J. R., MPPA

Bump! From what I can tell.. Irmo and Lexington are good if you have a family and want to buy a house. Otherwise I have no idea..

As I sit here, pushing 40, the idea of moving my family from the west coast to the east coast is rather daunting. We're prepared to do it, but preparation does not alleviate anxiety. Anyone else in a similar boat? I'll miss California.. born and raised.. but I was stationed in the South for a bit.. and know what to expect climate-wise.

Shout out to any other people starting here in the the Fall of 16. Let me know if we'll be meeting up on orientation day!

Anybody have an update for when this program is sending out acceptances/rejections/interviews/waitlist notifications? I see that some Health Behavior notifications have been sent out, but not for health policy/management. I was rejected from my top school (JH), have been accepted to my third.. but UNC is my second and I need to know what they say before I start looking for properties in South Carolina. Moving a family of four takes a lot of preparation.. the sooner I can get started, the better!

I got two denials.. but my 3rd choice accepted me. I'm probably going to go to U of South Carolina if Chapel Hill is a no go. Speaking of which, has anyone heard from Chapel Hill's Health Policy phd program?

Has anyone applied to Arnold (HP&M)? I'm trying to see if anyone else had an interview. Mine was a couple weeks ago.

I'm guessing since I didn't get a JH invite by now, I'm not getting one ever lol. I did have an interview last week, but haven't heard from anyone else yet. Anybody hear back from Chapel Hill yet?

Shoot.. I submitted most of my applications in October and September! My anxiety is so bad right now I'm having trouble focusing on my masters thesis. I'm not getting admission dreams though.. mostly just bizarre nightmares involving zombie hoards. In of itself is kind of cool.. I mean.. can't go wrong with zombies.

The results page can be a real buzzkill. Watching others getting accepted to my top programs... No interviews.. no waitlists.. not a peep. I have a feeling it's basically a rejection. Is this usually the case?

Do your letter writers have some sort of email filter on? SOPHAS sends the email immediately after you "push the button."

IMHO? I think you'll be fine without the research component. OSU (Oregon, not Ohio ) was one of the PH programs I was looking at but had to pass up because my in-laws live within driving distance of the school. Your life experience, teaching, current MPH all factor in strongly to your application.

Some programs review applications on a rolling basis regardless of the deadline. I know one program I'm applying to has a deadline in ... March?.. but they review applications whenever they get them and if I were to submit today, I could expect a response by the end of December or early January. It all depends

Well, I forgot to mention that after receiving my transcripts, my application was kicked back due to an entry error on one of them. The problem was that the transcript was very non-traditional (as in there were no actual "terms") and the first person at SOPHAS that advised me on how to enter the information disagreed with the person that actually reviewed my transcript. Anyways.. that day I fixed the problem and resubmitted. The next morning everything was verified and off it went. This was the 14th.. the due date for one of my applications was the 15th. In a nutshell.. SOPHAS does work rather quickly (it seems) and also the school with the Nov. 15th deadline assured me that as long as I paid prior to that deadline, even if SOPHAS didn't complete verification by then that they would still consider the application turned in by the deadline. (Georgia State)

Well that was fun (not really) but it ended up working out really well. SOPHAS received my transcripts and I made my Nov. 15th deadline for one my applications. Almost didn't make it.. but it all worked out!

Just got notification that all six of my applications have been received! Transcripts, letters, all done! Now... the wait.. It's going to take a while too.. some programs have application deadlines in January and February and don't start going over applications until then... The one with a November 15th deadline made it by the cutoff though.. so I've got that going for me

Anybody else have a problem getting transcripts to SOPHAS? I have four sets I need to send to them. Three out of the four have arrived but one has been sent twice now (i verified correct address) and it has yet to arrive. This has gone on for three weeks now. I sent the first set three weeks ago and the second last week. The funny thing is that non-SOPHAS schools have received this transcripts within days of me ordering it. grrrr

I'm game. I'm in an MPPA program at the moment and should be able to help you out.

Yeah, I realized after I posted this that this is a personal statement. Thanks Updated to add: Regarding the issue of whether or not a PhD.. Rather than Public policy programs, there are public health PhDs that are more applied and pertinent to my field of interest. Many schools have a PhD in Public Health and Leadership.. they also have DPh programs for mid-career folks already in leadership positions. I'm leaning more towards the PhD because I have a strong interest in quantitative methods and research design. My advisor in my current program agreed that it would be a good direction because this PhD is also geared towards leadership in the field instead of purely research.

I'd advise against it. Per my wife when I brought taking it over again up.. what if you score lower?

Alrighty folks, I've talked about how I'm applying for my second grad program this fall.. here's my personal statement. Mind you.. I've had 20 years since high school and have had some seriously hard times. I've included them here in the SOP, but also how these events made me a better person and ready for a PhD program. When I was medically discharged from the Air Force in 2001, I did not know what I was going to do. My parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, all served in the military in one capacity or another and it was generally accepted that I would follow that career path as well. My mother did try to direct me towards college prior to my enlistment, but my half-hearted attempt was unsuccessful because I had no alternate view towards the future other than to serve in the armed forces. Without the structured life of the military and the support of my peers, I slipped into a deep depression and became homeless. In the year that followed my discharge though, I was lucky enough to meet the woman that would become my wife. It was through her care and support in the early years that I was able to deal with and finally overcome my disability many years later. In the middle of 2002, I decided to “get back on the horse” and go back to school. I chose the paralegal profession because I had an interest in law and wanted to pursue it as a career. I initially experienced a bit of success in doing it by making the Dean’s List, but it did not last long though because I had become symptomatic again, losing my ability to focus on reading and retaining information. Although I was able to complete the program and obtain my degree in paralegal studies, I was not able to find work due to the resurgence of problems with my disability and the depression that goes along with it. A few years went by and I was beginning to take control of my life. My wife and I recently had our first daughter in 2005 and I felt that I was able to return to school. While my grades were not stellar in the first few semesters, they were a positive reaffirmation for me that I was making some tangible progress in combating my condition. It all fell apart though in the spring of 2007, not due to my disability, but because my wife was diagnosed with a terminal cancer and I was informed by hospital staff that I should prepare to be a single father. I tried to continue in my studies, but the time and effort required caring for both her and my child proved to be too much. Staying at home though was the least I could do for the woman that stayed with me throughout the early years after leaving the military. Thankfully, through the expert work and caring support of many doctors, nurses, and staff, my wife beat insurmountable odds and survived her cancer. After this traumatic period, continuing my education was low on the list of priorities. Although she made it through all of her treatment, she still required plenty of physical therapy and emotional support. In 2009 as she was reaching a return to full health, a transformative incident occurred that put me on the path to where I am today. My eldest daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of four. T1D is a serious autoimmune disease that not properly treated can lead to a quick and painful death. This time though, rather than “fall apart” as before, I approached the situation differently. I had grown as a person, adopting such personal idioms as “Ain’t nothin’ to it but to do it,” and “Got time to lean, got time to clean.” I learned that the best way to approach any problem was to meet it head on, sort it out, and then file it away for future reference. With this new mindset, we were able to face this new challenge, take full control of the situation, and insure the continuing health of our daughter. It was after this event that I finally began to achieve self-actualization. A part of my daughter’s diabetes is to eat healthy and log her food. By this time, I had become morbidly obese with a weight of 315 pounds. I needed to set the example and become the role model I should be as her father. I took it upon myself to follow her prescribed dietary regimen and adopt a physical fitness plan. It took two years, but I managed to lose 130 pounds and return to a healthy weight. Along the way towards my goal, I became a part of a nationwide community of diabetic and special-needs children. I learned about the problems that we and other families like us deal with daily in areas such as K-12 public school and means-tested government health services. While our stories may be different, at their core they all pertain to some level of interaction with federal or state government. Having learned my previous lesson of being pro-active in facing challenges, I decided to find a way to get into a position where I could affect change that would be beneficial to the community. By the summer of 2012, I knew that to be able to get anywhere that I would need to complete a bachelor’s degree. To do so I needed to finish some tough courses I had put off at the local community college. I was advised by friends and family that going full time would be too much for me because of past performance, but I knew deep down that I could do it because I was no longer the person that I was. I had drive, direction, and purpose. This was the first time in my life I had achieved outstanding academic success. I then continued on at our local university to major in government so that I could build a foundation of knowledge pertinent to my goals. The diagnosis of my daughter was not the last test I would face though. In early 2013, my wife and I had our second child. It was a complicated pregnancy and required that I miss some classes while my wife was in-patient for the last month. Luckily, only one of my grades was negatively affected and I was still able to graduate with high honors. After graduation, I decided to stay at California State University Sacramento to obtain an MPPA degree, which has helped me gain valuable experience in policy analysis and leadership. In the spring of 2015, my recent addition to the family needed to have her spine fused due to a congenital birth defect. It required her to be in-patient at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital in Palo Alto, CA. While my daughter was there, we lived at a local Ronald McDonald House and I had to commute from the San Francisco bay area to Sacramento and back. As before, the logistics of the situation caused me to miss a few days of class which had a slight impact on my grades for the semester. As I reach the end of the public policy and administration program, I realize that I am not done yet. Not only do I want to be a leader in the community to bring about necessary changes, I believe I have something to add to the academic public policy field as a whole. My research areas of interest are in health and education, and the graduate classes I have taken covering areas such as research methodology and policy analysis have given me the tools I need to begin my work. (THIS IS WHERE I ADD SCHOOL SPECIFIC INFO, Research interests etc.) (CONCLUSION FOLLOWS) While admittedly this is a rather lengthy story, I believe it helps to encompass the entirety of who I am and how I got here. I am no longer the person that I was. I have learned that “falling apart” in the face of a challenge serves no purpose and the best way to deal with them is head-on. This mentality coupled with my drive for knowledge and desire to apply what I have learned in my previous graduate studies to my future research is why I know I am ready to take the next step in my academic journey and begin doctoral level studies.

Remember to include how it made you grow as a person. That's super important and a great way to spin a negative into a positive. Without the addition of the "how it made me who I am," it sounds like you're trying to have a pity party. My wife, kids, and I have been through some trying times but it made me who I am today and a better person for it. If you want, you can read mine and get some ideas on how to go about yours.

I disagree. I also have a complicated history that impacted some of my undergrad studies. To explain a couple low grades, I needed to explain why in some detail. I was also accepted to all MA programs I applied to with that personal statement. American U, George Washington, Georgetown etc. Readers need to know about YOU! What did you learn from the trying situations. How have you grown as a person to become who you are. Take it from someone whose gone through this before, explain and then describe how it made you who you are.

Yeah, but who are you? Why are here? How did you get here? One of the programs I'm applying to is actually a political science program with a focus on public policy and administration. This will be my second time in graduate studies. My personal statement in the first go-around contained plenty of pertinent background information (of course I'm an older student with plenty to say). I was accepted in all programs I applied to, including the PhDs. I took the MPPA I'm at now due health issues with my family. Now that they are resolved I'm applying again. Readers need to know about you as well as your research interests.

Alright.. so I'm a lifer in academia. I'm completing a public policy and administration masters this spring and am currently applying to PhD programs in the same field. I don't need to take the GRE and could really care less about the damn thing. The annoying thing though is having to dredge up letters of rec and writing a new personal statement. I can't use the same personal statement as before because I'm now older and wiser with more specific research interests. It's a pain in the *** but I need to do this. Anyone else doing something like this? Glutton for punishment? Lifer? Free advice? Thanks

Hey folks, what's up? I'm half way through a master's graduate program in public policy and administration and am considering applying for a doctoral program at schools like Ohio State, Austin, Duke, etc (Public Policy/Public Administration). I have a lot of research ideas and am really limited here in the masters program. Anyone have any experience deciding to keep going after you originally were just going for a masters?