katethekitcat

As an out-of-state student, I'm also using the admitted students day as a chance to check out local housing! I've done the "rent apartment sight unseen" thing before and wow did that backfire.

That is delightful! Congrats!

I've always struggled with this question because it seems like a "turtles all the way down" thing. Why a certain PI - well, I like your research. Why do you like their research - well, because I like microbiology and evolution. Why are you intrigued by microbiology and evolution - etc, etc. At what point are you allowed do throw up your hands and say, "I just am!"?

If anyone is headed towards UMichigan in the fall and would be interested in doing a group house, PM me. I've been talking to a few other science-y people and we think we found a place, but we need a few more people.

I'll be attending here next year! If anyone else knows they're going for sure and is looking for housing, PM me.

Hi Hughesck206, Please don't double post - it clogs up the forums. Thanks!

Wait. My biggest regret is how many schools I applied to. It was a waste of application and GRE fees. My fear of not getting in anywhere made every program seem appealing, but in retrospect, I could have applied to about 5, had a good mix of top programs and safety schools, and still had the option of a diversity of programs.

An admissions committee can best answer these questions. It all depends on the program, not (unfortunately) our opinions.

I sent chocolate frogs. In cases where I thought flattery would help my cause, I made sure the famous philosopher on the card was the recipient.

U of Michigan, Hospital and Molecular Epidemiology. Their faculty have exactly the research interests I was looking for - I've found at least 8 or 9 labs I could be happy in without trying - and the program is a perfect fit for my long-term goals. Will the tuition hurt my soul? Yes, but I think it will be worth it in the long run.

Maybe this is a premature thread (especially for those still waiting on PhD admissions), but, at this point, many of us have received word back from many of the places we've applied. So, with that in mind: Where are you headed this upcoming fall and for what program? What were the major factors that contributed to your final decision?

It sounds like you've already applied to PhD programs and submitted your book with these applications, so it seems that the questions of a.) whether or not they'll read it and b.) whether it will have an impact (positive or negative), is irrelevant, especially as discussed by a forum of people who have never sat on a PhD admissions committee. My hypothesis is that your answer will come in the form of either acceptance or rejection letters.

I had a relatively low GPA and was accepted into my top choice REU. Biggest advice: you cannot talk about your past research too much in your personal statement. If you haven't worked in a lab before, emphasize techniques that were used in laboratory classes. They want to see that you're passionate about spending a summer in a lab. Make sure your recommendations are from professors who have worked with you directly in a laboratory setting, not just a classroom. In my experieince - this is anecdotal - contacting professors didn't seem to matter because they were disconnected from the central application process. In the program I finally ended up, professors were contacted after all REU students were accepted to see if they were willing to take one for the summer. They had a general sense of open labs beforehand, but there was no way to figure out which PIs were actually going to host students. And you may end up doing work completely seperate from what the lab does - I was in an immunology lab, but I was doing a microbiology project for another lab across the country that my own lab collaborated with.

I think it saves a lot of time on the school side. Instead of having to go through 500 transcripts, interpret each one, calculate GPAs, figure out course names and course level, SOPHAS standardizes it all for them. For example, I went to a college that used trimesters and awarded 1 credit for every single course - SOPHAS did the work of standardizing that type of schedule to make it directly comparable to other applicants. It was frustrating, but if it saves time in getting me an admissions decisions, I'm ultimately ok with it.

Friend got into WashU today - professor emailed her directly.

I did not visit UIC nor will be attending - they were a safety school for me and, since I work in the Chicago area, I planned to visit post-acceptance had I not gotten into my top choice. I am attending UMichigan for Hospital and Molecular Epidemiology. There's a small part of me still holding out for Iowa, since they have a training grant that covers tuition and gives a living stipend, but Michigan is just a better fit for what I want to concentrate in (antibiotic resistance).

I applied and was accepted to both UIC and Iowa. I visited Iowa - they have a GORGEOUS new school of public health and incredibly friendly faculty and students.

For scholarships, you should be checking the financial aid pages of each of the schools you applied to. At some schools, your application for admissions doubles as your scholarship profile; some of these, like BU, include any scholarship information in your welcome pacakage; others, like University of Michigan, will send out scholarship information later (early February) once they have a better idea of who has been accepted. At still other universities, such as University of Minnesota, you should have already applied for scholarships through a seperate application. Overall, however, scholarship funding at anything beyond the token level (i.e. on previous threads there has been discussion of BU's 12K-15K scholarships on a total tuition price tag of 80K+) is very, very minimal at the MPH level and should be considered the exception rather than the rule. You should be actively seeking scholarhips from outside sources. Check if your current employer offers any; if you were in a greek organization in college, many offer scholarships to alumni. And, for whatever reason, fewer loans at the master's level are offered with deferred interest payments. Why, I don't know - you'd think the government would want to ENCOURAGE people to seek master's degrees - but it's true. An MPH will likely cost you a lot, will cost you even more if you choose a private instiution, and then pay little over the years to come. (Basing financial aid information about scholarship scarcity off of attending multiple SOPHAS virtual fairs and reading the complete website of every school of public health that uses a SOPHAS application. Most departments offer, at best, a complete scholarship to one incoming student. Mind you, not all, I hope I'm wrong about this. I'm not relishing debt for years to come.)

Have you heard anything yet about interview offers from the places you applied to PhD programs? I thought about applying for PhD programs, but in speaking with schools and looking at their pre-requistities, most seemed to require a master's to even apply. However, I wish I had done what you did and just applied anyway - worst that happened was a rejection but acceptance to a master's program. Worst case scenario, you rock a MPH and then apply again to PhD programs.

That IS more accurate. To me, "financial aid offers" usually refer to the types of funding offered to PhD students. Loan offers will start once you have filled out a FAFSA.

MPH's usually do not come with financial aid packages.

Why is this an odd thing to say?

Yeah, since people have been posting both acceptances and rejections, I'm guessing I'm on a wait list. It doesn't really matter since I've paid an enrollment deposit, but I would just like a wrapped-up conclusion!

Admittidly, I am not in this field, but that seems VERY inappropriate. Like, get yourself discussed in the department as, "Guess what this crazy applicant did," kind of inappropriate. Having a professor whom you know reach out to you is one thing; using your personal connections with faculty to try to get an earlier answer is completely different. You put them in a very akward position of being asked to provide inside information that others don't have to yet - you're basically asking them to go behind the admissions committee's back and do their work for them. And if the answer was "rejected," that's a whole new level of akward. Wait for the admissions committee or the professor to contact YOU. Waiting is agonizing, painful, and stressful, but not fatal. You will survive.

Really sorry to hear that Haven't heard a peep from Yale despite applying early November.