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

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mexeldrexel said:
I have a general question about financial aid offers. I am waiting back to hear from a couple of schools about financial aid. I have heard back from only one school about the award amount that they would offer me. My question is, do I contact the other schools I have not heard back from about this offer before or after they offer me their initial financial aid award? My concern would be if I tell them the amount I received from another school before they send their offer, they would only try to match that award when maybe before they would have offered more if they didn't know. (Hope my question makes sense!)
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Yeah, I would wait until after for exactly the reason you said. If you're getting antsy and feel like contacting them anyway, you could call and say that you have offers from other schools and would like a timeline for when you'll receive their offer. They shouldn't ask anything about the award(s) from your other programs. I remember last year some schools (looking at you, Colorado) didn't give offers until after an admitted student committed to their program, so if it gets really late (let's say ~April 1) and you haven't heard, I'd definitely recommend getting in touch. A lot of schools (most?) are still releasing admissions decisions and may not be giving out financial aid awards for anyone until that whole process is done.
 
It looks like i will have to reject Boston university and go with either Harvard or Johns Hopkins. I am applying for multiple jobs and my priority would be a full time clinician while doing my MPH so the online/on campus options of Harvard and Johns Hopkins are ideal but the choice is not easy! The one plus is that Johns Hopkins did not ask me for contingencies while Harvard did.
I do not know if anyone else is in my shoes or if anyone is considering the online/part time option ? Any advice would be appreciated.
 
mexeldrexel said:
I have a general question about financial aid offers. I am waiting back to hear from a couple of schools about financial aid. I have heard back from only one school about the award amount that they would offer me. My question is, do I contact the other schools I have not heard back from about this offer before or after they offer me their initial financial aid award? My concern would be if I tell them the amount I received from another school before they send their offer, they would only try to match that award when maybe before they would have offered more if they didn't know. (Hope my question makes sense!)
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I reached out to a program coordinator last week and let them know I had a scholarship offer at another school and was trying to prioritize accepted students days and that I was hoping to have an idea of their financial aid timeline. She said she recognized my name and knew they had funding available for me and is following up today with the specifics.

As another poster said, it's worth reaching out and asking for a timeline without divulging your offers from other schools.
 
Waitlisted at Harvard for EHS MPH-65. So happy this phase of the admissions process is over, waiting in limbo is the worst! I won't be putting my name on the wait list since I am already narrowed down to two schools. Best of luck to the rest of you who are waiting for Harvard!
 
Just got off the phone with Columbia who was missing my SSN to process my financial aid. 😵 If you haven't gotten your package, I'd call and make sure they have everything.
 
tak1234 said:
Hi All,

Looking for some advice here. I applied late (verified 2/27) so I don't expect to hear back from schools soon, but I'm still trying to plan ahead in terms of living situations. I currently own a house in Berkley, MI (45 min - 1 hour away from U of M) and I rent it out. I applied to U of M and thought that if I got in, I could live at my house, get a roommate, and commute. That would keep my costs down because it would net out to roughly $200 a month for my "rent". I feel like the commute could wear down on me though. My current tenant's lease is up April 1st so I need to decide on if I want them to go month-to-month or sign another year lease.

*Assuming I get in and decide to go there* Do you all think it would be worth living that far from school in order to keep housing costs low? I'm not familiar with graduate class schedules, so does anyone know how much time I'd actually be spending at school? (ex. 3 days of classes/week or 5 days of classes/week)

I also currently work at a major consulting firm in health insurance. I was thinking about seeing if I could keep my job part time while in school to help pay for expenses. I'm able to work remotely. Do you all think that would be manageable while taking classes full time?

Trying to figure out the logistics of everything with so many unknowns is making me anxious, so any advice would be much appreciated! :nailbiting: Really kicking myself for deciding to apply so late in the game...
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I commuted to work from the Flint-ish area to Detroit for about a year - an hour without traffic, so usually ended up being closer to 1.5 hours each way.
I hated it so much, I was so miserable. My back hurt constantly from sitting in the car for 3 hours and I had to fill my tank pretty much every other day. It's true that I saved money by living at home but I would get home at the end of the day and just wanted to lay in bed. The first few months I would just cry once a week because it was terrible to get used to. Your drive time in the winter can also be 2-3x longer than normal. I personally would say it's too far (I'm currently about the same distance away and I want to move to Ann Arbor for the fall), but ultimately it depends on rent cost vs your physical/mental wellbeing.
Sorry for the depressing post but I just really hated that commute :arghh:
 
Does anyone know when Arizona or Oregon State are expected to release financial aid packages?
 
I was also at Columbia's Accepted Students Day on Friday March 2nd. I attended the Epidemiology breakout session as well as the general information sessions in the afternoon. @CaliPenguin captured it really well above, but I'll add additional thoughts below (and in the shared Google Doc as well).

~~~


Random Information/Impressions:
  • You can do your practicum abroad. In fact, this is required for those in the Global Health certificate.
  • The alumni network seems very active and strong
  • Participation in student groups is encouraged and emphasized
  • It was said that getting into the classes you want is not at all difficult or "a rush to sign up".
  • You can take classes at other Columbia institutions at no added cost.
  • This surprised me - there does seem to be on-campus housing for students. I am unsure as to if this is a better deal than finding an apartment and would guess that it depends.
  • There seems to be a very strong relationship with the NY Department of Health. If you want to work there post-graduation I would say that this is the place to go.

Academics:
  • Everyone graduates with a concentration (~ major) and a certificate (~minor).
    • Unlike some other schools, I think that the certificate is required.
    • The certificate curriculum is also robust enough that you cannot pursue two certificates.
    • Certificates were designed with finding a job in mind, and represent skills/areas of focus that employers have said they are looking for.
  • Every student takes the "integrated core" of classes in their first semester.
    • I thought this was really interesting and well-thought out.
    • It's not that you take classes in every concentration. Rather, they have designed a set of courses that do not belong to any specific concentration but that draw aspects from all of them. (An example would be "Public Health Interventions" which obviously draws on Epidemiology AND Health Policy.)

(Epidemiology) Research:
  • I thought there was a greater emphasis on research at Columbia.
    • Bear in mind that I've only attended BU's before this and am using that as a comparator.
  • Not only do you have to finish a thesis (as is normal at most schools), everyone presents a poster about their practicum experience as well.
  • Access to a wide variety of researchers, given the nature of Columbia + NYC

Negatives:
  • It's absolutely very expensive.
  • Moreover, as CaliPenguin stated above, the criteria for receiving financial aid is pretty stringent.
  • (For epidemiology, at least) they say you are required to bring a laptop that supports SAS, which they said meant that laptops older than ~2 years old might not apply. This is an additional incurred cost for those with older laptops that would be easy to miss when calculating total cost of schools
 
How much weight would you guys put on sitting in on a class? On paper, Columbia seems like an amazing program for me, but I sat in on a class and was really unimpressed. I know I can't judge the whole school because of one class, but the students just seemed so unengaged, it really made me feel like they weren't "my people." It was an elective epi class and I'm admitted to the MPH in Epi, so I'm not sure if the class was mostly Epi students or other concentrations filling their electives, but I'm also not sure how much of a difference that would make. Has anyone else had a similar experience sitting in on a class?
 
For those accepted to UIC, did you receive your admission notice by mail, email or both?
 
For anyone who applied Health Services at UW, you should have received an email today with some information about the visit day on March 30th. I sent an email over the weekend about the admitted students day and both merit-based and need-based financial aid. Here is the response I got:

"The RSVP email for our Visit Day just went out. We’ll have more information on the full agenda soon, but if you need any specifics just let me know!

In regards to funding, notification depends on the source of the award. Most of the funds issued by the Health Services department and the School of Public Health have notifications going out this month. Generally all of those awards will be given out prior to Visit Day on the 30th. Federal Financial Aid notifications go out at different times depending on when you applied and submitted your FAFSA."

So anyone admitted to UW Health Services MPH or MS, they have not distributed scholarships or funding yet it seems.
 
Hey! Any one going to Harvard Admitted Student day? Has someone contacted the office about travel stipend? I am thinking about shooting them an email..
 
ninz54 said:
For anyone still waiting on Berkeley, I called them today and they said decision notifications should be out within the next 48 hours.
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Thank you so much for this! Do you know if this is for all concentrations? I just want to know already.. Best of luck to everyone!
 
mixedsumaut said:
Hey! Any one going to Harvard Admitted Student day? Has someone contacted the office about travel stipend? I am thinking about shooting them an email..
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I’m going! Paid a nauseating amount for a round trip from California and Airbnb. Would love to know what they say about travel funding.
 
For those still waiting on Columbia, I emailed them earlier today about timing on decisions, and they responded:

"Thank you for your continued interest in the Mailman School of Public Health. We apologize for the delay, but your application is still out for review with the department. We expect to send out decisions letters within the next couple of weeks."

Waiting for these guys is so painful... They told me "next few weeks" about 3 weeks ago.
 
ea.vae said:
I don't think that ranking or big names are all that serious. I was accepted to a couple of highly ranked programs, but I am going to make my decisions based on financial aid, and the fit of the program. Mt Sinai is known to have late afternoon classes which allows students to work during the day. It is also a part of a large integrated health system with 7 hospitals across the city and a lot of well funded research institutions, and students have a lot of opportunity to get involved. They're also accredited, which is important as well. I think the program is also on the cheaper side but the trade off is the cost of living in nyc. Class sizes are much smaller so students get to connect with the faculty. A lot of they're faculty are also leaders in the industry and work directly in public health, which is something I like.
That's kind of what I gathered overall, but I'll be at the admitted students day to learn more!

Which track for the mph did you apply to?
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I applied to the health care management track
 
Whoooo! Just accepted to Minnesota's dual MPH/MPP program!! SO PUMPED! And now I'm also completely torn on what to do. I'm in at U Colorado and am still waiting to hear back from UCLA & UNC Chapel Hill. I adore Minnesota's program and would get in-state tuition, but also want grad school to be a time where I try and move somewhere new... sigh decisions...
 
wanderlust-adventures said:
Whoooo! Just accepted to Minnesota's dual MPH/MPP program!! SO PUMPED! And now I'm also completely torn on what to do. I'm in at U Colorado and am still waiting to hear back from UCLA & UNC Chapel Hill. I adore Minnesota's program and would get in-state tuition, but also want grad school to be a time where I try and move somewhere new... sigh decisions...
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I felt oddly bad telling a student ambassador that when they called last week asking if I was still considering doing my MPH at MN. It's a great state but I'm REALLY looking forward to going somewhere new after growing up in rural MN, doing college an hour away, and working in the same city post-graduation. Plus, scholarships from other places made the decision much easier!

Peace out Minnesota!
 
macko126 said:
I got accepted to SDSU MPH HPEB last week via snail mail:claps: still waiting on hearing from Oregon State and OHSU/PSU! Let's hope this is the week y'all!!
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Congrats! I think it's so funny they still send acceptances via snail mail. I'm waiting on SDSU, I have the same Quant score as you, so you getting in is giving me hope!
 
SJC1028 said:
For those accepted to UIC, did you receive your admission notice by mail, email or both?
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I also got my acceptance notice by email (2/16) with a pdf attachment of the letter. I just received another email today (3/5) that my application status page was updated, and on the actual portal itself it says that they're mailing my acceptance letter to my address as well
 
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NardwuarKnowsEverything said:
Thank you so much for this! Do you know if this is for all concentrations? I just want to know already.. Best of luck to everyone!
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The general mph admissions rep said that the decisions have been sent to the general graduate admissions office so i assume this is for all concentrations... but can't be 100% certain. I didn't specify my concentration when I called so, given that, I think it'll be for all departments.
 
ninz54 said:
The general mph admissions rep said that the decisions have been sent to the general graduate admissions office so i assume this is for all concentrations... but can't be 100% certain. I didn't specify my concentration when I called so, given that, I think it'll be for all departments.
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Gotcha! Thank you so much for the information. I might call the departmental contact for HSB to see if we get the same info. I'll update here as I learn more!
 
NardwuarKnowsEverything said:
Gotcha! Thank you so much for the information. I might call the departmental contact for HSB to see if we get the same info. I'll update here as I learn more!
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Just called and the HSB contact said she is only aware that the decisions should be released within the next few weeks, but they'll be released via email. Since you contacted the general MPH admissions rep, I'm really hoping it is within the next 48-hours!
 
Anyone else still waiting on Harvard's Global Health for MPH-45?
 
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NardwuarKnowsEverything said:
Just called and the HSB contact said she is only aware that the decisions should be released within the next few weeks, but they'll be released via email. Since you contacted the general MPH admissions rep, I'm really hoping it is within the next 48-hours!
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oh no! i hope it's the 48 hour thing for you! I applied IDV
 
megarita said:
How much weight would you guys put on sitting in on a class? On paper, Columbia seems like an amazing program for me, but I sat in on a class and was really unimpressed. I know I can't judge the whole school because of one class, but the students just seemed so unengaged, it really made me feel like they weren't "my people." It was an elective epi class and I'm admitted to the MPH in Epi, so I'm not sure if the class was mostly Epi students or other concentrations filling their electives, but I'm also not sure how much of a difference that would make. Has anyone else had a similar experience sitting in on a class?
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I visited a class in October. I have to agree that the students seemed to not be paying attention, and most packed up 5-10 minutes before the class was over. I know it probably doesn't bother most people, but it completely annoyed me. Having the same feeling of Columbia looking great on paper, but worried I won't like it there. However, given the reputation, location, and strong alumni network, thinking two years of being peeved might be worth it.
 
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Vslyph said:
Just got off the phone with Columbia who was missing my SSN to process my financial aid. 😵 If you haven't gotten your package, I'd call and make sure they have everything.
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Yikes. I had the same thing happen with Emory. Were Columbia/other schools proactive in emailing you about the missing info, or did you call them of your own accord?
 
ha4cb5ed said:
Yikes. I had the same thing happen with Emory. Were Columbia/other schools proactive in emailing you about the missing info, or did you call them of your own accord?
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BU was proactive. The rest of the schools already had the information. Columbia must be behind.
 
Has anyone else who has already been admitted to the Columbia SMS program received emails about a phone call with a faculty member? I'm gonna speak with this professor about the program but really I want to just say "I love your program. Please give me financial aid so I can consider going."
 
phclarinetist said:
Has anyone else who has already been admitted to the Columbia SMS program received emails about a phone call with a faculty member? I'm gonna speak with this professor about the program but really I want to just say "I love your program. Please give me financial aid so I can consider going."
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Had this call last week. Went through what I wanted to get out of the program and whether or not it was a good fit (no surprise that it was). She couldn’t find any negatives about the program, which concerned me, but I wasn’t expecting anything less than to be sold the program.
 
For anyone admitted to UW, got off the phone with financial aid and they said that packages would be going out within the month. I asked if they would be ready in time for the April 15th deadline and the woman who answered said that “no incoming students have been awarded yet” (which didn’t answer my question).

Not 5 minutes later I got an email that said I was not a finalist for their Dean’s fellowship. Going to decline my seat and hopefully someone on the waiting list will find out they got in soon.
 
Vslyph said:
For anyone admitted to UW, got off the phone with financial aid and they said that packages would be going out within the month. I asked if they would be ready in time for the April 15th deadline and the woman who answered said that “no incoming students have been awarded yet” (which didn’t answer my question).

Not 5 minutes later I got an email that said I was not a finalist for their Dean’s fellowship. Going to decline my seat and hopefully someone on the waiting list will find out they got in soon.
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I was told the same things via email today. Financial aid within the month and I'm not a finalist either. I'm holding out for them because I really like their program. They don't seem very proactive though. If they have only chosen finalists for one scholarship they offer on March 5th then I can't imagine that they are rushing to send out other scholarship notifications either.
 
Vslyph said:
I visited a class in October. I have to agree that the students seemed to not be paying attention, and most packed up 5-10 minutes before the class was over. I know it probably doesn't bother most people, but it completely annoyed me. Having the same feeling of Columbia looking great on paper, but worried I won't like it there. However, given the reputation, location, and strong alumni network, thinking two years of being peeved might be worth it.
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Yeah, I'm more worried that it's indicative it won't be be an enriching/challenging environment. That's interesting you felt the same way! After my visit I wrote it off, then was worried I was being too harsh (I know I didn't always seem like the model PH student in undergrad in my morning classes), but I don't know. This is hard! Haha
 
Did Emory just send out an email bragging about the REAL award to a bunch of people who weren't offered the REAL award?
 
corndoggedly said:
The one I got was specifically from the epi department. I assume @megarita received the same one.
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You're right, it was. I haven't been offered any scholarships from them or received my financial aid. Since I've seen people on here receive the REAL award I assume it doesn't have anything to do with being offered the REAL award? Seems a little rude hah

JDGBruin1317 said:
I didn't receive that email. Do you know when they're going to send financial aid packages?
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I do not! :/
 
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