punnirno2

Hi guys, same case here: International student. In at Yale HCM, Columbia HPM and Michigan MHSA (was expecting to get into Harvard because the loans would have been easier to get but got rejected). Would like to do consulting for a few years (mainly to remove debt while earning useful experience) before I venture out into something more healthcare-ish. I got some questions: (a) Which ones out of these have the best employment prospects / career support / alumni network? I am more oriented towards Columbia (because of their Capstone projects and consulting oriented electives you can take up), then Yale followed by Michigan (I do know that UMich has a good number of consulting firms coming for recruitment but I would prefer an Ivy. I am myself working in a top US Investment Bank right now.) ( Does staying slightly aloof from a major city like NY (say in New Haven), hamper your employment prospects in any manner? Then again, are the higher costs of staying in Manhattan (in vicinity of job market) worth it? © MOST IMPORTANTLY: My sister is a Canadian Permanent Resident and she is going to co-sign a loan for me. Are there any options through which a Canadian PR can actually do this for an international student at a US university? (d) Is the fact that so many people are still oriented towards Yale despite it not being a top 10 program totally justified? There must be some factors others are taking into account making them think that way. I know I didn't answer to anyone's queries and instead ended up posting queries of my own, LOL.

Precisely! This is what I reckoned while analyzing their website info as well! (as I explicated in my previous post)

What is your take on the analysis above justin22? Do you, by any chance, have any info on this?

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/admissions/2012-hsph-statistics/ That's precisely the doubt some of us have. I think that the number of current students' profiles posted on their website is just indicative and definitely not an exhaustive list. THE ARGUMENT: As per the above link, in 2012 they had around 172 SM1+SM2 candidates and so the only questions are ( a ) how many SM1 and SM2, though I believe the number of SM1 students will be quite low because of tougher criteria (say a 30-70 split), and ( b ) the number of students out of these that belong to the various departments (there are 7 of them) at HSPH for SM1 and SM2. This year, even if they have 120 students for SM2 out of 180 total SM applicants (say), that would mean they have an avg. of ~16-17 SM2 students in each of the departments. This would put an avg. of ~5-6 students each on the three tracks (policy, research & mgmt). All these, of course, are the ramblings of an overly anxious mind! I would really appreciate any insight from someone who knows about these figures with a considerable degree of confidence.

Great! Finally we have some clarity on the expected timelines. Need to get into our "Brace Yourselves" mode now . Any idea how many students they admit for each SM2 program? (I heard they take 5-7 guys for PhD per stream) I'm asking because unlike earlier years, I haven't seen many successful HPM SM2 candidates (or even SM1 for that matter) reporting their acceptances on GradCafe survey lists. It could well be the fact that this time due to some weird reason people are just not posting about their acceptances, though the probability of this happening is quite low as compared to the scenario where most of the acceptances are yet to be mailed out. Well then, this is a quintessential case of the Harvard syndrome and I am just too anxious over what that mysterious email will contain!

Whatever it is, I just hope they don't wait till Wednesday to send out the pending decisions now. Harvard's program being the top choice for so many of applicants, such a delay brings about a lot of uncertainty in finalizing choice of universities. But there's something that I really can't understand: unlike earlier years, I haven't seen many HPM SM2 acceptances even on GradCafe survey lists. Is it just that they have sent only a few acceptances or could it be the simple fact that people just haven't entered their decisions in there? Also, I am in at Columbia HPM, Yale HCM and Michigan MSPH and it would really help if you guys can rank those in terms of consulting outreach, curriculum flexibility and employment prospects. These forums have indeed been quite helpful, thanks to all!

Damn, these HSPH guys have really made it excruciatingly tough for us folks this time. It is my top choice for HPM SM2 as well but I still have NO clue whatsoever where I am going to end up (accepted at Columbia/UMich/Yale programs but I am an international student and have still not figured out how I am going to fund it ). And that post that says that the HPM class size may be ~10 in total after all has left me horrified. Anyhow, what makes you say that that you'll wait till today? Do universities send out decisions even on Saturdays?? If yes, that is a big big news for me! In any case, I haven't really seen many admits for SM2 HPM on any of the forums. Fingers crossed.