MPH Fall 2018: Applied, Accepted, Waitlisted, Rejected!

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MidnightCafe said:
Got an email from Brown and got all excited. Only to see that it says that my application is "completed" even though I applied and got everything in 2 months ago. haha The wait is killing me.
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I’m waiting for Brown too! I looked at last years forum and most people didn’t hear back until end of February
 
Cassatrass said:
I emailed the associate director for my Emory program asking for an updated timeline and was told that I've been admitted! She said that official decisions will be rendered in OPUS later this week for most people. 🙂
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Do you see your decision on OPUS now? The wait is killing me-- going on almost 8 weeks 🙁
 
grapesandstrawberries said:
Not your fault. When I emailed them this week they said it'll be another week or two!! I think I'm just going to stop checking OPUS for now lol
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I snooped around last year’s thread and it sounds like there were some issues with Emory’s communication. But a bunch of people were accepted at the very end of January, so fingers crossed!
 
Lady MacBeth said:
I snooped around last year’s thread and it sounds like there were some issues with Emory’s communication. But a bunch of people were accepted at the very end of January, so fingers crossed!
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Haha I guess I should stop checking OPUS every half hour then! The anxiety is building every passing day. lol What porgram did you apply to?
 
JDGBruin1317 said:
Haha I guess I should stop checking OPUS every half hour then! The anxiety is building every passing day. lol What porgram did you apply to?
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I mean it hasn’t stopped me checking opus constantly. I applied to epi with bshe as my second choice. You?
 
Lady MacBeth said:
I mean it hasn’t stopped me checking opus constantly. I applied to epi with bshe as my second choice. You?
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I applied to HPM, with BSHE and Global epi as my second and third choices. I wonder if it's possible for OPUS to be updated over the weekend or if it operates only during weekdays? lol
 
JDGBruin1317 said:
I applied to HPM, with BSHE and Global epi as my second and third choices. I wonder if it's possible for OPUS to be updated over the weekend or if it operates only during weekdays? lol
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If I remember correctly some people heard back on a Sunday last year, so it must be updated over weekends
 
greentruck said:
Has anybody heard back from USC or UCLA Epi yet? The wait's killing me, haha
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I applied to both of those and haven't heard back yet! I haven't seen anyone on the forum say they got into either of those places for Epi (a couple people have posted about UCLA HPM). Wait is killing me too, if I get into UCLA I'm almost positive that's where I'm going.
 
Looking for any input on how important concentrations will be in regards to job hunting.

I am debating between global health (accepted to GWU, Tulane) and community/behavioral health (accepted to UMN, Pitt, BU, Drexel). I have interests international health and work abroad but I don't know if a concentration in community health would be more marketable if looking for a job in the US, knowing that it is likely more difficult to find a career in global health post graduation.
 
Sunflowerz said:
Yes! I was recently admitted to LSHTM for the MSc control of infectious disease. I’ve talked to many alumni of the school and talked with global health professors from my university about it, and general consensus is LSHTM is amazing and a really great opportunity because it’s a world renowned, niche global health school.
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You can add me to the list of people interested in LSHTM! I applied but my application is still incomplete cause I guess my transcripts haven't made it across the pond yet. I applied for Public Health for Development and skyped with an American girl before applying to make sure it would be worthwhile. Acceptances are rolling in for me but none of them have had any scholarships so now I'm especially leaning towards LSHTM because of cost.
 
Hey guys! I know it's way too early to be fretting about this, but the cost vs prestige debate is really stressing me out. My parents called me Friday night and basically told me that they thought it'd be ridiculous to turn down an ivy league school because of finances and that I should suck it up and take out loans. My boss said a very similar thing last week. I can understand if it's the difference between some unknown school in the middle of nowhere and Yale/Columbia, but for me it'll likely come down to NYU vs. an ivy since NYU's scholarship offer is fantastic. I also really like their program, which I think all the aforementioned people think is just me rationalizing "settling" to myself. Now I feel like I'll disappoint many of the important people in my life if I choose certain programs-- which is a really unnecessary stressor.

My husband is planning to attend law school after my program, so finances are VERY important unless we want to be bogged down in hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. Neither of our parents are contributing anything to our graduate education.

Also-- I haven't even heard back from all my schools/scholarships!!!! It seems WAYY too early for people to be projecting these types of expectations. Ugh.

Not sure what I'm hoping to get out of this, but if anyone else is dealing with high expectations from family/work/friends, know you're not alone!
 
kcarlson518 said:
You can add me to the list of people interested in LSHTM! I applied but my application is still incomplete cause I guess my transcripts haven't made it across the pond yet. I applied for Public Health for Development and skyped with an American girl before applying to make sure it would be worthwhile. Acceptances are rolling in for me but none of them have had any scholarships so now I'm especially leaning towards LSHTM because of cost.
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Happy to hear there are others interested 🙂 I bet they will sort out your transcript situation soon! I haven’t heard about financial aid from schools in the states yet, but LSHTM being only a 1 year program and a lot less tuition wise than states schools I applied to is a huge factor for me.
 
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Cassatrass said:
Hey guys! I know it's way too early to be fretting about this, but the cost vs prestige debate is really stressing me out. My parents called me Friday night and basically told me that they thought it'd be ridiculous to turn down an ivy league school because of finances and that I should suck it up and take out loans. My boss said a very similar thing last week. I can understand if it's the difference between some unknown school in the middle of nowhere and Yale/Columbia, but for me it'll likely come down to NYU vs. an ivy since NYU's scholarship offer is fantastic. I also really like their program, which I think all the aforementioned people think is just me rationalizing "settling" to myself. Now I feel like I'll disappoint many of the important people in my life if I choose certain programs-- which is a really unnecessary stressor.

My husband is planning to attend law school after my program, so finances are VERY important unless we want to be bogged down in hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. Neither of our parents are contributing anything to our graduate education.

Also-- I haven't even heard back from all my schools/scholarships!!!! It seems WAYY too early for people to be projecting these types of expectations. Ugh.

Not sure what I'm hoping to get out of this, but if anyone else is dealing with high expectations from family/work/friends, know you're not alone!
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If neither of your parents are contributing to your education, you should definitely consider options between you and your husband. I know it's hard to ignore what your parents want, my parents are the same way. I went to a pretty well known public university in my region but they were still disappointed that I didn't go to Harvard or Stanford. Lol.

I think when it comes to graduate education we should consider the finances, especially in the field of Public Health. Most public health professions don't make even close to what MDs or dentists make. Also, if you have a partner that is planning to pursue education, you guys should definitely plan it out accordingly. My boyfriend is interviewing for medical schools right now and we have talked about this over and over.

I told my dad the other day that I would choose UW over Harvard and he called me crazy. I'm sure a lot of people would call me crazy about this but I would get in state tuition, possible fellowship that I applied for and I get to be with my family and friends! Also I think UW is great, not biased at all. I think it just comes down to one's priorities in selecting a school, not many people (especially outside of grad school programs) understand that money is a big factor. Best of luck to both of us and everyone else that's on the same boat!!
 
Cassatrass said:
Hey guys! I know it's way too early to be fretting about this, but the cost vs prestige debate is really stressing me out. My parents called me Friday night and basically told me that they thought it'd be ridiculous to turn down an ivy league school because of finances and that I should suck it up and take out loans. My boss said a very similar thing last week. I can understand if it's the difference between some unknown school in the middle of nowhere and Yale/Columbia, but for me it'll likely come down to NYU vs. an ivy since NYU's scholarship offer is fantastic. I also really like their program, which I think all the aforementioned people think is just me rationalizing "settling" to myself. Now I feel like I'll disappoint many of the important people in my life if I choose certain programs-- which is a really unnecessary stressor.

My husband is planning to attend law school after my program, so finances are VERY important unless we want to be bogged down in hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. Neither of our parents are contributing anything to our graduate education.

Also-- I haven't even heard back from all my schools/scholarships!!!! It seems WAYY too early for people to be projecting these types of expectations. Ugh.

Not sure what I'm hoping to get out of this, but if anyone else is dealing with high expectations from family/work/friends, know you're not alone!
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Absolutely, the pressure of prestige vs. finances I think is something a lot of people here are grappling with!

I have heard some advice on here that you should choose the CEPH-accredited school that gets you out for the least amount of money. I think that's oversimplifying a bit, but definitely on the right track. There are SO many factors that need to go into these decisions: program-fit, cost of attendance, job placement rates, are alumni doing what you want to be doing eventually, expected income, geography, connections, ongoing research, practicum placements etc. etc.... rankings or "names" should be pretty close to the bottom of that long list in my opinion. Now obviously sometimes the name-brand school can check more of those boxes than another cheaper school, but not necessarily.

It needs to come down to what is best for you and your husband and your goals as a couple, not what your parents or bosses think or want. I understand the difficulty in that and am certainly dealing with those expectations myself. To help with that, I keep looking at what each increment of $5-10k in debt means for my cash-flow after graduation. My husband and I are still dealing with debt from undergrad and it is a tremendous burden for our monthly finances. My parents and bosses will not be paying that. I am taking out loans and going back to school to make a career change to achieve specific goals, so my decision process will be biased toward which school can help achieve my goals with the least amount of debt.

These are such complicated decisions and need a lot of inputs to come up with the "best" answer for you, but there won't be an absolute "right" answer. Don't start stressing until you have all the inputs for your decision (I know, easier said than done!). Start applying for external funding now and set debt tolerance thresholds that you and your husband are comfortable with.

I can definitely commiserate, but that's how I'm attempting to approach this huge life decision! 🙂
 
@grapesandstrawberries and @skcolley Thanks for commiserating with me. I know that it's totally up to us, but it's so hard to feel excited while I also feel like I'm disappointing important people. I also wish this could have at least waited until I had all the information-- it's as if they don't think I'm already stressing about this 24/7! :bang:

I told my husband that if I end up doing a Ph.D., I'm only telling him & recommenders where I apply until I make a final decision. :ninja:
 
Cassatrass said:
I told my husband that if I end up doing a Ph.D., I'm only telling him & recommenders where I apply until I make a final decision. :ninja:
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YES! I love that! I wish I had done the same this time around! I soon as I told my family/reccomenders where I had applied, it was chaos. Oh well, hang in there! This is why we have these boards, to commiserate together! :dead:
 
Cassatrass said:
@grapesandstrawberries and @skcolley Thanks for commiserating with me. I know that it's totally up to us, but it's so hard to feel excited while I also feel like I'm disappointing important people. I also wish this could have at least waited until I had all the information-- it's as if they don't think I'm already stressing about this 24/7! :bang:

I told my husband that if I end up doing a Ph.D., I'm only telling him & recommenders where I apply until I make a final decision. :ninja:
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Literally me right now. 🙁
 
Cassatrass said:
Hey guys! I know it's way too early to be fretting about this, but the cost vs prestige debate is really stressing me out. My parents called me Friday night and basically told me that they thought it'd be ridiculous to turn down an ivy league school because of finances and that I should suck it up and take out loans. My boss said a very similar thing last week. I can understand if it's the difference between some unknown school in the middle of nowhere and Yale/Columbia, but for me it'll likely come down to NYU vs. an ivy since NYU's scholarship offer is fantastic. I also really like their program, which I think all the aforementioned people think is just me rationalizing "settling" to myself. Now I feel like I'll disappoint many of the important people in my life if I choose certain programs-- which is a really unnecessary stressor.

My husband is planning to attend law school after my program, so finances are VERY important unless we want to be bogged down in hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. Neither of our parents are contributing anything to our graduate education.

Also-- I haven't even heard back from all my schools/scholarships!!!! It seems WAYY too early for people to be projecting these types of expectations. Ugh.

Not sure what I'm hoping to get out of this, but if anyone else is dealing with high expectations from family/work/friends, know you're not alone!
Click to expand...

Not to be disrespectful, but a lot of parents are completely out of touch when it comes to student debt. Our reality is very different to their reality. Our parents didn't live in the world of 6 figure student debt....they don't understand how crippling that kind of debt can be. I went to a top 10 private for undergrad. I know people who went to the same school for MPH (top 5 program)....they still can't crack $60K salary. Honestly, go with the cheaper school. If you still have that itch to get a prestigious name on resume, work your butt off and do a fully funded PhD at a prestigious school.
 
I'm not gonna throw all my cents in on the prestige vs. cost debate because I think others covered it pretty well, but two other points to consider:

(1) People outside of public health don't always have a great idea about what it is, even if they are also highly educated, successful, or in the medical field. Taking advice from parents, bosses, or even career counselors who may be seeing "health" and thinking "doctor's salary" or seeing Ivy League and thinking "future shoe-in for highly paid prestigious job" may not be the best idea. Also, some schools that sound really prestigious to those outside of public health aren't hot names in the field, and vis versa. I would prioritize advice from people in public health. From my experience, the public health field is very supportive and honest. I had a professor at one of the schools I visited say to me, "Do not come here unless it is your best financial decision." It is not worth getting into deep debt for an MPH.

(2) Wait until the scholarship dollars come in before you panic. People can and do get sizable scholarships from places like Yale, Columbia, Harvard, and JHU, and those might actually make the prestigious schools more affordable than places that have a lower initial tuition cost. If finances are a major concern for you, try not to get very disappointed or excited about any particular school until you have all the information about your acceptance(s).
 
Cassatrass said:
Hey guys! I know it's way too early to be fretting about this, but the cost vs prestige debate is really stressing me out. My parents called me Friday night and basically told me that they thought it'd be ridiculous to turn down an ivy league school because of finances and that I should suck it up and take out loans. My boss said a very similar thing last week. I can understand if it's the difference between some unknown school in the middle of nowhere and Yale/Columbia, but for me it'll likely come down to NYU vs. an ivy since NYU's scholarship offer is fantastic. I also really like their program, which I think all the aforementioned people think is just me rationalizing "settling" to myself. Now I feel like I'll disappoint many of the important people in my life if I choose certain programs-- which is a really unnecessary stressor.

My husband is planning to attend law school after my program, so finances are VERY important unless we want to be bogged down in hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. Neither of our parents are contributing anything to our graduate education.

Also-- I haven't even heard back from all my schools/scholarships!!!! It seems WAYY too early for people to be projecting these types of expectations. Ugh.

Not sure what I'm hoping to get out of this, but if anyone else is dealing with high expectations from family/work/friends, know you're not alone!
Click to expand...
I'm having similar stresses, except in the other direction. My parents aren't putting enormous pressure on me or anything, but they don't want me to go into a lot of debt. I also don't want to go into crushing debt, and I normally would choose the most practical of my options. The problem is that I have seasonal affective disorder (also known as seasonal depression), which means that long, dark winters are bad for my mental health. So going to Emory would be a lot better for my mental health than going to Pitt or Michigan. But I don't know how much of a price tag to put on that. Like, if going somewhere further north is going to save me $10,000, should I do it? What about $50,000? Everyone I've talked to about it says "it's only two years," so I should suck it up and do what's cheaper. But I just don't know.

That said, it's not an issue yet. I don't even know if I'm in at Emory yet, let alone if it would be more expensive than the northern schools. It's still stressing me out though.
 
Cassatrass said:
Hey guys! I know it's way too early to be fretting about this, but the cost vs prestige debate is really stressing me out. My parents called me Friday night and basically told me that they thought it'd be ridiculous to turn down an ivy league school because of finances and that I should suck it up and take out loans. My boss said a very similar thing last week. I can understand if it's the difference between some unknown school in the middle of nowhere and Yale/Columbia, but for me it'll likely come down to NYU vs. an ivy since NYU's scholarship offer is fantastic. I also really like their program, which I think all the aforementioned people think is just me rationalizing "settling" to myself. Now I feel like I'll disappoint many of the important people in my life if I choose certain programs-- which is a really unnecessary stressor.

My husband is planning to attend law school after my program, so finances are VERY important unless we want to be bogged down in hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. Neither of our parents are contributing anything to our graduate education.

Also-- I haven't even heard back from all my schools/scholarships!!!! It seems WAYY too early for people to be projecting these types of expectations. Ugh.

Not sure what I'm hoping to get out of this, but if anyone else is dealing with high expectations from family/work/friends, know you're not alone!
Click to expand...

I am a resident physician, former pharmacist, with an MBA hoping to get into hospital executive positions. I have a different take on this, but came up with the same conclusion.

If you whole career will be in public health, NYU vs. Yale/Columbia probably doesn't matter. However, if you're jumping to a different field, or if your job consist of upper management that are not all in public health (especially if they have an MBA), then it may matter much more than you'd think. Most people will tell you prestige doesn't matter, but when they look at applications, often the first thing they mention is what school you went to. For managers that are not in public health, Yale or Columbia does sound better than NYU. It probably will matter in this case, but it's impossible to determine exactly how much, because experience trumps everything.

Linked-In actually did a study with 459,000 applicants over which attributes led to executive positions. The take away? Experience in different departments/job settings, length of work experience (20 > 15 > 10), top MBA school, top undergraduate, where you live (NYC/LA > DC/Houston), all were major factors in getting the positions.

With that said, going to NYU over Yale/Columbia will slightly decrease your job prospects for some positions. However, as you gain more experience, the less the name matters. If your finances are very important in this case, I'd stick with NYU and forget about Yale/Columbia.
 
Not sure if anyone applied to Harvard's hybrid MPH EPI program. I was told that we can expect a decision in late Feb/early March, but my decision came in this week. Good luck to everyone this cycle!
 
Ebb55 said:
Not to be disrespectful, but a lot of parents are completely out of touch when it comes to student debt. Our reality is very different to their reality. Our parents didn't live in the world of 6 figure student debt....they don't understand how crippling that kind of debt can be. I went to a top 10 private for undergrad. I know people who went to the same school for MPH (top 5 program)....they still can't crack $60K salary. Honestly, go with the cheaper school. If you still have that itch to get a prestigious name on resume, work your butt off and do a fully funded PhD at a prestigious school.
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No disrespect taken-- I totally agree. My parents took out loans for my mom's med school and are still paying them off-- but imagine doing that on a PH salary! (Obviously likely higher for law, but mine is the only guaranteed career right now)
 
wwmmkk said:
I'm not gonna throw all my cents in on the prestige vs. cost debate because I think others covered it pretty well, but two other points to consider:

(1) People outside of public health don't always have a great idea about what it is, even if they are also highly educated, successful, or in the medical field. Taking advice from parents, bosses, or even career counselors who may be seeing "health" and thinking "doctor's salary" or seeing Ivy League and thinking "future shoe-in for highly paid prestigious job" may not be the best idea. Also, some schools that sound really prestigious to those outside of public health aren't hot names in the field, and vis versa. I would prioritize advice from people in public health. From my experience, the public health field is very supportive and honest. I had a professor at one of the schools I visited say to me, "Do not come here unless it is your best financial decision." It is not worth getting into deep debt for an MPH.

(2) Wait until the scholarship dollars come in before you panic. People can and do get sizable scholarships from places like Yale, Columbia, Harvard, and JHU, and those might actually make the prestigious schools more affordable than places that have a lower initial tuition cost. If finances are a major concern for you, try not to get very disappointed or excited about any particular school until you have all the information about your acceptance(s).
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I'm definitely taking all of this into consideration, but it's frustrating that the people around me don't get it. I'm going to try to stress less for the next couple months though-- but that seems unlikely haha
 
Got Em said:
I am a resident physician, former pharmacist, with an MBA hoping to get into hospital executive positions. I have a different take on this, but came up with the same conclusion.

If you whole career will be in public health, NYU vs. Yale/Columbia probably doesn't matter. However, if you're jumping to a different field, or if your job consist of upper management that are not all in public health (especially if they have an MBA), then it may matter much more than you'd think. Most people will tell you prestige doesn't matter, but when they look at applications, often the first thing they mention is what school you went to. For managers that are not in public health, Yale or Columbia does sound better than NYU. It probably will matter in this case, but it's impossible to determine exactly how much, because experience trumps everything.

Linked-In actually did a study with 459,000 applicants over which attributes led to executive positions. The take away? Experience in different departments/job settings, length of work experience (20 > 15 > 10), top MBA school, top undergraduate, where you live (NYC/LA > DC/Houston), all were major factors in getting the positions.

With that said, going to NYU over Yale/Columbia will slightly decrease your job prospects for some positions. However, as you gain more experience, the less the name matters. If your finances are very important in this case, I'd stick with NYU and forget about Yale/Columbia.
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Most definitely. I think this was the rationale behind my parent's argument. Thanks for the different viewpoint! All important things to consider. We shall see what happens over the next couple months!
 
How long did it take for that financial aid application on your to-do list in opus (EMORY) to clear. I submitted my fafsa on New Years Day and listed Emory as my school but they've just send me a second notice that my student aid report is missing. I'm getting worried.
 
MidnightCafe said:
How long did it take for that financial aid application on your to-do list in opus (EMORY) to clear. I submitted my fafsa on New Years Day and listed Emory as my school but they've just send me a second notice that my student aid report is missing. I'm getting worried.
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Did you give them your SSN? I believe they use it to match your app with your FAFSA. Should have been done in SOPHAS I believe.
 
Does anyone know what the process would be to defer a year in order to work a bit to fund my MPH since I'll be coming straight out of undergrad? Do programs usually allow this?
 
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