katethekitcat

Hi Razan - I've just sent you a private message answering your questions.

Hi ChemEnthusiast, To live in the house, you commit to: 30 hours of community service per semester (our house designs their own service projects each year; individual service projects you choose to do in the community also count) Give one, 1-hour talk to the house each year about whatever topic you like (we've had talks about the secret service, water and drought, fashion, particle physics, everything!) Help run the house: serve on a committee, attend house meetings, etc. On average, the workload comes to be about 8-10 hours a week. Overall, I think it's definitely saved me time though: for example, not having to cook or go to the grocery stone alone saves me that 8-10 hours a week, and it's made graduate school a lot more affordable for me (I am a master's student, not a funded PhD, alas). It should be noted this type of community is not for everyone. Living here can be intense at times! But if you enjoy exchanging ideas and are willing to invest time and ideas to the place you live, it's really a great place (one of my best experiences of graduate school). Check out our website or message me for more details!

The MPH program goes VERY fast. I would caution against keeping transferring as a backup plan. If you end up transferring, you wasted that whole first year you spent making connections with professors, networking, and essentially have to start all over again the next year. Many programs require an internship between the first and second year, but that might not transfer, leading you to have to do a third, expensive third year. Grad school is what you make of it. You can tailor it to your needs and wants. Dive in and make the most of it instead of holding out for something else in case it might be better.

I am not an admissions committee, so take this with a grain of salt. In the vast, vast majority of cases, you need a master's degree in epidemiology to get into a good PhD program. There are exceptions to this, mainly people who have EXTENSIVE statistics background as well as coding experience in a few specific languages (R, Python, SAS, or STATA; preferably all of the above.) Unfortunately, none of the experiences you have described are going to matter much to a PhD admissions committee. What they care about is your demonstrated ability to do research and perform epidemiological studies. There are programs that allow you to get a PhD right away. Most of these are very low ranked or are working on getting institutional accreditation and use this as a way to lure in students. If you're set on a PhD - and I will say, probably 60% of my incoming class said they were "set on" a PhD, and now, a few months away from graduation, only about 15% of us want PhDs - apply to a program that will let you continue straight on to a PhD program and count the work you did as a master's student. The University of Michigan does this - you spend 2 years getting your master's, but if you are accepted into their PhD program, you can earn it with only 3 additional years of working, rather than starting over entirely at a new school. (Bias: I attend UM.)

Hi everyone! If you're looking for housing at UMich next year: please consider Telluride House! We're a living community made up of graduate students, undergraduate students, and faculty members. Room and board is FREE! (Yes, this sounds too good to be true, but I assure you, it IS true.) You can find out more about the house and find the application here. (The website still reflects our fall application cycle - the new one should be posted within a week, but it will be identical except for deadlines). The essays can take quite a while, so the earlier you get started, the better! You can apply even if you haven't heard back on an admissions decision yet.

Hi everyone! If you're looking for housing at UMich next year: please consider Telluride House! We're a living community made up of graduate students, undergraduate students, and faculty members. Room and board is FREE! (Yes, this sounds too good to be true, but I assure you, it IS true.) You can find out more about the house and find the application here. (The website still reflects our fall application cycle - the new one should be posted within a week, but it will be identical except for deadlines). The essays can take quite a while, so the earlier you get started, the better! You can apply even if you haven't heard back on an admissions decision yet. Our house truly values academic diversity, and we are currently underrepresented in social work, so I'd highly encourage you to apply. Feel free to e-mail the address on the website with any questions!

AREAS of Pilsen are a bit unsafe, but they're moving in the right direction in terms of that. If you look at a map, generally the further out you go on the pink L line, the sketchier it gets. However, it's also quite affordable. I lived in Logan Square for two years and absolutely loved it; it's also right off the blue line which goes directly to UIC. Lots of bars, coffee shops, resturaunts, easy access to other places in the city, etc. It's the cool place to be right now, however, which means rents are likely about to skyrocket. If you're going to live there, get in now. In terms of rent, don't even bother looking at Wicker Park.

Don't do it. Terribly written book.

Stole this off the philosophy chat boards - I believe it's geared more towards humanities students, but all of these sound like great standards in general. How to be a positive presence/graduate student at academic conferences: http://melissaridleyelmes.wordpress.com/2014/03/16/its-not-on-the-syllabus-cultivating-collegiality-as-a-graduate-student/

I decided not to attend UIC, but I currently live in Chicago, so let me know if you have questions about the city in general!

There are some other, more extensive threads on this forum regarding low GPAs (under 3.0). Check them out for some great advice - there's one specifically for people interested in public health. But the overall consensus is, for a professional degree like an MPH, it's things like volunteer work, employment, and research that mean a lot more.

Well, if you come to UMichigan, we can cry over exams together.

Now that we're actually all attending graduate school: If anyone is interested in continuing to chat over the next few years, and hopefully network, please feel free to PM me your e-mail address, and I'll send you mine. There's so many of us headed to such a diversity of public health programs, it seems like it would be only beneficial to maintain contacts with one another and keep exchanging news about programs, try to meet up at conferences, etc. Two years down the road, we'll probably be each others' best resources for PhD programs as well! Public health networking for the win.

I'm headed to Michigan in August as well - so, if you end up choosing UM, we'll be classmates next fall! I'm taking on loans to pay tuition, but to me it's still the best option. I've found what you did as well - they were super friendly and helpful during the admissions process. Were you able to visit any admitted student days?

Forgive me if this has already been answered or the question is obvious. Money and finances are NOT my strengths. So I filled out my FAFSA and just received my financial aid package from the university I'm attending. However, even with the loans they're giving me, I'm still about $10,000 short on tuition for the year (yes, I know. I'm going to be in debt until I'm 60.) How do I go about finding loans to cover the rest of the tuition? Does this mean I go to private lenders? How do I start that process? I technically have enough in my savings to cover the gap, but that would completely wipe me out, and I don't want to be left with nothing in the event of emergencies, having to move to a new city, if my internship between year 1 and year 2 is unpaid, etc.