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

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iFky99 said:
I did, I wrote a 2-page addendum for Columbia (haven't heard back from them so idk its effects yet) (calculus and chem were tough) but I wrote one paragraph about why I struggled in my freshman year, what I learned from the experience and what I hope to take with me towards my future studies at Columbia.
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did the same thing. Waiting for Columbia also for EH
 
chickenbreastandbroccoli said:
Has anyone had interviews for JHU's ScM programs? I was invited to chat more about my goals via Zoom but not sure what to expect. Thanks! 😢
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Don't stress too much! I had a pretty informal conversation with the head of the program in biochem and molecular bio! He just asked me about my previous research and what I was hoping to get out of the ScM program vs MHS 🙂 He was very nice and answered a lot of my questions after the interview. Hope that helps!
 
manatees97 said:
I just tried this out with the link you posted and it seems I have an acceptance at well??! But no email? I'm so confused because I've never seen this link before. Going to email BU and see what's up
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Same here. Have you heard back from the admissions about what this link is? Appreciated!
 
mackeral said:
Serious question- how are y'all dealing with the wait? I know I've still got a few weeks before I hear back and I'm still refreshing my email constantly. I've been trying to focus on work and unrelated hobbies but I keep coming back to my inbox 🤣
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The wait has been excruciating. Definitely has affected my mental health without my usual physical outlets given weather and COVID (e.g., gym, walks in the park). To distract myself, I started playing the stock market roflcoptor. Maybe it’ll help pay for tuition?! 🤣

Seriously very thankful for this thread and the overwhelming level of camaraderie here. We got this, gang! ️
 
nunuuuxoxo said:
Does anyone know the difference between application data (school portal) and SOPHAS date? I submitted my application to Emory on 1/4 via SOPHAS and in the portal, it says 1/14.
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I think that's the date that they downloaded your data from SOPHAS
 
mhunter5774 said:
Don't stress too much! I had a pretty informal conversation with the head of the program in biochem and molecular bio! He just asked me about my previous research and what I was hoping to get out of the ScM program vs MHS 🙂 He was very nice and answered a lot of my questions after the interview. Hope that helps!
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Wow, thank you for this insight! That sound's a lot like what they said to me as well, with information about ScM vs MHS. If you don't mind me asking, when did you have your interview and how long was it until you received a response?
 
manatees97 said:
for me i just put in https://exploresph.bu.edu/FirstnameLastname/landing and my acceptance immediately came up with nothing to click on - tbh it seems like BU is a little bit disorganized right now 😳
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Thank you! I'm so annoyed that they are chaotic and the personalized website feels buggy AND most of us don't even have the link. What is going on?? Also, when does BU provide financial aid info
 
Just got accepted into Columbia's MPH Populations and Family Health with a certificate in Global Health!

Application went under review 11/30/2020
Final LOR verification was processed on 1/25/2021 which is what I'm assuming they were waiting for since one of the recs didn't answer their emails for a few weeks and finally verified their rec then haha
 
Cornell gave me $10,000 scholarship for the 1st year (renewable each year based on GPA).
Also NYU emailed me back saying scholarships are final and non-negotiable but that on-campus jobs are $20/hr. and All classes are evening/night
 
lmarph said:
Has anyone submitted an addendum addressing low GPA and/or a failed class? Would you mind providing any advice or insight, I'm kind of lost of what to write.
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I submitted addendums to Columbia (one page) and BU (1/2 page). I agree with what @Spartacous1 and @zubear said about keeping it short-- was advised by BU to keep it under one page. First, I used my SOP to touch on the reasons for my low GPA, gaps in education, and withdrawals from school, which I then used as a segue into my addendum. In the actual addendum, I described how my lack of diagnosis for a medical condition affected my grades, cultural factors with family, how I overcame obstacles with post-bacc work, and what I hope to bring to the school given my past struggles. I believe the addendum was paramount to BU's decision to take a chance on me.

Feel free to PM me if you have more questions-- happy to help!
 
chickenbreastandbroccoli said:
Wow, thank you for this insight! That sound's a lot like what they said to me as well, with information about ScM vs MHS. If you don't mind me asking, when did you have your interview and how long was it until you received a response?
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I had the interview on a Friday and got an acceptance about 4-5 days later!!
 
TR_ZHG said:
Is there anyone else who hasn't gotten a decision email from BU AND has not had their landing page updated yet? And by any chance, did you apply for Health Comm and Promotion?

This is really testing my patience. 🙄
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omg hello i couldnt find anyone who applied health comm but yeah i got waitlisted 2 days ago after going into review on january 10th
 
For those who were accepted to UMN has anyone heard back in regards to scholarships? Also, if you have was it before or after confirming your seat? Thanks in advance!
 
hokiegirl30 said:
Has anyone heard from UNC and/or Vanderbilt epi MPH?
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I applied to both those school (not for EPI though). My UNC application got rerouted to my second choice. I got an email from Vanderbilt on 1/11 saying I would have a decision by 2/1 but nothing yet
 
ssabrina said:
Just got accepted into Columbia's MPH Populations and Family Health with a certificate in Global Health!

Application went under review 11/30/2020
Final LOR verification was processed on 1/25/2021 which is what I'm assuming they were waiting for since one of the recs didn't answer their emails for a few weeks and finally verified their rec then haha
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Congratulations!! Oh wow, I had no idea that they actually reached out to your recommenders in order to verify their statements...is this standard? Anyone else know more about this? I submitted 4 letters of rec and that would take forever considering that 3/4 are very busy faculty........
 
thompson0803 said:
Bit update for anyone else who applied to Brown: I emailed admission regarding a decision timeline and they said. “ normally it takes roughly 8-12 weeks but we have not sent out any decision letters yet. Due to a record increase in the number of applications we received this year, it is going to take at least 8 weeks more for us to get decisions out.”
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Golly. I'm going to lose my mind waiting to hear from Brown!
 
Figured I would share my stats as I'm new here! My stats & experience aren't great as I decided pretty last minute to go for public health so I'm not expecting much tbh (especially as I haven't heard back from most of the schools other have so far)!

Undergraduate School/School type: UC Berkeley
Undergrad GPA/Major GPA: 3.7ish (downward trend junior and senior years unfortunately as I got very sick with a chronic illness junior year and didn't get diagnosed and treated until after graduation, I talked about this in my essays as it's one of the reasons I became interested in public health)
Major/minor: Political Science
Grad GPA (if applicable): N/A
Grad studies (if applicable): N/A
GRE(including date taken): N/A

Experience/research: 3 years (but only one postgrad) working at a healthcare investment fund, 1 year postgrad working as a science and math tutor. Don't have much experience unfortunately as I assumed I was going to be going to law school and then decided after graduation that that wasn't what I wanted to do!

Letters of Rec: One from a poli sci professor who taught a health policy class I took senior year, one from the head of healthcare investment fund, one from another poli sci professor that wasn't really relevant to public health at all but I did well in his class

Interests: Health economics, smoking cessation & prevention, nutrition, lung, skin, & ovarian cancers

Applied: UCLA (12/01), UCSD (12/01), UAB (12/01), UMD-CP (01/27), Columbia (12/01), Yale (12/01), Brown (12/01). Applied for Epi/Chronic Disease Epi for all.
Accepted: UAB (12/07), Columbia (02/02)
Rejected: UCSD (01/26), Yale (02/03)
Waitlisted:
Attending:
 
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mphwannabe123 said:
I applied to both those school (not for EPI though). My UNC application got rerouted to my second choice. I got an email from Vanderbilt on 1/11 saying I would have a decision by 2/1 but nothing yet
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For Vandy, I was also told I would hear back by the 1st and anxiously waiting. I applied by Dec. 15 deadline for HP.
 
coastadorable said:
Congratulations!! Oh wow, I had no idea that they actually reached out to your recommenders in order to verify their statements...is this standard? Anyone else know more about this? I submitted 4 letters of rec and that would take forever considering that 3/4 are very busy faculty........
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Thank you!
I submitted my SOPHAS with all my recs by 12/1 and then one of my recs messaged me the first week in January saying Columbia had reached out to her to verify her rec! The admissions reached out to me earlier this week saying one of my recs they had reached out to multiple times and he still hadn't verified it so they asked me to reach out to him so he could check. He's a doctor so he never checked, but once he did they sent me my acceptance 2 days later! I had 4 recs and the other two did not tell me about being sent an email for an additional verification so if you haven't heard anything I'm sure your recs are fine!
 
Pwny said:
I submitted addendums to Columbia (one page) and BU (1/2 page). I agree with what @Spartacous1 and @zubear said about keeping it short-- was advised by BU to keep it under one page. First, I used my SOP to touch on the reasons for my low GPA, gaps in education, and withdrawals from school, which I then used as a segue into my addendum. In the actual addendum, I described how my lack of diagnosis for a medical condition affected my grades, cultural factors with family, how I overcame obstacles with post-bacc work, and what I hope to bring to the school given my past struggles. I believe the addendum was paramount to BU's decision to take a chance on me.

Feel free to PM me if you have more questions-- happy to help!
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Yes! Definitely keep it short - only a paragraph max for the explanation of low GPA (to not seem like you're making any excuses). For the rest of my addendum, I focused more about my future aspirations and what I hope to achieve at Columbia (relating it back to how my past struggles shaped this passion).
 
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.
 
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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Same, I didn't address it. I felt like my transcript showed my academic growth so I had faith they would see it.
 
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.
Click to expand...
I didn't write about mine either. Honestly I didn't have confidence I could just "work in" what happened without it being a sob story, and my gpa was a 3.2 before it was SOPHAS verfied (not good, but decent enough I didn't feel I HAD to explain). I hinted at some of the things I struggled with, and I'm really hoping they see my ridiculous upwards trend. I also thought one of my recommenders was likely to explain a little bit about what happened (in a "and she still did it!!" way), so I was scared to over-emphasize the low gpa and the struggles I overcame. If I don't get in anywhere, I will definitely be addressing it next cycle.
 
ssabrina said:
Just got accepted into Columbia's MPH Populations and Family Health with a certificate in Global Health!

Application went under review 11/30/2020
Final LOR verification was processed on 1/25/2021 which is what I'm assuming they were waiting for since one of the recs didn't answer their emails for a few weeks and finally verified their rec then haha
Click to expand...
Congratulations!!! I'm surprised they sent out decisions today!! What time did you hear back?
 
ssabrina said:
Just got accepted into Columbia's MPH Populations and Family Health with a certificate in Global Health!

Application went under review 11/30/2020
Final LOR verification was processed on 1/25/2021 which is what I'm assuming they were waiting for since one of the recs didn't answer their emails for a few weeks and finally verified their rec then haha
Click to expand...
CONGRATS!!! I'm waiting on Pop Fam still!! Did anyone else hear from that department today?? Also, had no idea about verifying references until you posted this uh oh. Haven't heard anything so assuming all is well...
 
TR_ZHG said:
Is there anyone else who hasn't gotten a decision email from BU AND has not had their landing page updated yet? And by any chance, did you apply for Health Comm and Promotion?

This is really testing my patience. 🙄
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I applied for Maternal and Child Health, but same here I've got no decision yet and my landing page isn't updated :/ making me super on edge
 
petrichorblue said:
Figured I would share my stats as I'm new here! My stats & experience aren't great as I decided pretty last minute to go for public health so I'm not expecting much tbh (especially as I haven't heard back from most of the schools other have so far)!

Undergraduate School/School type: UC Berkeley
Undergrad GPA/Major GPA: 3.7ish (downward trend junior and senior years unfortunately as I got very sick with a chronic illness junior year and didn't get diagnosed and treated until after graduation, I talked about this in my essays as it's one of the reasons I became interested in public health)
Major/minor: Political Science
Grad GPA (if applicable): N/A
Grad studies (if applicable): N/A
GRE(including date taken): N/A

Experience/research: 3 years (but only one postgrad) working at a healthcare investment fund, 1 year postgrad working as a science and math tutor. Don't have much experience unfortunately as I assumed I was going to be going to law school and then decided after graduation that that wasn't what I wanted to do!

Letters of Rec: One from a poli sci professor who taught a health policy class I took senior year, one from the head of healthcare investment fund, one from another poli sci professor that wasn't really relevant to public health at all but I did well in his class

Interests: Health economics, smoking cessation & prevention, nutrition, lung, skin, & ovarian cancers

Applied: UCLA, UCSD, UAB, UMD-CP, Columbia, Yale, Brown
Accepted: UAB (accepted December 5ish I think)
Rejected: UCSD
Waitlisted:
Attending:
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Current Cal student here! You got this!! The power of Oski will be with you 🙂 Go Bears <333
 
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.
Click to expand...
Honestly, I didn't have tp (I genuinely think we would've been fine without it with a low 3.x GPA and an upward trend) but since Columbia's personal statement was only 500 words, I wanted to have an opportunity to slip in more things I wanted to say (with the GPA explanation) that I didn't manage to fit into the personal statement 🙂
 
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.
Click to expand...
I didn't either! Felt my experience should speak for itself and my transcript and resume could show I hated my major but loved Public Health
 
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.
Click to expand...
I didn't but I got in touch with the admission departments and will be uploading an addendum to my applications just in case. I thought my experience and upward trajectory would speak for itself but im getting worried seeing acceptances lol
 
Out of curiosity, people who are getting decisions from BU, what concentrations are you applying to?
 
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