MPH Fall 2017: Applied, Accepted, Waitlisted, Rejected!

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Called Harvard yesterday and got excited because they actually pulled my file to check my decision status...and then was told my application was still "under review" and I would hear back in 2-3 weeks 🙁

Has anyone who applied for the MPH-65 in Health Policy heard back yet?
 
mphfall2017 said:
Called Harvard yesterday and got excited because they actually pulled my file to check my decision status...and then was told my application was still "under review" and I would hear back in 2-3 weeks 🙁

Has anyone who applied for the MPH-65 in Health Policy heard back yet?
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nope i haven't, and i was told i'd hear back by the end of the week :/ (also applied health policy)
 
jonkjiao said:
The same thing happened to me and next day I got a rej from JHU...
Don't be nervous I assume it only means your decision is made and you will hear from them soon.
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Lol nah I got rejected too. It was a long shot and it hurts but I'll get over it. It wasn't meant to be i guess.
 
I heard back from all my schools so here are my stats again with updated acceptances and rejections.

Undergrad School: Towson University
Undergrad GPA/Major GPA: 3.5
Major/Minor: Health Care Management/Business Administration
GradGPA (if applicable): N/A
Grad Studies (if applicable): N/A
GRE (including date taken) or Other Test (if applicable): Some time in December...I didn't do well. 144/144/3.5 I did take a class and still didn't do well...I'm a bad tester honestly 🙁
Experience/Research (please, be brief): I had an internship at my hospital and then ended up working with them for a year. I was mainly just patient services (scheduling) but my manager had me do lots of other tasks like prior authorization and billing you name it. I've let and now I work for a health care management company where i assist in fraud investigation. Both jobs were full time.
I've had a lot of internships that were for non profits or wholesome organizations like providing housing for adults with disabilities.
I'm in a honors fraternity and we did countless hours of volunteering while i was in college. I was also inducted into two other honor socities.
LORs: I was lucky enough to get a letter from my advisor at school who also was my professor. I was very close to her and she knows how hard working I am. My other two letters came from my previous job, my manager and my director. They were both very supportive of my hopes to continue my education and they saw me as an asset to be placed in any position while I was there.
Interested in: Epidemiology. I really would like to learn about the racial disparities (specfically African Americans) between minorities and mental health care.
Special factors??? Clearly I am not very good at standardized tests. I focused on the fact that I have a great GPA, full time work experience and have gained a lot of skills, and wrote what i believe to be a great personal statement. I hope all of this may outweigh my low GRE scores.

Applied: e-submitted SOPHAS on 1/30 (hasn't been verified yet) JHU, GWU, and UMD
Accepted: George Washington University
Rejected: Johns Hopkins University and University of Maryland: College Park
Waitlisted: N/A

I have to say I'm very happy and even though it is my only acceptance I've started to love the idea of being a student at GW. I was accepted into their Epi program so I'm very excited to start in the fall! I'm a little hurt at UMD cause....huh? Idk lol. I thought it was weird. I'm over the top happy I got into GW! Although on this thread awhile ago someone said "GW will accept anyone with a pulse" take the negativity else where! I know its a good school right? Anyways! Best of luck to everyone and if you're going to GW I'll see you there.

:soexcited::soexcited::soexcited:
 
inklesspen315 said:
nope i haven't, and i was told i'd hear back by the end of the week :/ (also applied health policy)
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That's good to hear since from other posts it sounded like they told most people 2-3 weeks. Good luck and hopefully they get back to you tomorrow!
 
For all those folks accepted to UC Davis' MPH program, first of all congratulations! Second, what date did they give you to accept or reject the offer? Is it April 15th? So hoping I still have a chance for admission....
 
wwmmkk said:
I'm rapidly losing hope on Brown. Has anyone who applied for an MPH in Behavioral and Social Sciences heard back? Has anyone called the department/admissions to ask? I might next week if I don't hear tomorrow. I applied in October. The wait has been so agonizing that I have started to plan to attend another school (budgeting moving costs, reading course guides, etc) because it makes me feel calmer than thinking about how I still don't know all the options I might have.
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I haven't heard back, but I sent them an email in late January asking if they had received all of the materials for my application because I hadn't gotten a single confirmation email or anything and wanted to be sure everything was done. I got a response the same day saying that one transcript hasn't arrived (I am currently taking the class), but not to worry about it at all because the deadline was well over a month away. It felt very dismissive and just stressed me out about when I would hear back so I basically gave up on the program!
 
I just got an email from Sukhwinder Sagoo, the Admissions Officer of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, after I inquired as to the status of my application. He stated that my application was still being processed and would get back to me on Monday. Not sure if that means he'll have a decision by then or if he'll have an update as to when he'll be able to tell me UCLA's decision. Fingers crossed!
 
Anyone heard back who applied to the Global Health MPH (65) at Harvard as yet? This is getting absurd! Also, can anyone offer any insight as to the MPH in Global Health at Emory vs. the MPH in Family & Population Health at Columbia? I'm a Peace Corps Volunteer so sadly I'm unable to visit either school. Anyone else deciding between Emory or Columbia at this point? I'll definitely consider Harvard if I get in, but I'm down to these two and heavily leaning towards Columbia at this point.

Undergrad School: Top-tier public school
Undergrad GPA/Major GPA: 3.0 (yikes!)
Major/Minor: BS in Biology
GradGPA (if applicable): N/A
Grad Studies (if applicable): N/A
GRE 156/158/5
Experience/Research (please, be brief):
Community Health Educator (Peace Corps) for two years in Central America, entailing program design/management/evaluation, capacity building with government health workers
HIV project coordinator for an urban LGBT community center (internship and volunteer positions held over the course of two years)
OBGYN medical/administrative assistant for four years
LORs: Peace Corps Country Director, former internship supervisor, former professor
Interested in: Global health as it pertains to humanitarian relief/response/assistance, program design and MRE
Special factors???
Applied: GW, BU, Tulane, Emory, Columbia, Harvard
Accepted: GW, BU (+20k), Tulane, Emory, Columbia
Rejected:
Waitlisted:
Awaiting: Harvard
 
wwmmkk said:
I'm rapidly losing hope on Brown. Has anyone who applied for an MPH in Behavioral and Social Sciences heard back? Has anyone called the department/admissions to ask? I might next week if I don't hear tomorrow. I applied in October. The wait has been so agonizing that I have started to plan to attend another school (budgeting moving costs, reading course guides, etc) because it makes me feel calmer than thinking about how I still don't know all the options I might have.
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Please don't be losing hope! You applied to a different department than me so timelines are different, they are definitely just rolling out so do not worry 🙂 I have total faith in you!!
 
Hi, I've been meaning to post my stats, but had this idea it might be a jinx of some sort as I keep waiting. Now, I am so excited about the opportunities I am so fortunately offered and absolutely believe it when the admissions say they look at your application holistically! Giving hope to prospective applicants!

Undergrad School: UCLA
Undergrad GPA/Major GPA: 2.77 (2.94 SOPHAS, they factored in cc courses I took post-grad)
Major/Minor: Psychology
GradGPA (if applicable):
Grad Studies (if applicable):
GRE (including date taken) or Other Test (if applicable): 157Q | 156V | 4.0 AW taken Oct 2016
Experience/Research (please, be brief):
-3 years (by matriculation) of FT work as RA/analyst in health service research (statistic group and community engagement program)
-2 years in clinic settings for kids with developmental delay or autism
-1.5 years in pediatric unit in hospital
-10 months Undergraduate RA at Center for Prodromal Studies
-8 month volunteer experience in Multiple Sclerosis Center

LOR: 1 undergraduate professor, 2 employer (faculty in public health research)

Special factors??? Learning sign language?

Interested in: Social and behavioral health, social determinants of health, community assessment and evaluation, program design, evaluation, and outcomes, stroke
Applied: UCLA (11/26), UC Berkeley (11/26), Harvard (11/26), Columbia (11/27), UW (12/27), BU (12/31), Emory (12/31), Yale (1/9), University of Pittsburgh (1/15)
Accepted: BU (2/2 + $), University of Pittsburgh (2/3), Emory (2/10), UW (2/17), Columbia (Waitlisted 2/9, Accepted 3/1 :soexcited:), Yale (3/17)
Rejected: Harvard (3/16), UC Berkeley (3/22)
Waitlisted: UCLA (3/8)
Attending: ?!?!


I aimed high and landed a spot in some pretty great programs and am so glad I did. I was feeling so hopeless because of my low GPA, but addressing it in your statements and having a clear goal to show that you're serious this time around is important.
The worst they can say is no, but turn that around and move on 😉
I'm excited to meet some of the people here at the admit days and in the field in the future! Please keep up the enthusiasm to improve our world! :banana:
 
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I know this is a pretty East Coast leaning thread so this won't apply to most however, I wanted to share my experience with U of Arizona thus far.

I applied to their online MPH program (health promotion track) back in November when I was submitting the rest of my applications even through their deadline is not until June or July. After I received my acceptance from UC Irvine I started to get antsy waiting to hear back from other schools. My deadline to accept UCI's offer is April 15th and as I scoured U of A's website for any sort of information on when I would hear back I saw that it stated decisions were sent out about 2 weeks after the deadline. Obviously, I'm not going to turn down UCI for a possible rejection so I emailed U of A to see if there was a possibility of getting a decision sooner. The email was first responded to by an automated message saying the admission counselor was on vacation and would return the following week. When she finally got back to me she stated that they would review the application once all materials were received and that if I let her know when that was done she would keep an eye out for my decision. This freaked me out and I double checked everything - transcripts, GRE scores, SOPHAS app, supplemental app, LOR's - all were submitted by Nov. 29th. I let her know that and then she never responded to my email (about two weeks ago)

Then today I received a call from another admissions counselor, Jeanine, who left me a kind of off putting voicemail asking me to call her back because she needed to know when my Bachelors would be complete. (I'm in my final semester of undergrad now, graduating in May.) I called her back to let her know and was asked numerous other questions including; what's your GPA, what is your major, what were your GRE scores, do you have work experience, etc. all things that are listed on my application in one form or another. Then she started to ask what other schools I applied to, what my top choice school was, and how likely I was to accept an admission offer from U of A should they offer me admission, all of which I found very odd.

She asked me if I had any questions for her and I told her about my email interaction with the other advisor and if she could give me a timeline on when I would receive a decision. She said, well you haven't completed your BA yet.... I was kind of dumbfounded by this. She then asked me if I expected a decision prior to graduation to which, still in shock, I responded yes, unless you don't offer conditional admission like all other schools.

The conversation ended with her letting me know that now that I talked to her and told her I was graduating in May she could pass my application along to the department to review and I should hear back in about a week. However, she said that the department can only recommend me to the Graduate Division and that they would not be reviewing my application for a formal offer until after I send them proof of my degree.

Soooo basically Arizona is off my list as I am thoroughly annoyed with them and could not imagine dealing with that for the entirety of a masters program.

Sorry for the super long post but it was just such an odd exchange that has been bothering me all day.
 
HelloSunshine110 said:
I know this is a pretty East Coast leaning thread so this won't apply to most however, I wanted to share my experience with U of Arizona thus far.

I applied to their online MPH program (health promotion track) back in November when I was submitting the rest of my applications even through their deadline is not until June or July. After I received my acceptance from UC Irvine I started to get antsy waiting to hear back from other schools. My deadline to accept UCI's offer is April 15th and as I scoured U of A's website for any sort of information on when I would hear back I saw that it stated decisions were sent out about 2 weeks after the deadline. Obviously, I'm not going to turn down UCI for a possible rejection so I emailed U of A to see if there was a possibility of getting a decision sooner. The email was first responded to by an automated message saying the admission counselor was on vacation and would return the following week. When she finally got back to me she stated that they would review the application once all materials were received and that if I let her know when that was done she would keep an eye out for my decision. This freaked me out and I double checked everything - transcripts, GRE scores, SOPHAS app, supplemental app, LOR's - all were submitted by Nov. 29th. I let her know that and then she never responded to my email (about two weeks ago)

Then today I received a call from another admissions counselor, Jeanine, who left me a kind of off putting voicemail asking me to call her back because she needed to know when my Bachelors would be complete. (I'm in my final semester of undergrad now, graduating in May.) I called her back to let her know and was asked numerous other questions including; what's your GPA, what is your major, what were your GRE scores, do you have work experience, etc. all things that are listed on my application in one form or another. Then she started to ask what other schools I applied to, what my top choice school was, and how likely I was to accept an admission offer from U of A should they offer me admission, all of which I found very odd.

She asked me if I had any questions for her and I told her about my email interaction with the other advisor and if she could give me a timeline on when I would receive a decision. She said, well you haven't completed your BA yet.... I was kind of dumbfounded by this. She then asked me if I expected a decision prior to graduation to which, still in shock, I responded yes, unless you don't offer conditional admission like all other schools.

The conversation ended with her letting me know that now that I talked to her and told her I was graduating in May she could pass my application along to the department to review and I should hear back in about a week. However, she said that the department can only recommend me to the Graduate Division and that they would not be reviewing my application for a formal offer until after I send them proof of my degree.

Soooo basically Arizona is off my list as I am thoroughly annoyed with them and could not imagine dealing with that for the entirety of a masters program.

Sorry for the super long post but it was just such an odd exchange that has been bothering me all day.
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That's so interesting to me! I applied there as well and have met with them a few times (granted, this is for the in-person MPH in Tucson), and they have been very responsive to questions and didn't seem phased by my talk about offers from other schools.

As I look through this thread, it strikes me that there are both good and bad interactions for most schools. I wonder why there is so much variance?
 
Has anyone heard from Harvard today? I know some decisions were released on Thursday last week, but they are known for usually releasing decisions on Fridays, right?
 
sokapheapluuh said:
That's so interesting to me! I applied there as well and have met with them a few times (granted, this is for the in-person MPH in Tucson), and they have been very responsive to questions and didn't seem phased by my talk about offers from other schools.

As I look through this thread, it strikes me that there are both good and bad interactions for most schools. I wonder why there is so much variance?
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I'm honestly so glad to hear that. I really do hope that my experiences with them are the exception and your's are more routine. I would have thought that seeing as they aren't really a top program, they would be more friendly and try to draw students in, rather than push them away.

I've definitely noticed the variation throughout this thread as well and it's certainly interesting. I guess it's, if nothing else, a good reminder that even admission reps and program coordinators are human. However, as someone who works with the public and spends a lot of time on the phone talking with people about important issues in their lives, I just can't justify my interactions with them.
 
HelloSunshine110 said:
I know this is a pretty East Coast leaning thread so this won't apply to most however, I wanted to share my experience with U of Arizona thus far.

I applied to their online MPH program (health promotion track) back in November when I was submitting the rest of my applications even through their deadline is not until June or July. After I received my acceptance from UC Irvine I started to get antsy waiting to hear back from other schools. My deadline to accept UCI's offer is April 15th and as I scoured U of A's website for any sort of information on when I would hear back I saw that it stated decisions were sent out about 2 weeks after the deadline. Obviously, I'm not going to turn down UCI for a possible rejection so I emailed U of A to see if there was a possibility of getting a decision sooner. The email was first responded to by an automated message saying the admission counselor was on vacation and would return the following week. When she finally got back to me she stated that they would review the application once all materials were received and that if I let her know when that was done she would keep an eye out for my decision. This freaked me out and I double checked everything - transcripts, GRE scores, SOPHAS app, supplemental app, LOR's - all were submitted by Nov. 29th. I let her know that and then she never responded to my email (about two weeks ago)

Then today I received a call from another admissions counselor, Jeanine, who left me a kind of off putting voicemail asking me to call her back because she needed to know when my Bachelors would be complete. (I'm in my final semester of undergrad now, graduating in May.) I called her back to let her know and was asked numerous other questions including; what's your GPA, what is your major, what were your GRE scores, do you have work experience, etc. all things that are listed on my application in one form or another. Then she started to ask what other schools I applied to, what my top choice school was, and how likely I was to accept an admission offer from U of A should they offer me admission, all of which I found very odd.

She asked me if I had any questions for her and I told her about my email interaction with the other advisor and if she could give me a timeline on when I would receive a decision. She said, well you haven't completed your BA yet.... I was kind of dumbfounded by this. She then asked me if I expected a decision prior to graduation to which, still in shock, I responded yes, unless you don't offer conditional admission like all other schools.

The conversation ended with her letting me know that now that I talked to her and told her I was graduating in May she could pass my application along to the department to review and I should hear back in about a week. However, she said that the department can only recommend me to the Graduate Division and that they would not be reviewing my application for a formal offer until after I send them proof of my degree.

Soooo basically Arizona is off my list as I am thoroughly annoyed with them and could not imagine dealing with that for the entirety of a masters program.

Sorry for the super long post but it was just such an odd exchange that has been bothering me all day.
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I wonder if there is a completely different set of staff that coordinate admissions for online programs. I get the feeling that many schools manage online programs rather differently than traditional programs. She was clearly not in touch with the traditional process for graduate school admissions. This does not send a good signal. I fully support your decision to avoid UoA.
 
Just got an interview invitation from Dartmouth! This is great, considering how late I applied (01/26/17). To those still waiting for responses, keep the faith. 🙂
 
MPHer234 said:
Anyone get rejected from Harvard? Timeline?
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Applied around 20th November,2016. Got admission decision around 12th February,2017...But my GRE scores had reached late sometime around 20th December,2016...HAd applied for MPH-45 credit in Health Policy
 
It would be really great if people who attended Columbia Accepted students day would post their reviews and opinions. I won't be able to attend so your inputs would be helpful! Thank you!
 
AshKoshBGosh said:
I heard back from all my schools so here are my stats again with updated acceptances and rejections.

Undergrad School: Towson University
Undergrad GPA/Major GPA: 3.5
Major/Minor: Health Care Management/Business Administration
GradGPA (if applicable): N/A
Grad Studies (if applicable): N/A
GRE (including date taken) or Other Test (if applicable): Some time in December...I didn't do well. 144/144/3.5 I did take a class and still didn't do well...I'm a bad tester honestly 🙁
Experience/Research (please, be brief): I had an internship at my hospital and then ended up working with them for a year. I was mainly just patient services (scheduling) but my manager had me do lots of other tasks like prior authorization and billing you name it. I've let and now I work for a health care management company where i assist in fraud investigation. Both jobs were full time.
I've had a lot of internships that were for non profits or wholesome organizations like providing housing for adults with disabilities.
I'm in a honors fraternity and we did countless hours of volunteering while i was in college. I was also inducted into two other honor socities.
LORs: I was lucky enough to get a letter from my advisor at school who also was my professor. I was very close to her and she knows how hard working I am. My other two letters came from my previous job, my manager and my director. They were both very supportive of my hopes to continue my education and they saw me as an asset to be placed in any position while I was there.
Interested in: Epidemiology. I really would like to learn about the racial disparities (specfically African Americans) between minorities and mental health care.
Special factors??? Clearly I am not very good at standardized tests. I focused on the fact that I have a great GPA, full time work experience and have gained a lot of skills, and wrote what i believe to be a great personal statement. I hope all of this may outweigh my low GRE scores.

Applied: e-submitted SOPHAS on 1/30 (hasn't been verified yet) JHU, GWU, and UMD
Accepted: George Washington University
Rejected: Johns Hopkins University and University of Maryland: College Park
Waitlisted: N/A

I have to say I'm very happy and even though it is my only acceptance I've started to love the idea of being a student at GW. I was accepted into their Epi program so I'm very excited to start in the fall! I'm a little hurt at UMD cause....huh? Idk lol. I thought it was weird. I'm over the top happy I got into GW! Although on this thread awhile ago someone said "GW will accept anyone with a pulse" take the negativity else where! I know its a good school right? Anyways! Best of luck to everyone and if you're going to GW I'll see you there.

:soexcited::soexcited::soexcited:
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I felt the same way about that post about GWU accepting anyone with a Pulse. I was a long shot anywhere and I am also beyond excited to get in there. I do hope its a good school though!!!
 
Is anyone else waitlisted at Emory? Or does anyone know anything about that process?
 
zoombini said:
Anyone else out there apply to Harvard's SM in Health Data Science? this waiting game is killin me
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holy cow, I'm in! Can't believe it, really excited. Haven't gotten the email notification, but saw the decision letter posted on the portal after today's 345th refresh of my.Harvard.edu. Best of luck to anyone else out there waiting to hear on their dream programs.
 
Columbia Visiting day:

1. Professors: seemed amazing, lots of transparency and career opportunities.
2. Current students: maybe I just got unlucky, but this was what I didn't like. One that I was speaking with had different research interests than me and made me seem like my department wouldn't be a fit. They also talked about personal negative opinions of the place where I went to undergrad and their relationship troubles. Was a bizarre experience to say the least.

I was strongly planning on attending columbia, but was disappointed with the discussions w students
 
G0t into Georgetown for the MS in Global Health program. 🙂
Also got an interview with the MS in Global Health program at UCSF.

Pretty sure I wanna go MPH rather than MS at this point, but will evaluate when I have heard back from all schools.
 
lam489 said:
Accepted to NYU with $24k - does anyone have any opinions about NYU vs. BU?

Thank you!
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Congratulations! Both are very good programs in great locations. In terms of brand name and career services office, both are on similar levels. For me, it would be a toss-up. I would send a few emails to current students of both schools to gauge their experiences, and visit both schools if it's possible. You really cannot go wrong with either choice.
 
Has anyone received any type of financial aid package or scholarship for UT Houston? I'm trying to get a feel for their scholarship timeline, I've contacted the financial aid office but they weren't too helpful.
 
Columbia visit day thoughts:

So I came into this super skeptical. I know a couple of people from my undergrad who went to Mailman for their MPHs who, though not unhappy per say, definitely don't jump to sing its praises. I had heard some negative things like there's no sense of community, it's hard to get ahold of professors, hard to get the classes you want, too big, etc. My experience was totally unexpected, and lovely. Everyone I spoke to - professors, other admitted student, current students, were friendly and amazingly accomplished and doing interesting work. Most meaningful to me was the following:
  • they really emphasized investment in the community and Columbia's relationship with the city, as well as the importance of making students aware of local issues concerning the university (i.e. gentrification, social justice).
  • they talked about a ton of initiatives that bring students out into the community and community members into the fold of columbia's resources and spaces.
  • the career office seems amazing.
  • the training seems rigorous in terms of the core, but also flexible and customizable
  • so resourced
Some concerns I still have
  • it's a big program. your cohort is likely to be over 100 students, and some of the core courses can be really huge
  • professors who provide academic advising can have 12+ advisees at a time. then again, some only have 1-2.
  • student housing is not guaranteed. this would not be an issue for me, but may be for others.
The sense I get is that this experience really is what you make of it. It's a big place, with a lot of moving parts, but you can find your people and make connections if you put yourself out there. It may be a poor fit for people who need/want some more hand-holding, smaller class sizes in the core, or to go to a place small enough that everyone knows each other.

Happy to answer questions!
 
Loved Columbia's Admit day, and was very impressed! I'll write more when I have a computer with me, but overall it was an informative day, and made me very excited about Mailman! Also, they did tip us off that all financial aid packages are supposed to be sent oit next week!! Hope that helps some of y'all, and I'll write more detailed thoughts of the day when I get back from NYC!
 
I've definitely been stalking this thread and while I'm certainly not a student doctor, I thought perhaps fellow MPH-bound nurses might find this useful.

Undergrad School: State University
Undergrad GPA/Major GPA: 3.66 (per SOPHAS)
Major/Minor: Nursing
GradGPA (if applicable): N/A
Grad Studies (if applicable): N/A
GRE (including date taken) or Other Test (if applicable): V: 164 Q: 153 A.W: 5.0 (taken in April 2016).
Experience/Research (please, be brief):
-Class secretary for three years
- School representative at the National Student Nurses Association Annual Convention
- Participated in Summer Public Health Scholars Program at the CDC and Columbia University.
- Interned with an EJ org during summer.

Interested in: Environmental Health
Applied: Yale, Columbia, Brown, NYU (1/13)
Accepted: Columbia (2/28 :roflcopter:), Brown (3/1 :bear:), Yale (3/6🙂)
Rejected:
Waitlisted:
 
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Columbia was my top choice, but I am not so sure after admitted students day. I had trouble getting questions answered, and so did other students that I talked to at lunch and on my tour. When we asked questions, we would often come across one of two issues. When questions were asked, it was not uncommon to have the presenter dance around the question, almost as if he/she did not want to commit to an answer. They would often slightly change the topic and answer a different question or provide a very vague answer. The second issue was that we would get completely different answers from different faculty members, students, or online materials. When I mentioned that I either read or heard a different answer previously, the faculty member would backtrack and not fully answer the question, displaying uncertainty in their answers rather than providing a solid answer. As I said, other students claimed to have similar experiences, and I noticed these issues over and over again while listening in on group sessions. Overall, it was very frustrating for me to leave with more questions than answers. Some aspects of admitted students day were great, but, for me, the bad outweighed the good. There were other organizational issues throughout the day, but the inability to answer fairly basic questions regarding the program was the major red flag for me. I was uncomfortable with the lack of consistency and clarification, and I am now starting to more seriously consider other options. From talking with other students, I am not alone in these feelings.
 
n3t said:
Columbia was my top choice, but I am not so sure after admitted students day. I had trouble getting questions answered, and so did other students that I talked to at lunch and on my tour. When we asked questions, we would often come across one of two issues. When questions were asked, it was not uncommon to have the presenter dance around the question, almost as if he/she did not want to commit to an answer. They would often slightly change the topic and answer a different question or provide a very vague answer. The second issue was that we would get completely different answers from different faculty members, students, or online materials. When I mentioned that I either read or heard a different answer previously, the faculty member would backtrack and not fully answer the question, displaying uncertainty in their answers rather than providing a solid answer. As I said, other students claimed to have similar experiences, and I noticed these issues over and over again while listening in on group sessions. Overall, it was very frustrating for me to leave with more questions than answers. Some aspects of admitted students day were great, but, for me, the bad outweighed the good. There were other organizational issues throughout the day, but the inability to answer fairly basic questions regarding the program was the major red flag for me. I was uncomfortable with the lack of consistency and clarification, and I am now starting to more seriously consider other options. From talking with other students, I am not alone in these feelings.
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If you don't mind me asking, what were some examples of those basic questions? Just curious!
 
Just heard from Harvard a few hours ago and have been admitted to their MPH for Health Management and Policy. Of course I'm elated. But I've noticed that the national ranking list for HC management programs does not include Harvard. This list ranks University of Michigan as number one. So does anyone have any insight on University of Michigan MHSA versus the MPH in HC management at Harvard? Thank you!
 
ellb39 said:
Columbia visit day thoughts:

So I came into this super skeptical. I know a couple of people from my undergrad who went to Mailman for their MPHs who, though not unhappy per say, definitely don't jump to sing its praises. I had heard some negative things like there's no sense of community, it's hard to get ahold of professors, hard to get the classes you want, too big, etc. My experience was totally unexpected, and lovely. Everyone I spoke to - professors, other admitted student, current students, were friendly and amazingly accomplished and doing interesting work. Most meaningful to me was the following:
  • they really emphasized investment in the community and Columbia's relationship with the city, as well as the importance of making students aware of local issues concerning the university (i.e. gentrification, social justice).
  • they talked about a ton of initiatives that bring students out into the community and community members into the fold of columbia's resources and spaces.
  • the career office seems amazing.
  • the training seems rigorous in terms of the core, but also flexible and customizable
  • so resourced
Some concerns I still have
  • it's a big program. your cohort is likely to be over 100 students, and some of the core courses can be really huge
  • professors who provide academic advising can have 12+ advisees at a time. then again, some only have 1-2.
  • student housing is not guaranteed. this would not be an issue for me, but may be for others.
The sense I get is that this experience really is what you make of it. It's a big place, with a lot of moving parts, but you can find your people and make connections if you put yourself out there. It may be a poor fit for people who need/want some more hand-holding, smaller class sizes in the core, or to go to a place small enough that everyone knows each other.

Happy to answer questions!
Click to expand...
Hi, thank you for your observations! Could you please talk about the flexibility of core and how is it customizable? Also, were any statistics presented with regards to job opportunities? Thanks!
 
sloth17 said:
If you don't mind me asking, what were some examples of those basic questions? Just curious!
Click to expand...

Hey, I had the same feeling. My questions for current students especially didn't get answered: I kept asking about the orientation of the department, in terms of research focus as well as after graduation, and she answered flat out wrong. I then contacted some professors, who answered the questions amazingly.

My opinion: columbia will be what you make of it. For me, it's a reasonable choice because I'm already in NYC, don't want to move, and want somewhere that gives a decent education in what I want to do.
 
mph_admsn17 said:
Hi, thank you for your observations! Could you please talk about the flexibility of core and how is it customizable? Also, were any statistics presented with regards to job opportunities? Thanks!
Click to expand...

(1) Sorry if I was unclear in my commentary. The curriculum overall presently a lot of opportunity for customization. This is along with the foundational rigor of the core, which in and of itself was not customizable. All MPH students, regardless of department, take the core in their first semester in its entirety.

(2) Around 93% of graduates are employed within 6 months after graduating, and many have job offers prior to graduating. A small percent continue on to further education, a smaller percentage are not actively looking for work, and around 2% are seeking work.
 
I think there's at least one other person on this thread who applied to BU's MS in Epi- I got my official acceptance letter and scholarship (not enough for me to consider attending, but still nice they offered!). Just thought I'd let you know it's probably coming soon for you/check your mail! 🙂
 
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