123hardasABC

I can't make it in June. Hopefully they'll have one in July or August. I'll be flying to NY in July regardless to apartment hunt...yelp

I'm from Orange County and female! Haha, hint, hint? I have no gender preferences with my roommates; I'm just looking for my own room. I'm planning on going to school-wide orientation (August 11th, I believe) and I might head to New York in July to scout around for places to live. I am 100% committed to going and Icahn is my final decision. There's no housing for Master's students, unfortunately, so it'll have to be apartments. I'm not familiar with any of the neighborhoods in New York, so I don't know. I've been told Harlem is also a good place to look. Apparently now it's much more safer and trendier than what people are made to believe. I would hope to work at least part-time when I'm in New York. I have to eat somehow!

For all you Icahn people: Let's move our Icahn specific talk there!

Hello all! I decided to make a separate thread for the incoming class at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Let's use this as a way to network with each other and help each other figure out school logistics stuff. Let me briefly introduce myself. I'm from Southern California, did my undergraduate in Northern California, and know nothing about New York. I'm still looking for a place to live and maybe potential flatmates. Any advice is welcome! As for the school logistics, I've completed the financial aid and health forms/tox screen. I've never visited campus.

If you start a new thread, I'll join it. I'm also from CA and will be attending Icahn. According to the enrollment page, there is a general school orientation, but no specific MPH orientation. I think it's on August 11th?

Brand new program, reasonable tuition, and a chance to live in NYC. For the financial aid form, did you put down your permanent address or a local one? The form asks for a local address but I haven't found a place to live in NYC yet.

I'm gonna have a PCP look at it and see what she recommends. I have my own private insurance, so no. Have you started financial aid stuff yet? Apartment hunting?

Hmm.. I would love to go to the open house actually! I've never been to the campus. I've visited New York a couple of times but that's about it. I'm based in California, so it's kinda difficult. If you do plan on attending....you should totally let me know! And no, I didn't get any welcome forms. Their program is relatively new and I'm guessing they only have the resources for email notifications at this point.

If you go dig around their enrollment site, they also have a financial aid form: http://icahn.mssm.edu/static_files/MSSM/Files/Education/Student%20Resources/Applic%20for%20Fin%20Assistance%20Master-Phd%202014.pdf. Word of advice, if you do plan on attending Icahn, they require a lot of medical and health paperwork, so you best get started and find a primary care physician.

Dude. Relax. You'll be fine. I graduated with a 2.84 GPA. Your GPA is leaps and bounds better than mine. You also have significantly more volunteering experience than I did. I had maybe 10 months with a research group and 6 months with the American Cancer Society. My GREs were in the 80% percentile ranges, so not super stellar. On paper, I would be considered "noncompetitive" but I've gotten acceptances from Boston and Emory. Admissions is more than your stats. A lot of it falls under your SOP and your letters of recc. With a good essay and writers to vouch for you, I feel like anything is possible with public health schools. Good luck

I said goodbye to Emory today. It wasn't a good fit, I wasn't thrilled about the price, and the location was only a small plus compared to those two behemoth negatives. It still hurt to say no to a top notch program like Emory though. #firstworldacademicproblems

I filled out FAFSA but that's as far as I've gone. I'm trying to figure out the pre-admission crap (like the physicals and drug testing) first. Apply anyways! It doesn't hurt to try! Okay, maybe it'll hurt a little since it's ~$70 on SOPHAS...BUT STILL!

Oh my god! Congrats! Hopefully I'll see you there! (It's where I'm attending!)

O_O that is some memory!

USC is the only one I can think of off the top of my head. I think all the UCs are already in the decisions phase. Maybe some Cal States?

Did UPenn fall off the face of the planet or am I the only one who hasn't heard back from them?

I wish I could join you, but alas, Berkeley told me no. Oh well. I'll be back for my post-doc. CAL, YOU AIN'T SEEN THE LAST OF ME.

Hi. OP of one of the sub-3.0 threads floatin' here. You'll be fine. I know it's hard not to be paranoid about things (believe me, I was there), but honestly try not to stress too much. Your grades aren't the be-all, end-all of graduate school. I've been accepted into top programs even with my cruddy GPA. Your personal experience and letters of recommendation will help you more than any perfect academic streak can. In the year off I had from graduating, I volunteered for the American Cancer Society, and worked in a lab funded by the American Heart Association. My letter writers were from people within these organizations. I went to Berkeley, and didn't find public health as a calling until after I graduated, so I didn't take any relavant courses. The only public health classes I took were PH 162A, Public Health Microbiology; and MCB C102, Bacterial Pathogenesis (cross-listed as PH C102). I only took these courses because they were required or highly recommended for graduation. My recommendation to you is to go on that study abroad program if you feel like it. The experience will certainly help, but if it's something you'll be miserable doing, don't do it. And if you don't do it, it's not necessary to take PH courses. Go find labs, hospitals/clinics, and/or organizations that reflect your public health interests and put in some volunteer work with them. It's a good way to gather experience and form connections with the professionals in your field of interest (also, letter writers!!). if you have any questions regarding public health applications or Berkeley, shoot me a PM. I'm more than happy to help out. As I said, I've been there with a less than ideal GPA. I just want to help others out of the rut now. Sorry if I'm all over the place with my answer.

After submitting my application, I never received any confirmation from them. I didn't contact them directly until after I received an acceptance notification (via email). If you do choose to contact them like mahmad did, your contact with the admissions department will be Christine (christine.cortalano@mssm.edu). My turn around time between submitting my SOPHAS and getting the acceptance was about two weeks (for exact dates, the first acceptance in my signature is from Icahn), but I did apply early so I don't know if that differs than from applying now. Also, it can take a little time for SOPHAS to mail out the applications after you've submitted. Sorry, I can't be more informative.

Lol. I'm sorry. I'm just being a smartass; I tend to do that. I'm going to Icahn and I'll be looking around for apartments in nearby neighborhoods. Commuting shouldn't be too bad since classes are in the afternoon/early evening (no waking up early to get to class). I lived in San Francisco for my undergrad, so I'm kinda acquainted with this lifestyle. Anyway, where are you looking to go, olamiss?

Commuting to Icahn from Southern California is a bit........extreme.

Interesting. But I'm probably gonna look for my own apartment. I don't know the area well but I know a few people in New York. If you're seriously considering Icahn though,........ You know who to PM.

Orange County, actually. I like to say LA just because it's easier to identify for some people. I've been poking around here: http://www.reddit.com/r/NYCapartments for apartments. The only reason I'm so drawn to Berkeley is because it's where I did my undergrad so there's a lot of safety and familiarity there. But...Berkeley is a top school and my academic track record isn't so hot. I mean, I am the OP of this thread after all... But the other part of me kinda wants to just jump over to the other side of the country and start anew. I'm just gonna take what I need and buy cheap Ikea furniture when I get to NYC, or convince a group of friends to roadtrip with me. The only downfall with NYC is that you won't find better tacos than Chipotle tacos. There won't be In-N-Out. No Slater's. No Phil's BBQ. Oh god. Why am I leaving California again?

I kinda assumed you're from California because of the tacos. I'm from LA and I love tacos. I'm gonna find an apartment in NYC. The price will be extreme, but I'm very drawn to having the experience of living in NYC. Berkeley is my alma mater, so it's the safe choice in terms of living since I'm familiar with the area.

Most likely Icahn, unless I get into Berkeley (which I highly doubt, let's be realistic). Yourself? Good luck!