Hey PeriEpi,
Basically, same mantra applies to the PhD folks as those in the MPH (in terms of grades). PhD folks however need to deal w/ a lot more other factors not concerned w/ grades or scores with regard to admission. And....this is an understatement! Often, the difference between one accepted applicant and another rejected one can be something as trivial as just 'clicking' or 'having the right chemistry' w/ another prof AND their students. So, there are many more ancillary factors that apply to PhD candidates than for other degrees. Gradewise, basically, you want something better than a 3.0, around a 1200 (w/ at least a 3.5-4.0 on AW) at a minimum, in order to be more or less a competitive candidate (mind you...by competitive...I don't mean you will absolutely get in). Others can post their specific stats if they want. But, I find that this is a wasteful endeavor since there are so many other factors that play a role in admission for PhD programs than grades and scores. One example....FUNDING! Funding is something that is completely beyond your control. And, its one factor that an MPH/ MS candidate doesn't have to worry about. Whereas for PhD students funding is often at least 50% of what determines their admission. This is generally the case. Not always. I interviewed at Cornell for a PhD program. The prof I wanted to work w/, who was doing the interview, is on my admission committee. He told me that as far as he is concerned, as long as the candidate doesn't have anything less than a 1200 on the GRE's, he doesn't bother looking at them at all. Another prof I interviewed with doesn't accept students w/ anything less than a 780 on the quant section. Doesn't care about anything else. So, each prof that I interviewed w/ had their own criteria and formula for determining whether they want to work w/ a candidate or not. After all, being selected to do research w/a prof is typically the way you gain admittance into a program. Although, nowadays, it is becoming more typical to do rotations w/ profs prior to actually selecting a professor to work w/.
