MPH 2020: Applied, Accepted, Rejected, Waitlisted

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Narrowed my list to Emory, Boston U and UNC. I love the amount of activism of Boston U, the connections at Emory and the overall program of study at UNC. Wishing I could mesh all three schools into one 🙂. If anyone has insight about these three schools (Epi at Boston U and Emory, MCH at UNC) I’d love to hear it!


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amr2297 said:
Anyone else in the boat of not hearing back regarding any financial aid yet?? i.e: UNC, Emory, Berkeley, and Columbia haven't sent me anything about aid whatsoever, and I would like to start appealing aid but of course that's hard to do when I have nothing to appeal at those schools lol
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I heard back from Columbia about aid just under two weeks after getting the acceptance (2/11) but it sounds like they are running behind schedule now. UNC is finishing up handing out department awards and after that you can only be approved for loans, there is no "need based aid" from the office of financial aid, they don't start processing graduate student packages until April and "there is no guarantee" that you will hear back before April 15th. Berkeley.. I haven't even gotten an admissions decision and applied in November so I am not really expecting to see anything from financial aid office before the deadline which takes them out of the running for me..
Good luck!
 
amr2297 said:
Anyone else in the boat of not hearing back regarding any financial aid yet?? i.e: UNC, Emory, Berkeley, and Columbia haven't sent me anything about aid whatsoever, and I would like to start appealing aid but of course that's hard to do when I have nothing to appeal at those schools lol
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I just had my financial aid from Columbia updated this morning. I didn't get an email but it was on the financial aid portal. Not sure if yours would be updated or not, but since I didn't receive any scholarships (just loans) I didn't get a notification about it being updated.
 
Still waiting to hear back from Columbia but I have decided that my top three schools are BU, UAB, and USF! If anyone has any insight about either of these programs that would be greatly appreciated! If it helps my area of interest is maternal and child health.
 
TheStreetKing said:
Hi there! Congrats on all your acceptances! I was accepted into the Epi program at UMN, and I have not heard about scholarship yet. When did you receive the 12k offer? Is it a scholarship or a financial aid?
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Thanks, and congrats on yours too!! I got two scholarships (not loans/other financial aid) that combined to 12k. I got one on 2/19 and the second on 2/20, and that’s also when I finally got my official admissions decision, rather than an informal email. Hope you hear soon!!!
 
hujkw said:
I just had my financial aid from Columbia updated this morning. I didn't get an email but it was on the financial aid portal. Not sure if yours would be updated or not, but since I didn't receive any scholarships (just loans) I didn't get a notification about it being updated.
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I get an error when I try to access the fin aid portal, I had assumed that it was because I needed to wait for something to be changed under status? Has anyone else gotten an error?
 
I just logged into my Columbia FA account and got excited by what I saw, only to realize it was a federal loan. -_- Are we still all operating under the impression that they haven’t finished giving out merit scholarships yet?
 
upstreamist said:
I just logged into my Columbia FA account and got excited by what I saw, only to realize it was a federal loan. -_- Are we still all operating under the impression that they haven’t finished giving out merit scholarships yet?
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Same!! :hungover: I think it's definitely still possible to receive something, but based on my own academic record I'm guessing I'm out of luck!
 
upstreamist said:
I just logged into my Columbia FA account and got excited by what I saw, only to realize it was a federal loan. -_- Are we still all operating under the impression that they haven’t finished giving out merit scholarships yet?
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hujkw said:
Same!! :hungover: I think it's definitely still possible to receive something, but based on my own academic record I'm guessing I'm out of luck!
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I went to Columbia this past Friday (despite the cancellations bc I wasn't able to cancel my flight) and while I was there I sat down and spoke directly with a financial aid person. He said that merit scholarships are given to students with at least a 3.6 GPA and above 80th percentile in all of the GRE sections. Just FYI if that helps at all! He also said most aid should be out this week.

Also they updated my portal with unsubsidized loans but the max loan amount they said I can take is less than the full tuition amount so I really have no idea where they expect me to come up with the rest of the money without a full loan and any other aid!!
 
amr2297 said:
I went to Columbia this past Friday (despite the cancellations bc I wasn't able to cancel my flight) and while I was there I sat down and spoke directly with a financial aid person. He said that merit scholarships are given to students with at least a 3.6 GPA and above 80th percentile in all of the GRE sections. Just FYI if that helps at all! He also said most aid should be out this week.

Also they updated my portal with unsubsidized loans but the max loan amount they said I can take is less than the full tuition amount so I really have no idea where they expect me to come up with the rest of the money without a full loan and any other aid!!
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I believe you can apply for the plus loans :/
 
amr2297 said:
I went to Columbia this past Friday (despite the cancellations bc I wasn't able to cancel my flight) and while I was there I sat down and spoke directly with a financial aid person. He said that merit scholarships are given to students with at least a 3.6 GPA and above 80th percentile in all of the GRE sections. Just FYI if that helps at all! He also said most aid should be out this week.

Also they updated my portal with unsubsidized loans but the max loan amount they said I can take is less than the full tuition amount so I really have no idea where they expect me to come up with the rest of the money without a full loan and any other aid!!
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I believe 33k is the maximum they can give in federal direct loans. I think it’s just the dept of ed standard, you can still apply for grad plus loans to cover the rest of the cost.
 
has anyone accepted to Columbia received scholarships or grants besides the merit scholarships (for 3.75+ GPA and 80%+ GRE scores) or need-based aid? Has anyone on here received any scholarships/grant from institutional funding sources listed on their website (Community Scholars, Gemson Scholarship, Heilbrunn Scholars, etc?).
 
USF just cancelled their admitted students day :/ I’m super upset but I think I can get my flights refunded so hopefully anyone else who was attending can as well (glad they told us far in advance!). I’m hoping Boston doesn’t cancel theirs on Saturday, but my school just cancelled all classes this week (Hofstra - possible case on campus) so I wouldn’t be surprised. This is a tough year to be applying to grad schools!!
 
Hey everybody! With decision time right around the corner, I was wondering if anyone had any input on the online/part-time MPH program at Hopkins. I'm making a really tough decision between online Hopkins and on-site Yale, and I could really use some help. Does an online MPH program comparable to taking courses on-site?
 
amr2297 said:
I went to Columbia this past Friday (despite the cancellations bc I wasn't able to cancel my flight) and while I was there I sat down and spoke directly with a financial aid person. He said that merit scholarships are given to students with at least a 3.6 GPA and above 80th percentile in all of the GRE sections. Just FYI if that helps at all! He also said most aid should be out this week.

Also they updated my portal with unsubsidized loans but the max loan amount they said I can take is less than the full tuition amount so I really have no idea where they expect me to come up with the rest of the money without a full loan and any other aid!!
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I swear the minimum GPA and percentiles required for the merit scholarships change every time someone talks to them about it 🤣
 
BelieveMCH08 said:
I was just accepted to BU with a 25% scholarship! Still waiting on Columbia and Brown.
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Do you mind if I ask when you applied to BU? I’m still waiting to hear back but I think I might have applied to their program a bit late in the game. Thanks!
 
I've been emailing back and forth with Columbia Financial Aid and they said if you've been "awarded" the loans then that's your package and there's nothing else pending, i.e. scholarships. I guess they would have included the scholarship when they posted the whole package if you were awarded one. They'll be accepting appeals at the end of March. 🙂

I suppose we should all be taking this information with a grain of salt considering they've told each of us different things.
 
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monkeym8 said:
Which programs are you considering instead?
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I got an admissions offer from Hopkins with full scholarship, Harvard with 40k external scholarship and Columbia with 40k external scholarship. The 40k scholarship would apply to UC B as well, but it makes money less of an argument. And I’m currently really temped to accept the Harvard offer
 
Do you know if being awarded loans includes a loan being posted through the netpartner site, but not on the regular portal via a status update as they said they would be posting. They advised me that mine should be up at the end of last week or beginning of this week based on when they received the FAFSA. I checked just recently, and it just has the standard loans posted, but nothing else. I guess I would just be kind of surprised since I submitted by the priority deadline with a 4.0 and GRE of 167 and 168. Maybe that doesn't count as awarded unless it's up on the portal. Otherwise, I guess I will have to submit an appeal.
 
am98 said:
Do you know if being awarded loans includes a loan being posted through the netpartner site, but not on the regular portal via a status update as they said they would be posting. They advised me that mine should be up at the end of last week or beginning of this week based on when they received the FAFSA. I checked just recently, and it just has the standard loans posted, but nothing else. I guess I would just be kind of surprised since I submitted by the priority deadline with a 4.0 and GRE of 167 and 168. Maybe that doesn't count as awarded unless it's up on the portal. Otherwise, I guess I will have to submit an appeal.
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I'm assuming this is directed at my earlier post, and I'm not sure! I haven't received an update in the portal either, just noticed the loans through the netpartner site as well. I'd also be surprised if you didn't receive a merit scholarship based on your stats so who knows! It seems like we're all getting different information from financial aid so maybe take it all with a grain of salt.
 
Is there anyone else too who is still waiting to hear from Yale MS Epidemiology program? I applied on December 7th to their Masters in Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases and it was written in their email that decisions will be out by late Feb-early March, but I have heard nothing as of now. Anyone else in the same boat?
 
Thought I'd just let everyone know: I ended up accepting my spot at University of Minnesota for health policy MPH today. I formally declined my offers at UNC (health policy) and Harvard (MPH-65 health policy), so good luck to anyone on the waitlist for whom those programs are a better fit! Hopefully the spot opens up for you quickly haha
 
I also just received the notice about 33k in loans from Columbia. Since I applied before the priority deadline and have scores well within their merit scholarship range, I emailed them to appeal their offer. Honestly, I was hoping for half tuition or more from them, so I will likely also have to decline that spot. They did also only receive my FAFSA information last week, so I am hopeful that perhaps they just haven't finished considering my application for aid and will provide more, but if not hopefully the spot can help someone else.
 
AW26 said:
Is there anyone else too who is still waiting to hear from Yale MS Epidemiology program? I applied on December 7th to their Masters in Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases and it was written in their email that decisions will be out by late Feb-early March, but I have heard nothing as of now. Anyone else in the same boat?
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I'm still waiting for MS biostatistics too!
 
Not sure of my chances, but I emailed GW about changing my concentration from MPH Health Policy to MHA. It looks like the two are "housed" in the same program so I'm hoping it's not too difficult of a task. Anyone have experience with switching programs/concentrations?
 
Undergraduate School: University of California, Irvine
Undergrad GPA/Major GPA: 3.564/4.0
Major/minor: Human Biology and Psychology
Grad GPA (if applicable): n/a
Grad studies (if applicable): n/a
GRE(including date taken): V-149 (41st%) Q-154 (53rd%) AW-3.5 (39th%) (taken 11/16/19)

Experience/research:
- 2 years of volunteering (150 hours) at the UCI Medical Center Hospital Volunteer Office and Epidemiology Center
- 2 years of Cognitive Neuroscience research spending time looking at different MRI scans of blind patients.
- 6 months (75 hours) at a community outreach program called Math CEO, inspiring underprivileged students of Orange County to learn about critical math skills and learning more about attending college.
- 2 years of educational research with the head of the Human Biology department coming up with studies about how outsourced biology software programs help with educational purposes.

Letters of Rec: Professor of Cognitive Sciences I did research with, Director of the Human Biology department and professor that I'm doing educational research with, the manager of the UCI Epidemiology department.

Interested in: global health, Epidemiology, public health studies

Accepted: Boston University (40% merit scholarship/ January 24th ) , USC ( February 10th ), UC IRVINE (10% housing scholarship/ February 20th )

Denied: UCLA (03/09/20), UC DAVIS(03/02/20), John Hopkins(02/05/20) , and Harvard (01/24/20)

With this all said, I was wondering if anyone can help me get more insight into the schools I was accepted too: Boston University , USC, and UC Irvine's MPH programs. I have a hard time deciding between all three, and have heard a little bit about Boston on the forum already. I was wondering if anyone knew more about the other programs and what to consider when choosing between these schools? Any help would be amazing
 
jparky said:
Not sure of my chances, but I emailed GW about changing my concentration from MPH Health Policy to MHA. It looks like the two are "housed" in the same program so I'm hoping it's not too difficult of a task. Anyone have experience with switching programs/concentrations?
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When I emailed GW about considering switching from MCH to Health Policy, I was told that if I want to switch, I should do it early on in the first semester so as to not delay graduation. At accepted students day, I plan on speaking to someone in person about switching BEFORE the school year starts.
However, that was MPH to MPH, so I’m not sure what it’s like switching degree programs entirely, since I know their MHA program is pretty different (includes the year of residency, etc.)
 
jayecee said:
USF just cancelled their admitted students day :/ I’m super upset but I think I can get my flights refunded so hopefully anyone else who was attending can as well (glad they told us far in advance!). I’m hoping Boston doesn’t cancel theirs on Saturday, but my school just cancelled all classes this week (Hofstra - possible case on campus) so I wouldn’t be surprised. This is a tough year to be applying to grad schools!!
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I'm sure Boston will cancel. I work at a Harvard affiliate hospital and Harvard is transitioning to virtual classes within the next week or so. Many institutions (schools, hospitals) are recommending canceling any meetings or conferences with external invitees or anything with an attendance of 100+, things are getting cancelled right and left here. BU will likely follow suit.
 
And up next on cancelled admissions events...Columbia admitted student reception in San Diego that was supposed to be tonight 🙁

I don’t know anyone at Columbia like I do at my other options, and I was hoping to use this as a time to really learn more to help make a decision, so if anyone has info on the school and wants to share I’d love to hear what you have to say!
 
mphmch2020 said:
I'm sure Boston will cancel. I work at a Harvard affiliate hospital and Harvard is transitioning to virtual classes within the next week or so. Many institutions (schools, hospitals) are recommending canceling any meetings or conferences with external invitees or anything with an attendance of 100+, things are getting cancelled right and left here. BU will likely follow suit.
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yep just got the email, changed to a virtual tour
 
krpaek said:
Emory fin aid was posted on my account, but it was essentially just loans and REAL. I will be turning down Emory and going to unc in the fall!
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I'll be seeing you in the fall!! :highfive: we have to have a forum meet up or something haha!
 
Hopkins just canceled their Admitted Students Day! They said they'd email students who wished to do a campus visit anyways-- quite unfortunate but COVID-19 precautions definitely take precedence.
 
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Do you think there's a chance schools will extend the commitment deadline since most of us haven't been able to visit schools? I just really want to attend a student day before making any definitive choices but I'm also worried that my time is running out.
 
Emory Financial Aid just updated on OPUS. REAL + $33K in Loans...not what I was hoping for but it is what it is. On a side note, the MHA Program Director at GW said that he would speak to the committee members to see what I need to do to be considered for the MHA residential program!
 
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