jmillar

Depends on the program. One program I applied to called a handful of people ahead of time so we could hold the interview date before official invites went out. Some trickle them over a few days, and others release them all on one day. I had another program that seemed to rely on the PIs contacting us first and then sending the invite right after.

You will get more of a response for Epidemiology in the Public Health section (Biostats is the odd one out in Public Health). What are you doing your masters in right now, or are you planning on applying to one? Most Epidemiology programs expect an MPH before applying to PhD.

SOPHAS says to try to make sure everything is posted to your application before the deadline (transcripts, test scores, etc). https://sophas.org/faqs/ Some programs do appear to offer some wiggle room for things arriving late, but this may be a case by case situation. https://help.liaisonedu.com/SOPHAS_Applicant_Help_Center/Submitting_and_Monitoring_Your_SOPHAS_Application/Before_and_After_You_Submit_Your_SOPHAS_Application/01_Submitting_and_Completing_Your_SOPHAS_Application If you think these will arrive after the deadline, you should contact the programs now and ask.

You would be fairly competitive for the Bioinformatics program at University of Michigan. About a third of the PhD students in Bioinf end up also getting a MS in Statistics along the way. They also have certificates in areas that might interest you such as Computational Neuroscience ( https://micde.umich.edu/comput-neuro-certificate/ ) and Precision Health ( https://precisionhealth.umich.edu/about/precision-health-graduate-certificate-program/ ). Many people in the department are working on ML problems in health care or genomics and you have the option to have advisors in other departments/programs such as Neuroscience as long as they become affiliated with the Center for Computational Medicine & Bioinformatics.

Here is a list of public health programs for MPH, DrPH, MS, and PhD that do not require the GRE. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1j-7-kThlYphF9D0HX1aSNFYl8ksFrIgD68Qz0njHYAY/edit#gid=0

It's possible it will be sent back. There are font requirements for the references section in the footer: "References, footnotes, and figure captions must be no less than 10-point Times New Roman." https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2019/nsf19081/nsf19081.jsp#q50

For most public health areas, I would agree, but Biostats is a different animal. A masters before hand often isn't needed, but can help if your math/stats background isn't as strong. A masters degree would probably be useful in this case, but even then, they may not be able to get into all of these programs. For instance, Emory MSPH requires a B+ in Multivariable Calculus and Linear Algebra, so Linear Algebra would need to retaken. https://www.sph.emory.edu/departments/bios/degree-programs/msph-biostatistics/index.html

You might want to try over in the Math Stats section.

I originally looked into an MSPH degree thinking that would be a better fit as MSPH is in general more research focused. However, for the Hospital and Molecular Epidemiology track at UMich, the MPH ends up encompassing this. The track is very different from the rest of the EPID department and we have our own set of research and seminar classes just for our cohort. We take general lab classes and join a lab for our "thesis" project. There is help to find a lab that fits well for you, and doesn't need to be in the EPID department. My project is with someone in Microbiology & Immunology at the medical school, but collaborates with people in EPID. You also write a paper and a presentation, with lower stakes than a full on thesis defense. All the other EPID tracks do internships and posters. UM had been on my radar for a decade as I was impressed by their molecular epidemiology program, with researchers having large labs and resources. And many of the labs collaborate with other schools, such as the medical school. You are welcome to message me if you would like more specifics of the program, professors, or experience.

The program at University of Michigan has several professors in Molecular Epidemiology with extensive labs. It's even a concentration for their MPH. At UM SPH, students usually get their MPH first, and then do a 3 year PhD right after.

Right now is fine. Most of my conversations with PIs were in September and October. I did interview over Skype with one PI in early November, but the majority were in October. Only one of these was a direct admit to a particular lab, the rest required rotations.

Absolutely. I came from a combined math/stats department, and the difference in TA appointments was great. For incoming masters students, there would be around 10-15 appoints for math students, and 1-3 for statistics.

You would also likely have a decent chance at UMich for the Bioinformatics MS. Many people use that to transfer over into PhD when they've found a lab. The Bioinformatics program is flexible with allowing mentors from other departments if their work is related to computational biology. That's how I got a Mathematics professor for my advisor. Quite a few Biostats people collaborate with UMich Bioinformatics.

I had a similar approach. Most of my professors told me to work backwards by looking for faculty to work with based on their publications and then consider the programs they are in. All the departments I applied to were different, but the projects that were being worked on by the PIs were very similar. This is true to a point, but it depends if the program is class heavy. Several of the programs I applied to had very few required classes. But this is still an important consideration, especially how it might affect your advancement to candidacy. There was one program where I liked the PI, but I knew I wouldn't be happy in the classes or the advancement to candidacy.

I just looked up the program and it's a one year applied program in data science: http://www.stat.cmu.edu/academics/graduate/the-masters-in-statistical-practice-program