mmajum01
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Posts posted by mmajum01
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Cantaloupes. Many of them. It's terrifying.
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So for those who submitted before the deadline, were all the decisions made? I saw some rejections for Brown today (but no acceptances)..
I've got not idea... Maybe try emailing Beth Clark? She's very kind and responsive.
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With all this talk of funding cuts, I'm starting to feel even more blessed to have a fully-funded offer... Yikes.
- Mazaya, songsong2012, loganartemis and 3 others
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Hi All,
I just heard from the department that they are doing multiple rounds of PhD application reviews at Brown Biostatistics. For those of us who submitted on the deadline (January 5th), the committee will be convening to discuss our applications sometime soon. We should be hearing by the end of next week.
They've already put out decisions for applicants who submitted earlier, though I'm unsure as to what the cut-off date was. Interesting process... It seems then that applying on the day an application is due would put someone at a disadvantage!
Any other information on Brown Biostatistics is welcome!
Maia -
Hey All! I just heard from Yale EMD that all interview offers have been sent out and acceptances will be selected from interviewees. Sorry to all those waiting.
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If there's other EHE applicants to JHSPH, they plan to have decisions posted on applyyourself hopefully within the end of this week. Thanks to everyone who gave me advice on contacting programs. The other programs I'm waiting for emails/calls back, JHU was just the first to respond (wow, super fast, and extremely nice!). Interviews were held in early Feb though, so I won't hold my breath since I didn't get invited then. *laughs* My anxiety just shot straight up now though >.< Be still you stupid heart..
Epidemiwhat, to answer your question. I sent an email to around one or two or most of the time a third faculty member at each of the schools I applied. If I could not even come up with a second faculty of interest, I did not apply for the program. Most of them were three, except for the two schools I presumed rejected me (invites for interviews already sent out, etc.) and for good reason, I probably wasn't a good fit. At four schools, I engaged in a phone chat with a faculty member (one school had two faculty members double-team call me) of interest (usually at their suggestion too), for one school I exchanged about 4-5 emails back and forth discussing potential projects with a POI (Side note: this particular application ended in a rejection, but the POI gave me best wishes, so I assume he "went to bat for me" as best he could
). My alma mater has no PhD program in the area I want, so I did not apply there. I had no specific tie to any of the schools I applied to, so each contact was what they call a "cold call/email." Also I have to note that I think you should always contact if you are truly interested in the program. You're gonna spend a good chunk of your life in the program, so you better make sure you get all your questions answered, have a likeable enough potential advisor, etc.Then you pray to the grad school gods.
Don't worry too much about JHSPH EHE, VBD!!! At least you have one acceptance, right?
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Question-
How much contact have you have had with faculty at schools you applied to? Did you have a connection with a professor/faculty member at every school? Or were there any schools that you applied without any connections? Just curious what people's experiences have been like, or what your opinion is on that issue.
Good luck to all!
Like many on this forum, I contacted at least one tenure-track or tenured faculty at every program. (Essentially, I only contacted individuals who had the money and professional incentive to fully-fund a doctoral student.) I got in touch with POIs as early as a year ago. I emailed 4-5 faculty with similar research interests at each program, and typically 1-2 would be excited about collaborating and taking me on as a doctoral student. I had extensive phone and in-person conversations with 4 faculty from 4 of my 6 programs and email conversations only with the remaining 2. Of the 4, one of them is my to-be advisor at Columbia.
I may be the kind of person who "over-prepares", but I think this sort of personal communication - when done effectively - really helps a student get his or her foot in the door. I knew I had a very strong application, but I didn't want to take the risk of getting lost in the shuffle. Just one person's opinion though!
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I don't think it's rude, though I understand your hesitation! I'd probably get in touch with whatever admissions coordinator is listed on the website (rather than a professor), unless you've had direct contact with a specific prof. I'm thinking of saying something along the lines of "I applied for admission to blahblahblah program and was wondering if you could please let me know when the X department will be making their decisions? I've received a couple of offers and just want to get an idea of where I stand."
Congrats on your acceptance, mpheels!
And congratulations to you, mmajum01, and welcome
Thanks, Belafish!
I agree entirely with you for VBD's situation. Though I'm all for contacting a POI if you have had several interactions with him/her already and potentially have met with him/her; it's definitely more direct, and though it can be pushy, my pops seems to think that it really depends on the competetiveness of the candidate - that's kind of what determines how it's "seen" or "interpreted". It makes sense when highly competetive candidates choose to inform other program POIs of their acceptances just so they can get a feel of the situation; it seems arrogant when the candidate isn't as competetive. So this requires some self-assessment, which should be helped by whatever interaction you had with your POI at said program during application season.
This said, it never hurts to gently ask the admissions office for a timeline as Belafish suggested. It's a safer route in the case that you don't have a very open relationship with the program POI.
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I don't know how I missed this in my last post. But I'm intrigued how would you go about doing this? "Hi, I have an acceptance I have to reply to by March 8th (my offer has this deadline =_=), I was wondering if you could update me on my status?" Does it seem rude or demanding? Can admissions people even tell you the status over the phone? Or can you just call to ask about whether interview offers are coming, etc?
Hey VBD! I actually just sent a few emails along this vein to the programs I'm still waiting on. My dad is a tenured professor at Tufts University, and it was his advice to do so. He takes several doctoral students every year at the School of Engineering at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and he mentioned that if a student is competetive, it's helpful for a POI to know that the student has other offers (occasionally, it'll speed up the process). Sometimes the committee is simply behind on reading and deciding (that's the case for my dad's committees right now). If that's the case, he will almost always call the student or email if he really is interesting in taking the student. If not, he'll at least respond with an update about where the committee stands. I hope this helps!
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Oh, and while I didn't faint, I did drop my phone like it was made out of fire, and even after going to the website every day for the last 6 weeks to check the status (including this morning), I fumbled at my computer and could barely log myself in. 1 down, 1 to go. I hope some of you all got better news today!
So sorry, MammaD.
I hope good news is coming your way soon. -
I'm definitely getting a little nervous/anxious...haven't really heard much from any of my schools! with that said, I have a good gig where I'm at now and have another year on my contract, so it could be worse...but I'd love to go back to school in the Fall!
Take it easy, friend! I think you're in a great place too.
Hopefully, we'll all be put out our anxiety/curiosity/torture(?) soon! -
Just received this very chordial email from Yale GSAS:
"Thank you for your patience as we review our applications. Due to the recent blizzard conditions, our decisions will be delayed until mid-March.
We apologize for this delay. Thank you in advance for your understanding.
Public Health PhD program"Has anyone interviewed with Yale yet for the Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases PhD program? Or have interviews been delayed as well?
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Follow Up: I see there are two HSPH Epi PhD acceptances and one rejection on the results page... However, I wonder what concentrations they are! When I met with my POI at HSPH in December, I was told that the Infectious Disease Epi sub-committee usually takes a lot longer than the rest..? (More applicants than the other concentrations, so it makes sense!)
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Hey everyone! I was directed here by VBD (thanks for the tip)!
I applied to the following programs:
Columbia (Mailman): PhD, Environmental Health Sciences
Johns Hopkins (Bloomberg): PhD, Environmental Health Sciences (EH Engineering)
Harvard: ScD, Epidemiology (Infectious Disease)
Yale: PhD, Epidemiology of Microbial Disease
Brown: PhD, Biostatistics
MIT: PhD, Engineering Systems Division
Undergrad: Tufts University School of Engineering 2012 - Civil/Environmental Engineering (GPA: 3.64)
MPH: Tufts University School of Medicine 2013 (Expected) - Epi/Biostats (GPS: 3.8)
Notes: 5 years research experience with water-related diseases in Bangladesh; started a non-profit research organization about two years ago; interested in dynamic infectious disease modeling with special attention to hydroclimatic drivers
The only news I've heard so far has been from Columbia; thankfully, it's my top choice! I had an interview exactly a week ago in NYC (ended up there for the weekend due to the blizzard, which was fabulous), and I was accepted on Tuesday of this week. To my knowledge, they're sending offers in waves, and mine was the first of a few to come. They'll be trickling out over the next few weeks!I'm definitely curious about when the other programs expect to put out decisions, though... Just for kicks!
VBD, I noticed on an earlier post that you were concerned about the department being geared towards MDs like the Epi department is; I'm working in the Climate and Health concentration, but I can say with 100% confidence that among EHS faculty, this is not the case. The department is very research-driven (which is obvious from the sheer amount of grant and trianing money that the department has; the benefits package they offer their PhDs is unreal). I reached out to my POI several months ago, and then found that several other members of the department also had research interests similar to mine who were excited to get their hands dirty. I had a very long discussion with my POI in late January (before my interview) and we even managed to work out quite a bit of what my dissertation may look like. (I think I already have a pretty solid idea.) It was great. I loved how communicative he was through the whole process, and after my interview, I heard from three other faculty members via email before the acceptance arrived. I suppose it's the right kind of place for someone who is self-directed but really loves a sense of community!
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There aren't too many Environmental Health hopefuls around here, nice to meet you two xD
Yale EMD's interviews invites were sent out on Jan 26-28th last year were set up around Feb 12th. The interview day was for all five disciplines, not just EMD. So I'm not sure what that means for you..Assuming Yale operates on the same schedule each year, it might be bad news, or it might be that Yale is running late.
No idea about Harvard
I'm told Hopkins interviews are in March. I just heard this from other students who know students at Hopkins, so nothing official xD
Congrats on the Columbia acceptance! You should do a happy dance! I'm still in limbo even though I had an interview the same week you did XD
Also, you may want to join the freak-out in the PhD in public health thread, because misery loves company? Haha
Hey! Yeah, I'm SO excited about Columbia. I've been wanting to go there for the past five years, haha - it's definitely my top choice. I'm mostly just curious about when the other schools I applied to plan to get back to their applicants. I highly doubt that any other school could match (let alone compete with!) the offer Columbia put on the table, and honestly - I was so impressed by the warmth and innovation that the department represents. If it makes you feel any better, EHS at Mailman did tell me that they'll be doing acceptances in waves, and to my knowledge, mine was the first of more to come. It's an incredible department; I hope you'll make it in, too! Maybe we'll see each other next year.
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I applied to the same programs from Harvard and Yale - haven't heard from either yet!
Thanks! It's good to know I'm not alone in this boat.
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I guess not!
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If it helps any, you shouldn't feel at all pressured to respond right away. Technically, you have until April 15th to make your decision... In fact, even if you make your decision now, you're 100% allowed to withdraw as long as it's by April 15th. Though it's not a "policy", the CGS April 15th Resolution was enacted for this very reason - to give students the time and space they need to make the decision that is best for them. You can find it here if you're interested in reading the resolution itself: www.cgsnet.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/CGS_Resolution.pdf
Good luck!
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For those who have heard back, what kind of stipend offers have you been getting?
I recently got an offer from Columbia and am trying to get a sense of what the ballpark averages are. I understand that it's likely to vary by location and discipline, but I'm just trying to get a little perspective.
Note: I applied to the Mailman School of Public Health and was accepted into the Environmental Health Sciences department.
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Hi All,
I was just wondering if anyone's heard from the following PhD/ScD programs:
Johns Hopkins (Bloomberg): Environmental Health
Harvard: Epidemiology (Infectious Disease)
Yale: Epidemiology of Microbial Disease
I had an interview with Columbia University's Environmental Health Sciences department on Friday and got an offer from the Mailman School of Public Health yesterday! They attached funding information to the formal letter as well. I'm really excited about the acceptance, needless to say. However, I'm a little unsure about the timeline other schools are following, as I haven't even heard about interviews from anyone else yet. Has anyone else heard anything? I haven't seen much on the results board.
Cheers,
Maia
PhD in Public Health
in Public Health Forum
Posted