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

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skaballet said:
This might be true for public health, but I wouldn't say all of these are true for all grad programs. For my grad degree, 1 & 2 are not true. All classes were graded on a curve so getting the top grade was challenging. I remember one class the average was like a 92 so the curve was super tight. However, the teamwork is very true. I also agree with the last point for the most part. There are some employers like investment banks or consulting firms that do really care about grades so if that's your goal you need to get top grades.
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Yeah, to clarify, I meant with regards to the public health field.
 
2018applicantyj said:
I had posted that some Harvard decisions were coming out yesterday after talking to the admissions chair. FALSE. Checked the portal like 400 times at work yesterday/today and am just getting more desperate for ANY news. For those who have been accepted to Harvard, is there any indicator on my.harvard.edu (i.e change in financial aid portal) that signifies your acceptance?
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Is it just me or is myharvard taking everyone directly to the "Student Home" page instead of the "Harvard Chan" page where the decision letter will be posted?
 
Cici A said:
Was just awarded a $5000 grant from UNC. It's not much but it's something! Does anyone know where one could look for grants, fellowships, assistantships, scholarships, etc? I wanted to apply to the NSF but the deadline passed.
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Congratulations! I've been in contact with my department and they let me know I was being awarded funding but would have to double check how much. Hope it's more than $5000 :\
 
Ebb55 said:
No I’m not from NC. I visited and talked to faculty and students from HPM department. If you’ve lived in NC for 12 consecutive months , have NC license, utilities bills....etc, you get in-state tuition your second year! Every OOS student I talked to confirmed they received in state for their second year. Just be proactive and keep those documents throughout the year. Someone got TAship and their second year was completely free. TA positions are rare but possible
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Awesome, this is great to know. The website hints at this, but it's very vague. Did they give you a date you would need to be a resident by to qualify for in-state tuition? (I'm assuming you would need to have residency established by August of this year, but it may be a month or two earlier.)
 
Marisol562999 said:
Hello,

I went to undergraduate at UCB, and I was a public health major. I have friends that did their undergrad at Cal, and came back for graduate school at the School of Public Health. The environment is definitely different from when you are an undergraduate student. My friends in the graduate program, Health and Social Behavior really like it. From what I know you are guaranteed a stipend summer internship, and there are many opportunities to work on campus.

The staff at the school is mostly invested, I say this because as an undergraduate I felt more resources were spent on graduate students, and I resented this. In reality I think the school should have a optional one year MPH for UCB Public Health undergrads, like a pipeline. But alas, money and public schools.
But as a graduate student this is a good thing!

Students are generally really willing to help each other, because they want to help communities...a lot of the quant classes are difficult for grad students but they help each other out. It is not cut throat the way other people described. My undergraduate upper division classes as an undergrad were always fair, but my general requirements were not.
Generally they are really excited about the work you are doing, and want to help you. However, the bay area is really expensive. I opted out of the bay area for this reason, but really so much amazing work going on in SF, Oakland, and Berkeley.

Let me know if I can help you some more.
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Just chiming in on this as a recent Berkeley Public Health major graduate - I definitely agree that the atmosphere of grad public health is different at Berkeley. I’ve found that the professors and staff have been very willing to help and enthusiastic about interacting with grad students (undergrads too, but there are just so many of us...). I got two of my rec letters from faculty at Berkeley and have gotten a lot of mentorship and support and encouragement from Berkeley SPH faculty in general, even as an undergrad. The cohorts themselves are also awesome and lively and very welcoming - I’m biased, of course, since these were my classmates and friends, but I’ve really had good experiences as an undergrad among graduate student classmates.
Some random other details -
The cost of living is high in the Bay Area - prepare to pay 1k or more on rent + utilities + internet if you have a single (and I wouldn’t call the apartments around here nice....at all.)
I don’t think stipends are guaranteed for grad students (at least not among IDV, for sure. I took multiple classes with the cohort graduating this year and there were definitely people stressed about finding internships up until late April and people who did unpaid internships).
Funding for TA-ing (we call it GSI-ing) also underwent changes recently in terms of what %FTE is considered eligible for tuition remission - aka, normal TA workloads or hours may not be enough to get tuition remission (or something like that). Anyone considering TA or RA as a method of defraying costs at Berkeley should really talk to some of the current grad students about this specifically.
 
Lissie6 said:
Hi! I just got into BU and Yale as well but I'm biting my nails waiting to hear back about $$! Did BU send you their scholarship offer with your acceptance email? Or separately? I don't want to hold my breath if nothing is going to come. I got in almost a week ago and I feel like their aid should have sent something along by now.
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I received my scholarship through snail mail which was about a week and a half after I received the acceptance email. You'll see in your official acceptance letter (through snail mail) whether or not you received aid I believe.
 
confusedstudent19 said:
I received my scholarship through snail mail which was about a week and a half after I received the acceptance email. You'll see in your official acceptance letter (through snail mail) whether or not you received aid I believe.
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Depends on your program! I know the MS in Epi hadn’t distributed the money before sending out letters.
 
I’m curious what people’s experience has been in declining schools. When I declined UW, it took my decline via the portal and then sent me on to a survey. When I declined BU, they sent me an email saying that they “think [I am] a great fit for our program so if anything changes or if there is anything we can do, please do not hesitate to contact” BU admissions with a link to a survey in that email.
 
Ebb55 said:
No I’m not from NC. I visited and talked to faculty and students from HPM department. If you’ve lived in NC for 12 consecutive months , have NC license, utilities bills....etc, you get in-state tuition your second year! Every OOS student I talked to confirmed they received in state for their second year. Just be proactive and keep those documents throughout the year. Someone got TAship and their second year was completely free. TA positions are rare but possible
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I spoke with the academic coordinator for Epi and they confirmed this.
 
guybrush said:
Awesome, this is great to know. The website hints at this, but it's very vague. Did they give you a date you would need to be a resident by to qualify for in-state tuition? (I'm assuming you would need to have residency established by August of this year, but it may be a month or two earlier.)
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I called the Epi department today to ask about this and they said that moving there in July would be much better than August because it would have certainly been a full 12 months before starting the next year of courses.
 
So, I got accepted to the MSPH/PHD in Epi at UNC yesterday. Now, I’m debating between UMich (MPH in Epi), JHU (MHS in Epi), and UNC (MSPH/PHD in Epi). I’m seriously leaning towards UNC now because I would already be in there for my PhD (which I 100% want to do) and they seem to be way more generous with funding than either of the other two universities. Any insight or ideas??
 
Dwan said:
I don't know about UCB but I wouldn't worry about competition in public health grad programs in general. The environment is different because 1) A's aren't as hard to come by, 2) Classes are not graded on a curve so everyone can get an A, 3) Teamwork is usually encouraged on assignments; no one, including profs, cares to find out who's the most impressive compared to classmates, but rather how much we can learn from each other, and 4) Most of your classmates won't care about the grades because they are either irrelevant or of minor weight to their careers (I'm a med student and will never even submit these grades to anything I apply for in the future).
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Have been speaking to a former colleague about Berkeley and she had this to say:

"The people selected for HSB this year (and in the year ahead) are really incredible - thoughtful, deep thinkers, supportive, change-makers, and most important, deeply value community. Additionally, HSB (the department) engages students to participate in the admissions process (reading apps etc).

It may sound unprofessional, but having a close-knot community that truly values socio-emotional support, but sharing information, ideas, and opportunities, can transform your graduate school experience. (I have the benefit of experiencing student community in 2 schools - Social Welfare & Public Health, and my Public Health people blow SW out of the water... Don't tell anyone I said that!)"

She also discusses that the cohorts are relatively small! HSB has a cohort of about 25-30 students and is incredibly supportive! I'm looking forward to meeting people in 2 weeks!
 
anyone still waiting for Epi/Bio MPH at Berkeley?????? should I just assume that I didn't get in at this point? 🙁
 
Has only heard from financial aid at Columbia? Trying to figure out if I should email/call them now to see an initial offer or try to pry some money from them when the deadline is closer.

Currently deciding between Columbia and Cal! (I wouldn't have to pay for housing at Cal since I already live in the Bay.)
 
publichealthandstuff said:
Have been speaking to a former colleague about Berkeley and she had this to say:

"The people selected for HSB this year (and in the year ahead) are really incredible - thoughtful, deep thinkers, supportive, change-makers, and most important, deeply value community. Additionally, HSB (the department) engages students to participate in the admissions process (reading apps etc).

It may sound unprofessional, but having a close-knot community that truly values socio-emotional support, but sharing information, ideas, and opportunities, can transform your graduate school experience. (I have the benefit of experiencing student community in 2 schools - Social Welfare & Public Health, and my Public Health people blow SW out of the water... Don't tell anyone I said that!)"

She also discusses that the cohorts are relatively small! HSB has a cohort of about 25-30 students and is incredibly supportive! I'm looking forward to meeting people in 2 weeks!
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At this point, I feel like you don't even have a cohort to see in 2-weeks x) (kidding of course due to the stress of waiting for their admissions decision 😛). I just want an answer, still waiting for them to get back to me 🙁. I haven't seen too many people admitted to the Berkeley programs yet on this forum, and a fair amount of people I met at the UCLA admit day stated they were still waiting for Berkeley's decision as well.

grapesandstrawberries said:
anyone still waiting for Epi/Bio MPH at Berkeley?????? should I just assume that I didn't get in at this point? 🙁
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Still waiting for the HSB program for Berkeley. My inner pessimist is telling me at this point I didn't get in, but I just want to confirm that. I would pay them to tell me I was rejected x)
 
guybrush said:
Congratulations! I've been in contact with my department and they let me know I was being awarded funding but would have to double check how much. Hope it's more than $5000 :\
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I'm sure you'd get more than that. Your stats are stellar. I, on the other hand, am kind of panicking right now haha.
 
confusedstudent19 said:
I received my scholarship through snail mail which was about a week and a half after I received the acceptance email. You'll see in your official acceptance letter (through snail mail) whether or not you received aid I believe.
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Thanks so much! I'm glad I found people on here who got into the same schools I did!
 
Rejected at Cal for the Maternal Child Health program today. Bummed! I'm older, a licensed midwife, hoped my practical clinical experience would add to the cohort. Oh well. I might call them or send an email to see why (other than the usual "not enough space for qualified applicants."). Good luck to everyone still waiting!
 
Halp halp halp...Has anyone applied to SDSU? I just recently received a letter in the mail that states I have been recommended by my department for admission, but that I have to send in a postcard for them to forward the recommendation to Graduate Admissions. Is this normal?? This is the strangest thing I have encountered so far... I haven't received much email correspondence from SDSU, and even the "acceptance letter" (if you can even call it that) they sent me wasn't very welcoming or enthusiastic. I'm confused why they are asking for such, and if the postcard is in anyway binding. It had the header "VERIFICATION TO INTENT."
 
havvajava said:
Halp halp halp...Has anyone applied to SDSU? I just recently received a letter in the mail that states I have been recommended by my department for admission, but that I have to send in a postcard for them to forward the recommendation to Graduate Admissions. Is this normal?? This is the strangest thing I have encountered so far... I haven't received much email correspondence from SDSU, and even the "acceptance letter" (if you can even call it that) they sent me wasn't very welcoming or enthusiastic. I'm confused why they are asking for such, and if the postcard is in anyway binding. It had the header "VERIFICATION TO INTENT."
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Congrats on your acceptance! Sorry I can’t answer your question but may I ask what concentration you applied for and when you sent in your application? I’m still waiting for a decision and I completed/sent in all supplements by 12/14 /:
 
aniartep said:
Congrats on your acceptance! Sorry I can’t answer your question but may I ask what concentration you applied for and when you sent in your application? I’m still waiting for a decision and I completed/sent in all supplements by 12/14 /:
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Thanks! And no worries--I plan to contact the school directly. I applied for the Health Policy and Management department. SOPHAS said my application was verified on January 17th. Finally sent in all the supplementals, transcripts and GRE scores in by February 5th. So, on my SDSU portal, my admission status still says DEPARTMENT REVIEWING FILE FOR PROGRAM ELIGIBILITY since February 7th. Hope that helps--definitely check your admissions portal.
 
aniartep said:
Congrats on your acceptance! Sorry I can’t answer your question but may I ask what concentration you applied for and when you sent in your application? I’m still waiting for a decision and I completed/sent in all supplements by 12/14 /:
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I still haven’t heard anything from SDSU either and my portal has said “reviewing for program eligibility” since end of November
 
jga949 said:
Hey all,

Really stuck between Emory's Global Epidemiology program, Michigan's Global Epi program, and Boston University's Epi program with a social justice certificate. Any and all insight/thoughts on these three programs would be greatly appreciated!
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I'd look at factors like tuition, rent in each of these cities, and opportunities available for research. I am always a big fan of Emory, I know people who are students there and love it, so personally for me I'd choose Emory or Michigan. Michigan is fantastically ranked, I'd have to look closer as I'm not super familiar with the school. BU isn't big on research, so if you want to do something research related, or maybe get a PhD, then I'd have to say no, if given the option to go elsewhere.

Also . . . a certificate in 'social justice' at BU? To be honest, it sounds super vague, social justice is such an encompassing term, I was surprised to find a lot of the stuff I'm interested in falls under this rubric, but it is a big umbrella, and sort of more of a buzz word than a specific discipline. I dunno, I heard that BU has 'urban activist labs' and they encourage students to go 'into the city' and do . . . stuff, is this somehow related to a social justice certificate? I just don't see how this would be marketable in a lot of the workplaces you'll find people with public health degrees as it doesn't set a job candidate apart from anybody else (I, tongue in cheek, have a 'social justice' concentrated MPH), and it doesn't advertise any hard skills. This seems like a certificate that is offered in order to draw in applicants, but it might not do much for you after graduation. I think as a rule of thumb it's a good idea not to undertake any academic coursework that is hard to define to most people, unless you're doing something esoteric which has its own niche, UNLESS you learn more about what the coursework for this certificate is and if it appeals to you and you can see yourself gaining tangible skills. There's always time to be engaged in activism and social justice issues, you don't need to pay super high tuition to do it, better to save that for more hard skills.

They really need to focus down this certificate, maybe make it into something like a certificate in "quantitative analysis of public health interventions for marginalized populations". It could be something cool like working with homeless families or PLHIV, but as is that is so vague, it could be just making signs for people to march on city hall every weekend. Who knows?

BU changed their curriculum recently in order to offer certificates as the old curriculum was kind of watered down, so I'm not sure if this is an experimental offering, or a marketing way for BU to try to stand apart, or maybe they are still working on upgrading the curriculum. I don't really know what is offered for this certificate, if you want to do something Epi related do you need this or something else?

It sounds like a marketing tactic, a way to get people interested in social justice in general to enroll. In the end, a lot of these schools are run as businesses, if they hear many applicants are interested in social justice issues these days, then they'll make a concentration, if they hear people are interested in unicorns, you might be able to get a certificate in unicorns! But you have to figure out if employers need unicorn experts or people with a certificate in Biostatistics with a concentration in Epidemiology.
 
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rosemary_ said:
Is UNC offering you any funding? If not for the MSPH portion, do they guarantee any funding for your PhD?
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I called them today to ask about this. They said that it will take them some time to put together the funding packages, but that they should go out soon. There’s no guaranteed funding, but they said that most MSPH/PHD students get funding through some form, either through fellowships, TAs, RAs, etc. But they did say that due to changes in governmental funding (thanks Trump admin), they may be tighter on funds and some individuals may need to prepare to take out loans. Hopefully this isn’t the case, though.
 
Jetting off to visit Hopkins Friday and Vandy Monday!

Was told in the car that my in-laws might buy a house in Atlanta for retirement and let us live there to save money during grad school if we choose Emory-- so we'd have to realllllllly love these schools haha
 
Cassatrass said:
Jetting off to visit Hopkins Friday and Vandy Monday!

Was told in the car that my in-laws might buy a house in Atlanta for retirement and let us live there to save money during grad school if we choose Emory-- so we'd have to realllllllly love these schools haha
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If you don't pick Emory, can you connect me with your in-laws so I can get in their good graces? :hilarious:
 
tnb_nanashi said:
Doesn't exist for me... maybe it means I'm getting rejected ha
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Same. I applied to the same department as you (Biostat). My friend who got accepted told me that he has access to the library (as in he can already borrow journals and as such) from 'other resources'. I got accepted to JHU and Yale but this was my number 1 choice 🙁
 
havvajava said:
Thanks! And no worries--I plan to contact the school directly. I applied for the Health Policy and Management department. SOPHAS said my application was verified on January 17th. Finally sent in all the supplementals, transcripts and GRE scores in by February 5th. So, on my SDSU portal, my admission status still says DEPARTMENT REVIEWING FILE FOR PROGRAM ELIGIBILITY since February 7th. Hope that helps--definitely check your admissions portal.
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If you don't mind, can you let us know what they say when you contact them? I finally had all my supplementals processed YESTERDAY, so I think I'm going to be in for a loooong wait to hear back.
 
2018applicantyj said:
Same. I applied to the same department as you (Biostat). My friend who got accepted told me that he has access to the library (as in he can already borrow journals and as such) from 'other resources'. I got accepted to JHU and Yale but this was my number 1 choice 🙁
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Did you apply to JHU ScM? And did your friend apply to Harvard SM60 or SM80? Harvard is also my top choice
 
havvajava said:
Halp halp halp...Has anyone applied to SDSU? I just recently received a letter in the mail that states I have been recommended by my department for admission, but that I have to send in a postcard for them to forward the recommendation to Graduate Admissions. Is this normal?? This is the strangest thing I have encountered so far... I haven't received much email correspondence from SDSU, and even the "acceptance letter" (if you can even call it that) they sent me wasn't very welcoming or enthusiastic. I'm confused why they are asking for such, and if the postcard is in anyway binding. It had the header "VERIFICATION TO INTENT."
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I also receive my offer to SDSU via snailmail. It looks like this is basically the offer of admissions and in order for your SunSpot SDSU portal to change, you have to accept by their deadline.
 
tnb_nanashi said:
Did you apply to JHU ScM? And did your friend apply to Harvard SM60 or SM80? Harvard is also my top choice
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I suddenly have the Student Home page too, but no letter/acceptance/rejection. I applied 80 credits, but to epi, not bio stats. So this might be a departmental thing, so don't lose hope! For all I know, epi might just set up the Student page for everyone to make it quicker once people are accepted.
 
havvajava said:
Halp halp halp...Has anyone applied to SDSU? I just recently received a letter in the mail that states I have been recommended by my department for admission, but that I have to send in a postcard for them to forward the recommendation to Graduate Admissions. Is this normal?? This is the strangest thing I have encountered so far... I haven't received much email correspondence from SDSU, and even the "acceptance letter" (if you can even call it that) they sent me wasn't very welcoming or enthusiastic. I'm confused why they are asking for such, and if the postcard is in anyway binding. It had the header "VERIFICATION TO INTENT."
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I sent my post card back and I agree this is strange. However, we cannot get our actual acceptance and financial aid information until you send that post card in! So I sent it in.
 
idepi said:
Just chiming in on this as a recent Berkeley Public Health major graduate - I definitely agree that the atmosphere of grad public health is different at Berkeley. I’ve found that the professors and staff have been very willing to help and enthusiastic about interacting with grad students (undergrads too, but there are just so many of us...). I got two of my rec letters from faculty at Berkeley and have gotten a lot of mentorship and support and encouragement from Berkeley SPH faculty in general, even as an undergrad. The cohorts themselves are also awesome and lively and very welcoming - I’m biased, of course, since these were my classmates and friends, but I’ve really had good experiences as an undergrad among graduate student classmates.
Some random other details -
The cost of living is high in the Bay Area - prepare to pay 1k or more on rent + utilities + internet if you have a single (and I wouldn’t call the apartments around here nice....at all.)
I don’t think stipends are guaranteed for grad students (at least not among IDV, for sure. I took multiple classes with the cohort graduating this year and there were definitely people stressed about finding internships up until late April and people who did unpaid internships).
Funding for TA-ing (we call it GSI-ing) also underwent changes recently in terms of what %FTE is considered eligible for tuition remission - aka, normal TA workloads or hours may not be enough to get tuition remission (or something like that). Anyone considering TA or RA as a method of defraying costs at Berkeley should really talk to some of the current grad students about this specifically.
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Do you have any information about downsizing faculty at Berkeley SPH? And do you know if there are a lot of faculty that are retiring soon? This is something that concerns me. Also, I did hear that GSI and GSR-ships are hard to come by.
 
mickey24 said:
I still haven’t heard anything from SDSU either and my portal has said “reviewing for program eligibility” since end of November
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You will receive a letter in the mail. I was accepted in February and my portal still has not changed. It will only change when your application is forwarded to graduate admissions and you return your intent to enroll. That is when they make financial aid decisions. If I were you I would contact admissions.
 
2018applicantyj said:
@csms1424 Where is the homepage located? Also- do you have access to the library- like renting a manuscript!?

@tnb_nanashi I was accepted to their PhD program; my friend applied to SM80 and was informed on the 1st.
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If you go to myharvard, instead of automatically signing into the "Harvard Chan" tab where the letter will show up, it goes to a new tab "Student Home" on the far left. This page directly connects me to services, like the library, but i don't think I can actually use it as of now.
 
2018applicantyj said:
Same. I applied to the same department as you (Biostat). My friend who got accepted told me that he has access to the library (as in he can already borrow journals and as such) from 'other resources'. I got accepted to JHU and Yale but this was my number 1 choice 🙁
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Do you know if that was before or after he accepted his offer of admission?
 
Epi_lady_in_training said:
Do you have any information about downsizing faculty at Berkeley SPH? And do you know if there are a lot of faculty that are retiring soon? This is something that concerns me. Also, I did hear that GSI and GSR-ships are hard to come by.
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Retirements - only anecdotally - one of my mentors in MCH retired this past semester, and I know Prof. Malcolm Potts has retired. I was admitted to Epi/Biostat and I’m fairly sure there aren’t going to be many retirements in that department - haven’t heard any rumors.

Downsizing - not sure, will ask friends who are still there/are better connected.

And yes I think GSI/GSR is definitely competitive - my friends who are GSIs are all at the top of their game.
 
dodgers4life said:
I also receive my offer to SDSU via snailmail. It looks like this is basically the offer of admissions and in order for your SunSpot SDSU portal to change, you have to accept by their deadline.
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Oh so that basically was a letter of acceptance? The letter wasn’t very congratulatory lol and made it seem that there was an additional process for graduate admissions’ to approve the departmental referral. Ugh, seems to be drawing out the process even longer. Guess I gotta keep waiting for an official acceptance and financial aid offer 🙁
 
guybrush said:
Holy moly. I just received an e-mail that the HB department at UNC nominated me for a Masters Merit Assistantship. It's a first year award that includes full tuition, fees, health insurance, and a $14,000 stipend. 😱😱😱
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That's huge, congratulations! Do you mind me asking--have you already accepted your offer of admission there?
 
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