MammaD

Street smart

Fire hose

Sorry! Posted before I finished! UNC is really the best place for me to be at this point, so hopefully the admissions folks will agree and my family will be looking at a fresh start in August.

Harvard was another Epi program that wanted more clinical rigor (MD), it seemed. My recollection is a little vague but I have flashes of lists and admissions criteria and going through website after website to get a feel for the approach each school took to their Epi programs. The schools I ultimately avoided seemed, to my eyes, anyway, to have programs where those with existing research skills could spend a few years brushing up and doing a couple of studies -- I really need to come in at the ground floor and build my methods base. I did visit Columbia when I was considering an MPH there, and I didn't get the impression that they would be MD-preferred for Environmental Health. I would have liked it there, I think, but I wasn't a good fit for their "executive" MPH program (lots of weekends and my work schedule was unpredictable with lots of weekends) and couldn't do a traditional on-campus class program at that time, either. The students seemed very excited about their projects and interactions with faculty and NYC is just teeming with every kind of public health case study a person could imagine! This is most definitely my calling. My SOP was hard to write without it coming off like a memoir but hopefully I captured my commitment to the field as well as my readiness to function in a rigorous research environment despite my unique profile. It took me a few years and a lot of soul-searching to get to this point, and if this PhD isn't the next step, I have no earthly clue what might be! BoilerEpi -- I truly don't know which program I'd choose if I got into both (and funding was equal). I was assured I could have access to the data/subject cohorts I needed from either department and I'd have access to faculty from both regardless of which one I was in. I probably have a better shot at MCH just by the numbers and I'd be thankful with an acceptance to either and a minor in the other. UNC is one of only 3 places in the country where my research interests are represented, and it's the best fit of those 3,

Congrats on the Columbia interview! A few of the faculty at my school (I'm in my last semester of my MPH) also teach at Columbia and it's an excellent place to study from what I can tell. The Epi department there is, like many other schools, geared more toward MDs than someone like me, but if I wasn't looking to do research, I'd have definitely applied there (and wouldn't have to move my family though the commute would be taxing ... there is NO PARKING around there!). My life has been interesting, I guess *shrug* I only had 3 years left in the military band before I could retire but I felt so strongly called to the work I'm hoping to do and I feel like the time to do it is now. I had a satisfying career in music and will hopefully play again, but I'm definitely ready to serve the world in another way. Hopefully one of the two programs (or both would be ok, too!) I applied to will deem me educable!

Madness. I can't focus on anything else.

I can't focus, either and I have a book manuscript due on Friday plus homework and thesis work. Today is one day past when one of my programs notified accepted students last year.

Wing man

Hat trick

Tall drink

I applied to the one Epi program I'd like to be at, yes. I was asked the same question and gave a similar answer (plus I'm taking very quantatively heavy electives and doing well in them). I applied to another program at the same school (same access to particular faculty there), so I'm waiting on both and I'm very eager to hear something soon! Good luck to you!

My undergrad GPA was 3.63 but my major was music performance. I spent 17 years as a professional musician. I started my public health journey (unwittingly) as a volunteer in 2005 and things sort of carried me from there to this point. I guess that earns me lots of labels like "non-traditional" and "career change" but here's hoping it's all a good thing!

Oh my goodness BoilerEpi, we're like numbers twins! My MPH is also behavioral sciences/health promotion but I do have clinical experience in the field I want to research -- not much in terms of academic experience, though. I'm riding on the hope that my research interests were focused and viable enough that they'll see me as a good fit for their program.

Haha, I saw that "maniac" and tried to comfort myself that there aren't enough people with numbers like that AND appropriately-suited reasearh interests to close me out of the program! My GRE wasn't the greatest but my advisor (MPH program) told me the fact that I've been out of high school math for over 20 years is something they'll consider, especially since I'm doing well in Epi and biostats electives I'm taking here. I was in 74th percentile for Q and 94th for V. I got a 4.5 on the AW which doesn't bother me because I have copy-writing and editing experience on my CV, including for a journal and a publisher in my field of interest. My GPA is currently 3.88 and will likely hold. I interviewed with 2 faculty there and thought the day went well. I also applied to the MCH program there because the faculty member whose research interests most closely match mine is affiliated with that dept (and she told me to), so if I get in there but not Epi, I can plan to minor in Epi, which I'm told is the exact same first year of coursework. If I get into both, I've got some serious thinking to do. Now I'm just obsessing over whether this year's "January 27" means tomorrow (Friday) or Monday. I'll definitely post here if I learn anything either way. I hope we both get in!!

I'm waiting on UNC Epi, too. It's the only school I applied to. Good luck to you, too, and to everyone!

I was 38 when I applied and was accepted. I'll be 40 at graduation in May. There are other older students in my MPH program. I haven't found ageism at all. Even when I went to check out PhD programs, everyone from students to faculty seemed very welcoming.

I applied to one school (two different programs). If I get rejected from both, my plan is to sleep (after graduating in May with my Master's) until our savings run out, then find a job before we all starve. It's actually sort of an inviting option.

Someone with a 3.98 GPA and crazy GREs (164V, 161Q, 5.0AW) got accepted to one of my programs via website today, 2 weeks earlier than the earliest result last year (and on a SUNDAY? I didn't know to stay ever vigilant on Sundays!). This does nothing to encourage me with my 3.88, 164/156/4.5. My freaking out has just kicked into high gear and I want to curl up somewhere and cry but I have 3 kids to put to bed then homework.

Does anyone know what elementary, middle, and high schools kids living in Baity Hill would go to? My husband is still active military and probably wouldn't be able to move with us immediately, and my Veterans' education benefit (I served 17 years) would cover rent at Baity Hill for a 2 bed-2 bath ... I could totally make that work with my 3 kids but am curious about the school thing. It might be nice to not have to worry about selling our home/buying one in Chapel Hill/finding a very cheap place for husband to live in the interim but only if it's the right thing for my kids. Thanks in advance to anyone who knows. I'll have 2 in elementary school and 1 in middle school but could be there when the oldest starts HS and we've got our eyes on specific public schools.

Whoo hoo! Congrats, nohika!

Thanks so much, everyone! It's really hard to not analyze every single factor right now, isn't it? Hopefully, the school has the same score report that I have, not a "revised" one. In any case, I suppose if the average quant. percentile of enrollees is 77th, odds support there being some above that and some below it (see? Biostatistics stuff is sinking in!). I just have to hope from here. Thanks again to everyone for clarifying and sharing your thoughts with me.

That results forum is going to be the end of me, too. Last year, someone got accepted on January 24 to one of my programs and Febtuary 15 to the other, but there aren't many posts for either. There were some earlier rejections, too. I just want to know.

Please forgive me if this has been asked before -- I didn't find it on an initial search. I took the GRE at the end of June in 2012. My score report (which I asked at the test to send to my programs I'd be applying to, so they got sent before I actually applied) indicated I was in the 74th percentile for quantitative and 94th percentile for verbal (156 and 164). For one program, the website indicated "most successful applicants score at or above the 70th percentile." I figured I was close, but on the right side of the line, and thought I was in the clear (especially since my advisor told me the admissions committee would consider that I'm many years since school math, which is what the GRE addresses, but doing well in quantitatively demanding courses right now in school). Last year, the average GRE percentiles for enrollees to that program (Epidemiology) were 77th math, 78th verbal. In the other program I applied to, they were 60th quantitative and 79th verbal. THEN I learn that the percentiles changed after the summer and my math 156 is now in the 68th percentile (!!) and my verbal 164 is now in the 93rd percentile. I'm on the wrong side of the line now! Which score report will the school go by? The original one, or the one since it changed? My paper score report was generated at the same time as the one sent to the school and it has the higher percentiles. Since my fall grades, my current GPA in my MPH is 3.88. I'm a clinician and writer/educator in my clinical and advocacy field, and I aspire to do research to fill gaps we struggle with on the clinical side. I can't imagine my recommendations weren't decent, my essays were reviewed and coached by a generous colleague/researcher/faculty (somewhere else) in my field ... Should I have taken that darned GRE again? I'm turning 40 pretty soon and I don't think I have another year of subjecting myself to this process in me. Thanks in advance for any wisdom you can offer, even if it's not comforting!

I stuck to the guidelines. It was really hard, but I had to make every word count. Good luck!

I don't know how I'm getting through the days other than adrenaline. I'm writing a book (due to publisher by Feb. 1) so that keeps me busy, plus work, my family/kids, 3 conferences I'm presenting at, and my semester starts next week. I'm waiting for my grades from last semester still (one program wants them) and admissions decisions from 2 programs -- I don't think they're coming before mid-February at the earliest. I'm super freaked out about whether or not I'm moving, selling my house, buying a house, putting my kids in a new school/church, all of it. Very overwhelming and all riding on whether I even get in! I don't think I can sustain this for another month or more!