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

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Does anyone know if it's possible to switch to the Epi MSPH program after already being admitted to the Epi MPH program at Emory? It's only like a 3 class difference so I'd hope it wouldn't be too difficult.
 
Yes! If there is a universal deadline for accepting admissions offers (Apr. 15), then it only seems fair there is a universal deadline for schools to notify students of offers/financial aid (and it should be with ample time to book travel to visit days!)
Exactly! I don't know why there isn't a deadline for the schools to notify students. A lot of people hold out until the finaincial aide packages anyways, and the admitted student days should be extended to give people enough time to decide where to go.
Does anyone know if it's possible to switch to the Epi MSPH program after already being admitted to the Epi MPH program at Emory? It's only like a 3 class difference so I'd hope it wouldn't be too difficult.
You should try emailing both departments (not sure if MSPH and MPH Epi are in the same departments because one is heavily researched based) about a transfer. The earlier the better 🙂
 
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Does anyone know how realistic it would be to work part time, at a low stress/commitment job, while attending school full time? I can stay on at my current FT job working less hours and still get the tuition reimbursement. I'm no stranger to 12 hour days and am willing to sacrifice my social life, I just want to make sure I wouldn't crash and burn.
I am an MPH student at Yale. I am working in a part time job, and so are many of my peers. What I highly recommend doing is reaching out to professors and faculty about paid part time jobs in the field. I work in a position that relates to what I want to do when I graduate with my MPH. I justify the added stress and lack of time by knowing I am 1) making money and 2) setting myself to be more competitive for jobs in my field after graduation. I will say I am definitely more stressed and more tired than my friends who are not working who seem to have lots of free time, but it is definitely manageable if your employer is flexible and you have good time management. I would not necessarily recommend taking time away from your studies for a job out of the field, but if you can find a job related to public health, then a little less time spent on studying and school work may be worth the work experience. If you think your current job would be beneficial, then,, in my opinion, it is not impossible to manage.
 
I am an MPH student at Yale. I am working in a part time job, and so are many of my peers. What I highly recommend doing is reaching out to professors and faculty about paid part time jobs in the field. I work in a position that relates to what I want to do when I graduate with my MPH. I justify the added stress and lack of time by knowing I am 1) making money and 2) setting myself to be more competitive for jobs in my field after graduation. I will say I am definitely more stressed and more tired than my friends who are not working who seem to have lots of free time, but it is definitely manageable if your employer is flexible and you have good time management. I would not necessarily recommend taking time away from your studies for a job out of the field, but if you can find a job related to public health, then a little less time spent on studying and school work may be worth the work experience. If you think your current job would be beneficial, then,, in my opinion, it is not impossible to manage.
This is very good advice. This is something I wish I could have done during undergrad instead of working at grocery stores and restaurants. Is it common for professors to offer paid research assistant positions to grad students? I'm hoping to obtain a paid research assistant position while going to school, however I'm worried that my little experience in research will be an obstacle.
 
Does anyone have any insight on Emory Global Health Epi vs. Michigan Global Health Epi with regards to strength of program, reputation, accessibility of faculty, etc? Also go ahead and ignore the CDC tie, I know that is what Emory tends to push forward as a major pro of their program so I am looking for things beyond that. Thanks!

These are the two I'm deciding between so while I don't have an answer, I'm going to tag myself in if anyone does! I'll most likely end up going to Michigan though since it's cheaper for me.
 
Does anyone know how realistic it would be to work part time, at a low stress/commitment job, while attending school full time? I can stay on at my current FT job working less hours and still get the tuition reimbursement. I'm no stranger to 12 hour days and am willing to sacrifice my social life, I just want to make sure I wouldn't crash and burn.
I actually just asked a student at Columbia this, since they explicitly advise against working your first semester. She told me probably half of her class worked that first semester, and I assume even more worked after. Personally, I can't make grad school happen unless I'm working (at least) part time, and I think that's true for lots of us. Plus tuition reimbursement is a huge get even with a full time job, so I would definitely not pass that up.
 
Hello all!! Has anybody heard back from UMD MPH (Epi) yet?? I submitted my apps way back in November and everything was verified around that time too! I’ve been looking through this blog but not that many people applied to UMD so I’m not sure if others are on the same boat as me!
 
This is very good advice. This is something I wish I could have done during undergrad instead of working at grocery stores and restaurants. Is it common for professors to offer paid research assistant positions to grad students? I'm hoping to obtain a paid research assistant position while going to school, however I'm worried that my little experience in research will be an obstacle.

I would say this varies by school. At a school that has a lot of PhD or MS students, for example, it might be harder to get a RA position as an incoming MPH student since students with research experience (and research requirements for their programs) are likely to be prioritized. It also depends on the scope of your research interest-- if there's only 1-2 professors doing work you're interested in, that's obviously going to be more difficult to work out than if there are 5+ you're interested in. Personally, I came in with no experience and a very narrow interest, and I'm sure this played into my lack of luck in finding an RA position last semester. But (fingers crossed) I will soon have one for this semester, which I was offered based on my performance in the researcher's course last semester. Also (and this will vary by school/location, obviously) this position will basically only cover my rent + utilities; it is not going to make up the whole cost of living gap.
 
I actually just asked a student at Columbia this, since they explicitly advise against working your first semester. She told me probably half of her class worked that first semester, and I assume even more worked after. Personally, I can't make grad school happen unless I'm working (at least) part time, and I think that's true for lots of us. Plus tuition reimbursement is a huge get even with a full time job, so I would definitely not pass that up.

I think that’s unique to Columbia. It’s because of the Core Curriculum (to mimick their undergraduate experience), which can be quite stressful (although enriching). You’d be “taking” 20-something seminar/courses with your peers to have a baseline understanding of public health.
 
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I think that’s unique to Columbia. It’s because of the Common Curriculum (to mimick their undergraduate experience), which can be quite stressful (although enriching). You’d be “taking” 20-something seminar/courses with your peers to have a baseline understanding of public health.
Right! My point was even with Columbia's intense core, half of the students were working as well.
 
Is it advisable to email a specific professor after you have submitted an application but before you've heard back from the program with a decision?
 
Hello all!! Has anybody heard back from UMD MPH (Epi) yet?? I submitted my apps way back in November and everything was verified around that time too! I’ve been looking through this blog but not that many people applied to UMD so I’m not sure if others are on the same boat as me!
UMD as in the University of Maryland? I heard back from them a few weeks ago, I think on the 19th of January. It wasn't an official acceptance though, it was a letter saying I was recommended for admission, conditional on my taking Biostatistics between now and matriculation - you may not fall under that umbrella!
 
UMD as in the University of Maryland? I heard back from them a few weeks ago, I think on the 19th of January. It wasn't an official acceptance though, it was a letter saying I was recommended for admission, conditional on my taking Biostatistics between now and matriculation - you may not fall under that umbrella!
Yes UMD as in University of Maryland! I applied for the MPH-EPI but I haven’t heard back at all. The last email I received was in Dec. saying that my application is under review now and will take aprox. 4-6 weeks to review by the Epi dept.
 
Yes UMD as in University of Maryland! I applied for the MPH-EPI but I haven’t heard back at all. The last email I received was in Dec. saying that my application is under review now and will take aprox. 4-6 weeks to review by the Epi dept.
I also heard back from UMD on 1/15 (my app was sent in on 12/15, my supplemental was completed first week of January). The e-mail began, "On behalf of the Department of Behavioral and Community Health, I am pleased to inform you that we have recommended to the UMD Graduate School that you be admitted to the MPH program in Behavioral and Community Health for Fall 2018."

I have no idea about Epi though - maybe they haven't made decisions yet.

Like sploosh, I would also need to take the Biostat prerequisite...which in and of itself is making me lean away from UMD.
 
If one more person gets into Hopkins and I don't hear anything, my head is going to explode. Like literally explode, not just metaphorically.

i feel like my portal is permanently on "Currently, your application is Application Sent for Review."
DRIVING ME INSANE, especially since I submitted back in November........
 
Does anyone know how hard it is to get assistantships at Emory? I emailed my financial aid advisor and she just told me to talk to admissions. I haven't heard back from them yet.
 
I am an MPH student at Yale. I am working in a part time job, and so are many of my peers. What I highly recommend doing is reaching out to professors and faculty about paid part time jobs in the field. I work in a position that relates to what I want to do when I graduate with my MPH. I justify the added stress and lack of time by knowing I am 1) making money and 2) setting myself to be more competitive for jobs in my field after graduation. I will say I am definitely more stressed and more tired than my friends who are not working who seem to have lots of free time, but it is definitely manageable if your employer is flexible and you have good time management. I would not necessarily recommend taking time away from your studies for a job out of the field, but if you can find a job related to public health, then a little less time spent on studying and school work may be worth the work experience. If you think your current job would be beneficial, then,, in my opinion, it is not impossible to manage.

I am getting an MPH epi and am deciding between Columbia and Yale or my in-state school. After graduation I want to get an MD because I want to do clinical research. Do you think having less debt from my instate school would be more advantageous than going to Columbia or Yale which are both great schools and have faculty doing research in what I want to do? I know this is a hard question but I am really trying to decide between debt or prestige/opportunity. Thanks for any guidance.
 
Does anyone know how hard it is to get assistantships at Emory? I emailed my financial aid advisor and she just told me to talk to admissions. I haven't heard back from them yet.
What kind of assistantships? Are those teaching assistants?
 
Hello all!! Has anybody heard back from UMD MPH (Epi) yet?? I submitted my apps way back in November and everything was verified around that time too! I’ve been looking through this blog but not that many people applied to UMD so I’m not sure if others are on the same boat as me!

I've heard back twice. The first time I was given a conditional acceptance since they said I didn't meet their requirements for the statistics course. Recently, they sent me an email that said that they reviewed my app again and that I have been fully accepted since I did take a statistics course.
 
I am getting an MPH epi and am deciding between Columbia and Yale or my in-state school. After graduation I want to get an MD because I want to do clinical research. Do you think having less debt from my instate school would be more advantageous than going to Columbia or Yale which are both great schools and have faculty doing research in what I want to do? I know this is a hard question but I am really trying to decide between debt or prestige/opportunity. Thanks for any guidance.

I’m in the exact same position! Yale’s EMD program is exactly what I want, and I am considering an MD, if not a PhD. I’m so stressed cause I have no idea what to do.
 
Teaching assistant or research assistant

I have the exact same question. I was going to wait until Visit Day and see who would be the best to speak with in person but if you find out before then let us know! And vice versa.
Also having the most frustrating time communicating with Emory. It's a shame because otherwise the school seems amazing.
 
I have the exact same question. I was going to wait until Visit Day and see who would be the best to speak with in person but if you find out before then let us know! And vice versa.
Also having the most frustrating time communicating with Emory. It's a shame because otherwise the school seems amazing.

I know! Emory has really been lacking in communication, it sucks because if I could get the answers I need from them it would make choosing a school that much easier.

I’m in the exact same position! Yale’s EMD program is exactly what I want, and I am considering an MD, if not a PhD. I’m so stressed cause I have no idea what to do.

I also am heavily interested in Yale's EMD program. Are you planning on going to the open house?
 
I went through all the Harvard acceptances from 2016 and 2017 and it looks like there were two massive waves of decisions that came out (both years were pretty consistent):
Feb 23-26 and March 4-8 (for global health)
Feb 23-26 and March 4 (for HSB)
Didn't see many acceptances/rejections before this timeline. Good luck to everyone! :hello:

Thanks for this! 🙂 Did you notice any pattern in Health Policy decisions, by any chance?
Anyway, looks like we'll be waiting for the greater part of this month, arghhh.:boom:
 
Thanks for this! 🙂 Did you notice any pattern in Health Policy decisions, by any chance?
Anyway, looks like we'll be waiting for the greater part of this month, arghhh.:boom:
I only saw maybe 3 or 4 people post about health policy last year - looks like all of their decisions came out March 3 - 6 (so much later than global health and HSB). GOOD LUCK!!!! 🙂
 
I know! Emory has really been lacking in communication, it sucks because if I could get the answers I need from them it would make choosing a school that much easier.



I also am heavily interested in Yale's EMD program. Are you planning on going to the open house?
If it makes you feel better, according to Emory's website, it's the most applied-to global health department of any public health school. So, their communication is probably bad, in part, because of how many applicants they are speaking to.
 
I only saw maybe 3 or 4 people post about health policy last year - looks like all of their decisions came out March 3 - 6 (so much later than global health and HSB). GOOD LUCK!!!! 🙂
omg MARCH!???? ...that's so late. ugh
thank you for the info though!
 
I’m in the exact same position! Yale’s EMD program is exactly what I want, and I am considering an MD, if not a PhD. I’m so stressed cause I have no idea what to do.
Ah same!! Haha what do we do? Anyone who has advice I welcome it!
 
omg MARCH!???? ...that's so late. ugh
thank you for the info though!

I also applied to HPM and am not thrilled... Their admitted student visit day is March 22. Luckily I live 2 hours away from Boston, but that sucks for people who live farther away and may want to attend.
 
How do you guys think of Duke's MS in Global Health program? How does it fare against other schools? In terms of academic rigor and career prospect?
 
Hello all!! Has anybody heard back from UMD MPH (Epi) yet?? I submitted my apps way back in November and everything was verified around that time too! I’ve been looking through this blog but not that many people applied to UMD so I’m not sure if others are on the same boat as me!
I heard back last week that I was accepted! I submitted in december
 
How does this compare to the GPA SOPHAS calculated? If it's drastically different, yeah it might cause a problem, depending on the school's policy. February is still early enough in a spring semester to drastically improve GPA. In a quarter-system, you still have 1 quarter left to boost that 2.6 GPA. Do you think you can boost it up to 3.0 before May?
I mean if I got 2.2 GPA in this semester but my cumulative GPA is still around 3.3, does it matter?
Or you mean if I got cumulative GPA above 3.2, I would be fine even if I got bad GPA in the last semester?
 
Has anyone who applied to UCLA MPH Community Health Sciences on or after the priority deadline heard back yet? I'm so anxious!
 
I am getting an MPH epi and am deciding between Columbia and Yale or my in-state school. After graduation I want to get an MD because I want to do clinical research. Do you think having less debt from my instate school would be more advantageous than going to Columbia or Yale which are both great schools and have faculty doing research in what I want to do? I know this is a hard question but I am really trying to decide between debt or prestige/opportunity. Thanks for any guidance.
Medical school will be a major added cost and perhaps more important. When you’re a doctor, that title is more important than the MPH letters. If your MPH is a stepping stone rather than a terminal degree, the name might not be worth the debt. I would sit down and think about how strong of an MD applicant you already are. Do you expect a strong MCAT score? Are your undergraduate grades and experience up to this point already strong? If you are already set to be a strong applicant, where you get your MPH will likely be less of a factor. I would recommend reaching out to your state school and ask if they have data on medical school application success rates and if they offer services to assist with medical school applications. Many of my peers in Yale’s MPH program plan to move on to PhD programs and medical school. Since this is very common here, our career services office also assists with these kinds of applications and planning. I would make sure that your state school has successful medical school applicants and that their MPH program actually aligns with your interests. My state school did not have faculty engaging in the areas I am interested in, so I ruled it out based on that alone. Many programs have student ambassadors and alumni networks. You could contact the schools to see if you could speak with current and past students who want to move on to an MD or have successfully started medical school to hear their opinions on the program. In my personal opinion, I would rather save up for medical school than go into dept for a non-terminal degree, but I would also want to make sure that I wasn’t compromising my interests and future success for that reason.
 
I mean if I got 2.2 GPA in this semester but my cumulative GPA is still around 3.3, does it matter?
Or you mean if I got cumulative GPA above 3.2, I would be fine even if I got bad GPA in the last semester?
The big issue here is that SOPHAS re-opens in June-July for you to submit your final transcripts and then the schools begin reviewing them. You would not know until very late in the game if the school is revoking your acceptance. It is only the beginning of February, so you should have plenty of time raise your semester GPA, just in case. Good luck!
 
Hello all!! Has anybody heard back from UMD MPH (Epi) yet?? I submitted my apps way back in November and everything was verified around that time too! I’ve been looking through this blog but not that many people applied to UMD so I’m not sure if others are on the same boat as me!
I submitted my app for the Epi program sometime at the end of November and I got an email that my app was complete on 12/6. I heard back on a decision 1/19. Have you contacted the school? Someone said on here that they wouldn’t begin reviewing applications until 1/15, but that’s plenty of time I would think. I hope you hear back soon!
 
I also applied to HPM and am not thrilled... Their admitted student visit day is March 22. Luckily I live 2 hours away from Boston, but that sucks for people who live farther away and may want to attend.
I agree. It doesn't give us an ample amount of time to plan our trips, especially traveling from coast to coast.
 
I finally got a helpful reply from Emory!
Here's what I learned:
1. Emory does not give tuition waivers to research and teaching assistants
2. You must complete FAFSA to be eligible for a REAL award, but they are not a need-based award (I think this info is on the website already)
3. They do still have assistantships, but they are paid $12/hr instead of having tuition waivers
4. Emory will be hosting a webinar on financial aid sometime soon and last year's webinar can be viewed on their Youtube channel
 
Has anyone who applied to UCLA MPH Community Health Sciences on or after the priority deadline heard back yet? I'm so anxious!
I applied by the deadline and haven't heard back yet either! Anxiously waiting....Also my portal indicates that they're still waiting for my GRE score report. Their website seemed to indicate that that's normal and that it won't link up, even if they've received it. Does yours show the same??
 
I finally got a helpful reply from Emory!
Here's what I learned:
1. Emory does not give tuition waivers to research and teaching assistants
2. You must complete FAFSA to be eligible for a REAL award, but they are not a need-based award (I think this info is on the website already)
3. They do still have assistantships, but they are paid $12/hr instead of having tuition waivers
4. Emory will be hosting a webinar on financial aid sometime soon and last year's webinar can be viewed on their Youtube channel
$12/hr seems pretty low... I get paid that now making sandwiches at the student union...
 
Could anyone give me a little insight into their Dartmouth phone interview experience? I applied somewhat impulsively recently (for the MS in Healthcare Research) and received an invitation for a phone interview that I scheduled to take place later this week. Thanks in advance!!!
 
$12/hr seems pretty low... I get paid that now making sandwiches at the student union...
Yeah, this news made me pretty sad.

Side note: I just noticed that you have Indiana listed in the schools you've applied to. Is that IU-Bloomington or the Fairbanks School at IUPUI?
 
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