maturia

Good idea! It looks like you need to already have a U of T email address to join, which I don't. Are we supposed to already have those? (I had figured they would be assigned when we get our TCards later in the summer) Is there any other way to join?

I've been struggling with the same dilemma between U of T Epi and Queen's general MPH (although I can't dither much longer as my offer for Queen's is due tomorrow!). Basically like deletta, I am also leaning towards U of T, even though I share the same concerns as you, s24. I too find that U of T's program is VERY numbers based, and there really isn't much "general" public health content. It's all epi, which is very intimidating for someone from a social sciences background like me. However, I've realized that while the program is very numbers-based the first year, the second year is rather wide open and you can basically take all the "softer" non-numbers-based courses you like, but you'll have (hopefully) acquired strong quantitative skills the first year. While I'm still nervous about it, I basically see it as 8 months that might be admittedly a little painful, but will give you a foundation of marketable, hard skills, and then in the second year you can explore your other interests in public health, which might not be so in demand in the workplace. Looking at the courses at Queen's, I wasn't sure it would give me the same rigorous foundation, even though I would feel a lot more comfortable and a lot less nervous going into it than I do for U of T. I don't know your background, but for me it's basically a matter of not going for something that's similar to what I've done in the past and is probably more "natural" for me, in favour of doing something that's harder but ultimately probably more useful for my future career. I hope anyways - I may say all this now and then be fleeing the program two weeks in, but that's my current thinking. Are you having the same kind of thoughts about it?

Have any of you who were accepted to U of T heard back about the OGS (assuming you applied)? I've heard that some other departments at U of T sent out notices to successful OGS applicants a while ago, but I haven't heard anything about it from Dalla Lana.

You both sound like you have very interesting backgrounds! What did you two major in as undergrads?

Thank you! I'm sorry to hear that I think that stream is really small so there probably weren't very many acceptances. Best of luck with your other applications!

No, I wasn't really expecting to hear back yet. I was going by their "Timeline" page, which says letters would be out starting mid-April. But it probably varies a bit for each specialization - my guess would be that there are more applicants to wade through for Health Promo than for Epi.

No, I was not. I didn't receive any emails or anything at all prior to getting this letter in the mail. In the letter it does ask that I send in the official transcripts before Aug. 31 at the latest, but preferably as soon as possible, as a condition of the offer. Thank you! No, it didn't - my status still says "Under Review".

I received an acceptance letter from U of T today, for the MPH in Epidemiology. It arrived in the mail and from the postmark was sent yesterday, so keep an eye on your mailboxes for those who applied to that program as it seems they're getting out acceptances earlier than I was expecting!

As I mentioned above (looks like we posted at about the same time!), I received the same letter and I am really surprised by how close the deadline to accept the offer is. I wonder if they're always that soon? Hopefully other schools will send acceptances/rejections within the next two weeks.

I received a letter from UAlberta today (I applied to the MPH in Epi). The letter was sent via email, as an attachment, and stated that there were a very high number of applicants this year, so they're sending these letters out now and when they've received responses to them, they'll start sending offers to people on the waiting list. I don't know if this would apply to any streams other than Epi though.

What is the proper protocol on gifts for people who have written letters of recommendation for you, and also for those who didn't write you a letter, but gave you advice and feedback on your statement of interest? I obviously intend to send a Thank-You card, but is it appropriate to also include a gift? I'd have to send all but one of these by mail, and I feel awkward sending an actual bulky package to professors' offices in addition to a Thank-You card, especially if this would be seen as unusual or inappropriate. What is usually considered standard procedure? And what about for the person who reviewed my statement - is a gift standard, or just a card?

Thank you! I really appreciate the advice. If you don't mind commenting, how do you like the program so far? Do you find the class is a good mix, or are most people from a similar academic background?

I'm working on my LOIs for MPH programs, and I'm just wondering - has everyone been doing theirs single or double-spaced? For example, U of T says the LOI for Epi should be "no more than 2 pages". Is that 2 pages single-spaced, or double-spaced?

The schools I'm applying to require that you upload a scanned copy of your transcript, and some also require official transcripts to be sent. I attended one university for my entire B.A., except that I took one summer course at a different university so I could work a summer job in my hometown while also earning a credit. The summer course is listed on my home university's transcript as a transfer credit and it does specify the university, but it doesn't list the grade I received (which was good). When filling out the 'academic history' section of applications, do I need to include the university where I did the summer course, and do I need to upload a transcript for it? That's what I had planned to do, but it seems the 'academic history' section is really asking for info on places where you did an entire degree, and not on places where you did a brief study away... any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks for your reply. I am applying to MPH programs, and specifically to the Epidemiology stream. That was my thought too - that the boss could maybe give a different view than just a DWIC letter. However, will the admissions committee be likely to look down on the fact that this person is neither in academia nor the public health field?

I have secured two references from two professors who know me and my work pretty well. I had chosen a third referee, but after emailing them twice, I have not heard back from them and I figure with the clock ticking, I need to ask someone else instead ASAP. I am torn between asking a prof who could probably write me a "DWIC" letter, vs asking a former boss from a summer job who might be able to discuss different things from the two profs I already have, but who isn't very familiar with academia, the procedures involved in applying to grad school, etc, and isn't in the public health field. I know neither of these sounds like a stellar option, but which would you go with? Thanks for any advice!

Thank you. That helps! I feel like I should have been more organized and asked them from the start, but I didn't want to ask when all the details weren't available yet... sigh. It's always chaotic when it's the pilot year for a big change like this.

I'd like to apply to the Ontario Graduate Scholarship, but I'm finding it kind of confusing now that they've spun the process off to the separate universities. One of the schools I'm applying to will be considering every grad school applicant for the OGS, but some others will make you apply separately for the OGS. I've already asked my referees for admissions - would it be considered rude if I now email them and say "hey, are you okay with recommending me twice to the same school and submitting your letter once to them for admissions, and once for the scholarship?" Or do I need to ask them in a totally separate fashion - is it considered different to ask someone to recommend you for funding vs asking them to recommend you for admissions? How do I go about this?

This is probably a stupid question, but I'm just wondering - if your applications are to be done online, should you have all of your supporting documents (CV, SOP, etc) done and ready to be uploaded before you begin the online application? Or should you start the online application, get a sense of how things will be done with it, and then start/continue working on the supporting documents and later return to the application to upload them in a few days or weeks? I'm just wondering if there's typically a time limit on these online applications or anything. Thanks for any advice!

Well, one of the 2 profs I plan to ask does run the lab where the PhD candidate works - so someone above the candidate would also be writing about me, if they both accept (and I'm not totally sure the PhD candidate will anyways - it's been a while since I took their classes). Would that help? If only all the programs wanted just two references!

Thanks for the response. The third professor would definitely just be a "did well in class" letter, and I didn't even write a paper for her class. Whereas with the PhD Candidate, one of the classes she taught was directly related to health/the field I'm interested in and she herself has an MPH, and I did write papers for both of her classes, so she may be able to elaborate more. The work letter would be from a summer job that wasn't in a field related to public health, but he knows of my interest in that area and he did supervise me everyday for 4 months, so he might be able to come up with more to say, but he doesn't have any experience in academia - would that be looked down upon by people in admissions? The referee form for one of the programs does ask for the referee to comment on academic ability, writing ability, and so on, and I'm not sure that the supervisor would know that side of me.

Just to add on - another option for me rather than asking the supervisor or prof who doesn't know me ell would be to ask a PhD Candidate who acted as my instructor for 2 courses related to my proposed field of study. My only concern with that would be whether it's acceptable to ask a PhD candidate to act as a reference?

I graduated with my BA earlier this year, and now I'm applying to several MPH programs here in Canada. Several programs only require 2 references, and for those, I'm asking 2 of my professors from undergrad. However, some programs ask for 3 references - I'm wondering if for these, I should ask 2 professors and one former manager, who supervised me at my 4-month summer job in 2011 (which was not in the field of public health, but he knows I am interested in this field), or if I should just ask a third professor, who doesn't know me very well but in whose class I did well and who may be more familiar with graduate school recommendations than someone who isn't in academia? Any opinions/advice would be sincerely appreciated! Thank you.

Is anyone else having a tough time deciding between streams? My first choice is definitely U of T, but I'm kind of stuck between whether I want to apply to Epi or Health Promotion. I feel Epi probably has better job prospects and gives you more concrete skills, but I'm wary that I may find it *too* stats-heavy. Anyone know how much flexibility you really have with it? The course listings make it seem like even in Epi you have a LOT of non-math electives aside from the core stats courses, yet I've heard otherwise from some people.