholarship appeals, I was just offered an additional $10,000 from BU. I’ve already put down my deposit at another school, but wanted to share in case anyone is nervous as they are waiting on an appeal or just thinking about requesting one. Good luck!
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This was extremely helpful. I reached out to BU today and was placed on their reconsideration list for more aid. I had another school match BU’s scholarship and wanted to see if BU would be open to reconsidering funding. But they said it would be a few weeks before I would hear anything.

Would you mind sharing how long it took for you to hear back? I think this other school will likely give me about a week to decide.
 
global_Premed3 said:
This was extremely helpful. I reached out to BU today and was placed on their reconsideration list for more aid. I had another school match BU’s scholarship and wanted to see if BU would be open to reconsidering funding. But they said it would be a few weeks before I would hear anything.

Would you mind sharing how long it took for you to hear back? I think this other school will likely give me about a week to decide.
Click to expand...

I also asked for an appeal from BU and they also told me it would be a few weeks before hearing back. But it actually only took 9 days (including the weekend) to hear back.
 
global_Premed3 said:
This was extremely helpful. I reached out to BU today and was placed on their reconsideration list for more aid. I had another school match BU’s scholarship and wanted to see if BU would be open to reconsidering funding. But they said it would be a few weeks before I would hear anything.

Would you mind sharing how long it took for you to hear back? I think this other school will likely give me about a week to decide.
Click to expand...

I sent my initial appeal letter on 4/5, received confirmation of receipt on 4/6, and heard back on their decision today 4/17.

Edit: they did say I would find out after the deposit deadline when they had a better idea of available funds, so I imagine it would be a quicker turnaround now.
 
Did anyone else get into Georgia State/GSU? I received the school acceptance letter and the funding information email from the school’s coordinator; but I’m still waiting on the one from the department.
 
I accidentally put my deposit down at 3 schools to hold my seats, how do I withdraw them now that I've gotten in my top choice?
 
philippesandwich said:
I accidentally put my deposit down at 3 schools to hold my seats, how do I withdraw them now that I've gotten in my top choice?
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What was your top choice? You would have to reach out to their admissions and it will just depend on the schools rules. Most the time they won't refund your deposit.
 
philippesandwich said:
I accidentally put my deposit down at 3 schools to hold my seats, how do I withdraw them now that I've gotten in my top choice?
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Just email the program heads/the email of the contact person listed on your admissions letters. I think you're kinda SoL on getting back your deposits since usually its made clear those are non-refundable (but if that isn't said explicitly, you can ask).
 
Officially attending Berkeley for Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health! Really hoping classes will be in person in the fall... but regardless I’m so excited to take this next step and explore the Bay Area Best of luck to those who are still deciding and those who have committed!
 
tynnguyen92 said:
I had a couple of people DM me about my academic/work background so here it is:

Undergraduate School: UC Davis c/o 2014
Undergrad GPA/Major GPA: 3.04 (last two years under 3.0... oops)
Major/minor: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (B.S.)
Grad GPA (if applicable): 3.98 Post Bacc
Grad studies (if applicable): Post Baccalaureate Certificate at CSU East Bay 2018 (aka 5th year undergrad)
GRE (Aug/Sept 2019): V 161 (88th) Q 160 (73rd) AW 5 (92nd)

Experience/research:
-4 years leadership for various pre-health, professional organizations
-2 years research in academia and healthcare at UC Davis
-2+ years HIV Epi research for transgender community in greater Bay Area
-2 years health education/health promotion in underserved community in Oakland.
-1+ year in data analytics, medical panel management at non-profit FQHC/Health Center in San Francisco
-1+ year HIV Test counselor, harm reduction counselor, substance use counselor
-2 years medical shadowing & volunteering
-Career changer: switched from pre-med to public health in 2017. after some deep introspection. I withdrew my medical school applications.

Letters of Rec:
-current supervisor at health clinic
-mentor and prior epidemiology professor (played a huge role in career change)
-PI of HIV research and former virology professor

Interested in: STI/STD epidemiology in underrepresented POC women, women health, sexual health.

Application (ordered by preference): UC Berkeley, UCLA, UW, Emory, Johns Hopkins, UNC, Columbia, UMich, Boston, OHSU-PSU, UT-Health Houston, SDSU (withdrew app)
Accepted: JHU-ScM (12/13) +75% yr 2/25% yr 1 & 50% yr 2 & 12K, UMich (12/20), UT-Houston (1/13), UWash-MPH(1/28), OHSU-PSU (1/29), Emory+ 10k+10kREAL (2/3), BU (2/18) +35%, Columbia +5k (2/28), UCLA (3/20), UC Berkeley (3/30)
Rejected: UNC - Chapel Hill (4/9)
Waitlisted: none

Attending: UC Berkeley! (All declines sent out 4/13)

My grades weren't all that impressive and my essays had a fair amount of typos, but I still made it! Work hard, write strong & meaningful statements, and have clear intentions. Also, follow up if you got a rejection and find out why. It may suck, but it will give you valuable insight on how you present yourself (or unveil systematic and administrative error!!). Best of luck in your future programs everyone. Make a difference in the world!
Click to expand...
What made you decide to make the switch from pre med to MPH? I'm kind of strongly considering right now but am pretty confused.
 
Hope everyone is safe and doing well throughout this time! Anyone attending UCLA HPM program (management track) this Fall? It would be awesome to meet you guys!
 
Wildcat2020 said:
Officially committed to Brown after a successful appeal for more merit funding. I’m so excited!! I wanted to thank everyone for all of the helpful advice. Lurking in this group made me feel like I wasn’t alone in making the tough decision about where to go in the fall. Please, message me if you will be joining me in Providence. I would love to connect! 🙂
Click to expand...
That’s amazing! I will also be attending Brown this fall in the Epi department. If you don’t mind me asking, how did you go about appealing for more merit scholarship funding?
 
blondepremedd said:
What made you decide to make the switch from pre med to MPH? I'm kind of strongly considering right now but am pretty confused.
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i switched from pre-med to MPH my junior year before taking the MCAT and am still considering to attend medical school after my MPH (MS, technically) depending on my experience. I decided to do my MSPH as a stepping stone to see what niche of the health sector I want to work in. I personally was not ready to take on the commitment of medical school and was interested in public health anyway (was planning to apply MD/MPH) so I figured I would gain experience in the field of public health and gain more exposure from the MD/MPH perspective to help me gauge my decision more.
I also chose to go to a school that had opportunities for me to get involved with med students/has shadowing opportunities too.
 
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