MPH / MSPH 2021: Applied, Accepted, Waitlisted, Rejected, Attending

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sap033 said:
My app to BU (Maternal and Child Health) got verified on 12/3 and I still haven't heard anything. It's nerve wracking to see people who submitted it a month after getting acceptances. Is anyone else who applied around my time or earlier experiencing no communication about decisions from BU too? It's my top 🙁
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Yes! I applied in October to Epi and had to email them to see what the hold up was because I never received a confirmation, but I'm seeing people who received the confirmation on the same day and same department getting their decisions. 🙁 I am hoping for the best but expecting the worst.
 
sap033 said:
My app to BU (Maternal and Child Health) got verified on 12/3 and I still haven't heard anything. It's nerve wracking to see people who submitted it a month after getting acceptances. Is anyone else who applied around my time or earlier experiencing no communication about decisions from BU too? It's my top 🙁
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I applied 12/1, Maternal and Child Health, still haven't heard anything! I had to email about receiving no communication to get the email saying my application is under review. It made me really nervous seeing that too! I think BU is just very disorganized right now!
 
sap033 said:
My app to BU (Maternal and Child Health) got verified on 12/3 and I still haven't heard anything. It's nerve wracking to see people who submitted it a month after getting acceptances. Is anyone else who applied around my time or earlier experiencing no communication about decisions from BU too? It's my top 🙁
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I applied 12/3 to maternal and child health and only just got the confirmation that my application was complete and being sent off for review 1/26 so I think the MCH department might just be behind others. 🤞🏽🤓
 
PrePtDreamsRVA said:
should I go to BU or UCLA for Epi? I’m blessed to have received acceptances to both and a scholarship to BU
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What is your goal for getting an MPH degree?

Will it be your terminal degree or is it a stepping stone for you to get into a grad program, such as Physical Therapy, etc?
 
lil.beanieee said:
OMG congrats that's amazing!!! may I ask which track you applied to/when? I'm waiting to hear back for MSPH in social and behavioral interventions!
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Thank you so much! I applied to the MSPH in Health Education & Health Communication concentration on January 5th, and I received the confirmation and portal email on the 6th! Best of luck to you! You got this!
 
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Anyone applied to Texas A& M? How long did it take them to send your application into review? They received mine 2 weeks ago and said they will be reviewing documents and to allow up to 1 week but I haven’t heard anything about it going into review as yet.
 
PrePtDreamsRVA said:
should I go to BU or UCLA for Epi? I’m blessed to have received acceptances to both and a scholarship to BU
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I would go to UCLA! Yes, BU is fairly expensive and Boston is as well, might be worth it if BU was Brown, JHU or Tulane, but that's not the case. There are five major regional public health schools in the area, including Brown and Harvard which are better for global health, and Tufts which is better for nutrition, still this is a pretty saturated area for a relatively small population. BU is heavy on social work related stuff, their combined MSW/MPH might be a productive degree, however I think a lot of their research is derivative and trying to make local headlines. BU did have faculty that was pretty pro-vaping and pushing how harmless vaping is until a year ago, now there is research coming out of the same place saying the opposite which is what other institutions have been saying all along. BU handled covid poorly in terms of treatment of students and staff, not sure what happened at UCLA. BUSPH is now 'banning the box' so applicants with criminal histories (including DUIs/assault), can apply and matriculate and nobody at the school would know, and that has been controversial as well.

Make sure you research each program and see that they really offer what certificates or training you need inside of Epidemiology, probably UCLA is a lot more supportive of students in general.
 
sap033 said:
My app to BU (Maternal and Child Health) got verified on 12/3 and I still haven't heard anything. It's nerve wracking to see people who submitted it a month after getting acceptances. Is anyone else who applied around my time or earlier experiencing no communication about decisions from BU too? It's my top 🙁
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I haven’t gotten anything yet, submitted my app around the same time, but wasn’t sent for review until last week!
 
tooicy said:
Anyone applied to Texas A& M? How long did it take them to send your application into review? They received mine 2 weeks ago and said they will be reviewing documents and to allow up to 1 week but I haven’t heard anything about it going into review as yet.
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Hey there! I did. I applied 12/11, application forwarded to review 12/17. Acceptance 1/27
 
She-Hulk said:
I would go to UCLA! Yes, BU is fairly expensive and Boston is as well, might be worth it if BU was Brown, JHU or Tulane, but that's not the case. There are five major regional public health schools in the area, including Brown and Harvard which are better for global health, and Tufts which is better for nutrition, still this is a pretty saturated area for a relatively small population. BU is heavy on social work related stuff, their combined MSW/MPH might be a productive degree, however I think a lot of their research is derivative and trying to make local headlines. BU did have faculty that was pretty pro-vaping and pushing how harmless vaping is until a year ago, now there is research coming out of the same place saying the opposite which is what other institutions have been saying all along. BU handled covid poorly in terms of treatment of students and staff, not sure what happened at UCLA. BUSPH is now 'banning the box' so applicants with criminal histories (including DUIs/assault), can apply and matriculate and nobody at the school would know, and that has been controversial as well.

Make sure you research each program and see that they really offer what certificates or training you need inside of Epidemiology, probably UCLA is a lot more supportive of students in general.
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Hi, I appreciate this, but I’ve looked through your profile and why are you so negative about BU? Also, in regards to your point about the Box, a majority of men in my family have DUIs or weed charges or assault, and they aren’t bad people. Just made a mistake once, and they certainly don’t deserve to be judged forever by that.
 
I’m anxiously waiting on BU, did anyone apply to the CAPDIE and get accepted yet. My app was routed for review on 1/21 but they forgot to send me the email for a few weeks.
 
She-Hulk said:
BUSPH is now 'banning the box' so applicants with criminal histories (including DUIs/assault), can apply and matriculate and nobody at the school would know, and that has been controversial as well.
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I understand why it is controversial, but I wouldn't really cite 'banning the box' as a bad thing. I'm aware of this push at other universities as well. The "box" only perpetuates the stigma formerly incarcerated people face after their release. If anything, reducing the barrier for people with a criminal history an opportunity to get a higher education is a great way to break the cycle of poverty that mass incarceration helps maintain. There's a reason we see a large class divide in incarceration statistics, and public health is a HUGE part of incarceration prevention. If people served their sentences, it shouldn't prevent them from opportunities later in life.
 
PrePtDreamsRVA said:
Hi, I appreciate this, but I’ve looked through your profile and why are you so negative about BU? Also, in regards to your point about the Box, a majority of men in my family have DUIs or weed charges or assault, and they aren’t bad people. Just made a mistake once, and they certainly don’t deserve to be judged forever by that.
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Seems there was some bias there. I also think that anyone who is against banning the box may be in the wrong field...

I definitely think you should go through each of the programs side by side. There are certain things that didn't jump out to me at first, like 94% of BU's students are employed or in school within 6 months. While for Brown, it's 93% within 12 months. I also looked through the course catalogue. I also want to be an epi, so I looked at the availability of various courses like SAS/ArcGIS/etc. Then I looked at internships: companies and locations. Finally, I read reviews, asked around, and looked at the cost.
 
Just curious -- does anyone know why some people who applied to Emory in January are hearing back before others who applied before? I applied to BSHES on 11/22 and was routed for review on 1/8 and according to OPUS, my application is still "under review." Looks like some who applied around 1/5 have already heard back!
 
Congrats everyone on your acceptances! It's been awesome to watch them all come in over the past couple of months.

Now that a lot of us are trying to choose between programs, I wanted to offer up a spreadsheet I made to help determine expected loan burden and compare prices of programs. It's loosely based on the one that Columbia financial aid gives out, but is more comprehensive, adaptable to schools, has more automatic calculations built in for expected loans and uncovered costs, and I think it's more fun to look at 😊

Hopkins is used as a template for a quarter system and Minnesota is used for a semester system. Hopefully this helps make your decision a little easier to conceptualize!

(P.S. There might be some minor errors that leaves some cells blank. I'm sorry if so. I'm doing my best 😅)
 

Attachments

Is UNC sending out decisions? I applied to Equity and havent heard ANYTHING from them.
 
reformedpremed said:
Congrats everyone on your acceptances! It's been awesome to watch them all come in over the past couple of months.

Now that a lot of us are trying to choose between programs, I wanted to offer up a spreadsheet I made to help determine expected loan burden and compare prices of programs. It's loosely based on the one that Columbia financial aid gives out, but is more comprehensive, adaptable to schools, has more automatic calculations built in for expected loans and uncovered costs, and I think it's more fun to look at 🙂

Hopkins is used as a template for a quarter system and Minnesota is used for a semester system. Hopefully this helps make your decision a little easier to conceptualize!

(P.S. There might be some minor errors that leaves some cells blank. I'm sorry if so. I'm doing my best 😅)
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This is super helpful, thank you so much for putting this together! 😊
 
Anya230 said:
Is UNC sending out decisions? I applied to Equity and havent heard ANYTHING from them.
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I heard from EQUITY in December, but I heard nothing from them between "thank you for your application" and "we have updated your portal with a decision."
 
reformedpremed said:
Congrats everyone on your acceptances! It's been awesome to watch them all come in over the past couple of months.

Now that a lot of us are trying to choose between programs, I wanted to offer up a spreadsheet I made to help determine expected loan burden and compare prices of programs. It's loosely based on the one that Columbia financial aid gives out, but is more comprehensive, adaptable to schools, has more automatic calculations built in for expected loans and uncovered costs, and I think it's more fun to look at 🙂

Hopkins is used as a template for a quarter system and Minnesota is used for a semester system. Hopefully this helps make your decision a little easier to conceptualize!

(P.S. There might be some minor errors that leaves some cells blank. I'm sorry if so. I'm doing my best 😅)
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You are absolutely amazing for sharing this! Thank you so much
 
mphlife said:
Is there anyone who didn't address their GPA in their essay?
Even though my GPA is low, I was advised more to focus on the positives on what makes me a great candidate and what I can offer to the field. I didn't have any external factors that impacted my GPA, only my lack of discipline and I didn't want to expose that to admissions.
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i had a 3.2 sophas gpa... i didn’t even remotely speak about it and got accepted to both columbia and yale. didn’t take the GRE either. don’t worry too much, they duly look at you as a whole
 
Anya230 said:
Is UNC sending out decisions? I applied to Equity and havent heard ANYTHING from them.
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They've sent out decisions for other programs (e.g., Health Behavior and MCH) but I haven't seen anyone be accepted to EQUITY. I applied on 11/15, supplemental on 11/17 and haven't heard anything either.

I checked SOPHAS earlier this week and noticed that my second choice program was added by UNC (Health Behavior) so I'm not sure if that means I've definitely been rejected from EQUITY or if I'm under consideration by both. I recognize that it's probably the former but I'm holding out hope for the latter since I haven't seen anyone be accepted to EQUITY at all!
 
Anya230 said:
Ughhh it's so frustrating because I submitted my supplemental 11/27 (the last time I received any communication) and I have absolutely no idea when to even expect a decision. But I guess I will just keep waiting *sigh*
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noneedtoworry said:
They've sent out decisions for other programs (e.g., Health Behavior and MCH) but I haven't seen anyone be accepted to EQUITY. I applied on 11/15, supplemental on 11/17 and haven't heard anything either.

I checked SOPHAS earlier this week and noticed that my second choice program was added by UNC (Health Behavior) so I'm not sure if that means I've definitely been rejected from EQUITY or if I'm under consideration by both. I recognize that it's probably the former but I'm holding out hope for the latter since I haven't seen anyone be accepted to EQUITY at all!
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I'll also add that I did not list a second choice concentration on my application (I applied EQUITY only), which may be why they alerted me of my rejection so early!
 
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Spartacous1 said:
Do you guys think student loans might be cancelled this year under Biden? If I go to NYU I gotta be smart about saving money.
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In my opinion, thousands of dollars might be taken off but I would not bet on it being canceled entirely.
 
My heart dropped!!! Never felt so helpless 🙂

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This forum has been so helpful so I wanted to share my stats! (better late than never)

Undergraduate School/School type: UC Berkeley
Undergrad GPA/Major GPA: 3.4
Major/minor: Media Studies and Global Poverty & Practice

Experience/research:
During undergrad:
-1 year as an RA in the college of environmental design working on a project re: disability rights movement
-2 years as admin assistant at a mental health community based organization
-Spent 1 summer in Nepal completing fieldwork for my minor, provided reproductive health education at youth clubs
-1 semester as a literacy tutor for group of elementary students, 1 semester as an English tutor while studying abroad, 1 summer as a writing tutor for ESL students

I was involved in extracurricular activities as well including public relations chair for on-campus organization (1 year), social and philanthropy committee member of sorority (3 years), and lead brand ambassador for a marketing company that promoted different events/items to college students (1 year)

Post college
-1 year as a Peer Counselor at a wellness center serving individuals with a broad range of mental health needs and SUD
-2.5 years in health and social policy consulting
-communications volunteer for a mental health organization serving Latinx community and volunteered at a COVID-19 testing site helping register people to get same day testing (last summer)

Letters of Rec:
Professional: CEO of consulting firm and a Project Director I work closely with
Academic: GPP professor

Interests: mental health and substance use policy, health policy, women’s health. Applied to all MPH in Health Policy & Management programs (except Hopkins applied to MSPH in Health Policy)

Applied: UC Berkeley (12/1), Harvard (12/1), Yale (12/11), Columbia (12/11, on 1/25 received app update that someone will reach out for an interview), UCLA (12/27) Emory (12/28), UMich (12/30, interviewed 2/22), Johns Hopkins (1/3, interviewed 1/8), GW (1/6)

Accepted: Hopkins (1/13 with 75% MTS 2nd year), UCLA (1/20), Emory (1/20), GW (1/27 with $35k split between year 1 and year 2), Yale +60k Horstmann Scholarship (2/3), UC Berkeley+15k/yr Kaiser Permanente Public Health Scholars Scholarship (2/9), Columbia (2/16), Harvard (2/25), UMich (2/26)

Attending: Harvard
 
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PrePtDreamsRVA said:
Hi! I want to be a chronic disease epi for the federal government or for a private company.
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Thanks. The reason why I asked about your goal for getting an MPH was because if it is intended as a stepping stone for grad school, then I would suggest to choose the one with the lowest cost after factoring in tuition, room/board, etc.

But now you would like to be a chronic disease epi, then you should compare factors such as: tuition cost, post-grad job placement rate, connection opportunities, etc. I did not apply to either of these schools so I do not know these factors; granted, they are both solid programs.
 
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I also thought better late than never!

Undergraduate School/School type: Large state school in PA
Undergrad GPA/Major GPA: 3.14 (SOPHAS Verified 3.04), not sure of my major but probably around a 3.0 - I didn't add any addendums about my GPA, but in my statement I mentioned I wasn't passionate about my major at the time (biology), Fr/So GPA was 2.65, Jr/Sr was 3.43 so I figured that trend spoke for itself
Major/minor: Psychology/ Administration of Justice + Africana Studies
Grad GPA (if applicable): N/A
Grad studies (if applicable): N/A
GRE(including date taken): Didn't take

Experience/research:
Undergraduate:
- Internship with Planned Parenthood
- Worked at a summer enrichment program to improve college readiness in low income and minority populations
- Undergraduate research assistant in the psychology department

Professionally:
- 3 years in child welfare
- 1+ year in early childhood education

Letters of Rec: Both of my direct professional supervisors, one of the professors who helped guide me towards public health

Interests: health/racial disparities, maternal and child health

Applied: Columbia - PopFam (1/14), Emory - BSHES (1/5) , BU - MCH (1/15), GW - MCH (1/15), Tulane - SBPS (1/15), Pitt - BCHS (1/15), Drexel - CHP (1/15), Temple - SBS (1/17)
Accepted: Emory (1/27) + REAL (3/24), BU + 25% (1/28), GW (2/2) + $19k (2/23), Pitt (2/4) + $18k, Temple (2/8), Drexel + $14k (2/9), Columbia (2/16) + $10k (4/7 after financial aid appeal on 4/1)
Rejected: N/A
Waitlisted: N/A
Attending: Columbia!
 
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mchitti said:
hey guys, after seeing posts about the addendum to address grades, i just wanted to know- for schools that don't have an option to add "additional information" that's relevant to your application but that you couldn't talk about in your sop, where would you add that? would it be appropriate to put it in the "writing sample" section? lol
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I honestly didn’t add it if there wasn’t an option. UMich asked for one, so I made sure to add it to their application. Emory did not ask for ”additional information“ and I was still accepted into their program. So far, I’ve been seeing so many unique stats and am sure these schools holistically asses applicants to determine their decision
 
mphwannabe123 said:
How are you guys making your decisions on where to go?

I wasn’t even sure I would get one acceptance, and now I don’t know what to do!
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honestly for me it was going to be according to location and what opportunities are around me. I don't really see my self being able to do full time school unless i recieve SIGNIFICANT scholarship so i wanted to be in an area where i can get paid opportunities and such. Still waiting on my acceptances tho but i lean towards DC/NYC. I'm also interested in the humanitarian space and those places imo is the best areas. IDK where hopkins falls since they are in maryland but like close-ish to DC?
 
The stats are super helpful, thought I would join in too!

Undergraduate School/School type: UCLA
Undergrad GPA/Major GPA: 3.93, major 4.0, public health 4.0
Major: Sociology Minor: Global Health
GRE(including date taken): Didn't take

Experience/research: There's a bunch of other stuff but these are the most relevant!
-founder of homelessness task force, advocated for creation of LGBTQ homeless shelter
-2 years as speaker/panelist about LGBTQ issues for healthcare professionals
-6 months co-leading county program for HIV prevention
-1 year as leader of LGBTQ health advocacy committee
-6+ months volunteering for COVID task force
-6 month internship as peer counselor for LGBTQ youth
-1 year as services coordinator at LGBTQ homeless shelter
-1 year as research assistant for sociology professor

Letters of Rec: Supervisor/director of the homeless shelter, supervisor of internship at youth LGBTQ program,
sociology professor/PI for research experience, and advisor for senior honors thesis

Interests: Health policy, access to healthcare for underprivileged communities, LGBTQ health, homelessness

Applied: Columbia (12/1), UCLA (12/1), Yale (12/15), Emory (1/5) , GW (1/15), Colorado (1/15) (all HPM)
Accepted: Emory (1/20), UCLA (1/20), George Washington (2/10), Colorado (2/11), Columbia (2/16), Yale (+60k) (2/24)
Attending:
 
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reformedpremed said:
Congrats everyone on your acceptances! It's been awesome to watch them all come in over the past couple of months.

Now that a lot of us are trying to choose between programs, I wanted to offer up a spreadsheet I made to help determine expected loan burden and compare prices of programs. It's loosely based on the one that Columbia financial aid gives out, but is more comprehensive, adaptable to schools, has more automatic calculations built in for expected loans and uncovered costs, and I think it's more fun to look at 😊

Hopkins is used as a template for a quarter system and Minnesota is used for a semester system. Hopefully this helps make your decision a little easier to conceptualize!

(P.S. There might be some minor errors that leaves some cells blank. I'm sorry if so. I'm doing my best 😅)
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This is soooo incredible and nice!!
 
reformedpremed said:
Congrats everyone on your acceptances! It's been awesome to watch them all come in over the past couple of months.

Now that a lot of us are trying to choose between programs, I wanted to offer up a spreadsheet I made to help determine expected loan burden and compare prices of programs. It's loosely based on the one that Columbia financial aid gives out, but is more comprehensive, adaptable to schools, has more automatic calculations built in for expected loans and uncovered costs, and I think it's more fun to look at 😊

Hopkins is used as a template for a quarter system and Minnesota is used for a semester system. Hopefully this helps make your decision a little easier to conceptualize!

(P.S. There might be some minor errors that leaves some cells blank. I'm sorry if so. I'm doing my best 😅)
Click to expand...
can someone send that loan spreadsheet to me as a PDF? I cannot access it.
 
jimin_ said:
honestly for me it was going to be according to location and what opportunities are around me. I don't really see my self being able to do full time school unless i recieve SIGNIFICANT scholarship so i wanted to be in an area where i can get paid opportunities and such. Still waiting on my acceptances tho but i lean towards DC/NYC. I'm also interested in the humanitarian space and those places imo is the best areas. IDK where hopkins falls since they are in maryland but like close-ish to DC?
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Thanks for your input! I’m basically deciding between BU (Human Rights and Social Justice concentration) vs. GWU (Health Policy). I got a 25% off tuition for BU and I’m still waiting on aid info from GWU. It’s such a tough decision! Both have great opportunities for what I want to do
 
mphwannabe123 said:
Thanks for your input! I’m basically deciding between BU (Human Rights and Social Justice concentration) vs. GWU (Health Policy). I got a 25% off tuition for BU and I’m still waiting on aid info from GWU. It’s such a tough decision! Both have great opportunities for what I want to do
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yeah for me - i know DC has so many opportunities to intern or work entry level vs boston so here's hoping they give aid too 😢
 
jimin_ said:
yeah for me - i know DC has so many opportunities to intern or work entry level vs boston so here's hoping they give aid too 😢
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They are soooo expensive. That + cost of living is a lot. I guess we’ll have to wait and see!!
 
Quick question for anyone accepted to Columbia. Did the financial aid office reach out asking for your social security number? I thought I had already put in it in my SOPHAS application and on my FAFSA, but they said they don't have it on file.

They said to email it to the admissions office, but I'm not sure if it that is the most secure way to send my social security number.
 
pubhealthlover said:
Quick question for anyone accepted to Columbia. Did the financial aid office reach out asking for your social security number? I thought I had already put in it in my SOPHAS application and on my FAFSA, but they said they don't have it on file.

They said to email it to the admissions office, but I'm not sure if it that is the most secure way to send my social security number.
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Yep, I got this email too and I don't think it's smart or secure to send your SSN via email. Both emails are real emails that are on the Columbia fin aid website so I reached out to the email they asked me to reply to (the admissions office) and asked them to call me so that I could provide it via the phone. I haven't received a call yet but I did receive an automated "it may take 3-5 business days" response.

I also checked SOPHAS and I had already input my SSN. Not sure what's going on here!
 
Hello! Has anyone applied to Rutgers this cycle? If so, did you hear back from them yet (and how long did it take for you to hear back from them)? Thanks in advance!
 
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