123hardasABC

I'm just going to be blunt with you. If that's a priority, even a low ranking one, you should reconsider graduate school. School should be about improving yourself. While you will meet new people and form new connections, you should not be jumping into any romantic conclusions. If it does happen for you, then great! But don't be actively seeking it. If you're in a program to manhunt, I'm sorry but your spot in that program should go to someone else.

I might be there end of July too! I'll let you know when I book a ticket

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.

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.

Hey guys, don't get down on yourselves. I am writing this to let you all know there IS hope. Just keep your head up and apply (relatively) broadly!
 
I graduated with a 2.39 in Microbio, which SOPHAS upped to a 2.58. Along with a 303 GRE (155 V, 148 Q, 5.0 AWA).
 
Only about a semester of research, and a handful of hours volunteering. And zero, I repeat, zero work experience. I graduated last year and have spent this year traveling.
 
I remained confident and was able to articulate WHY I wanted to study public health and what my ultimate goals were. I cannot overstate the importance of this. Schools want to know that you are driven and have a fleshed out plan for your future.
 
I applied to the following: Pitt, GWU, Columbia, NYU, Mt Sinai, Emory, Boston, UCLA, Claremont, UC Berkeley, and Temple.
I was accepted to: Pitt, Emory, Sinai, UCLA, Claremont, and Temple. I was waitlist at NYU and rejected by the rest.
 
One thing that I did was after each school emailed me to confirm that they received and are reviewing my application, I emailed them back to highlight specific reasons why I wanted to attend that school and what specific interests in the field of public health I am looking to get into. I strongly believe that this shows both enthusiasm and true interest.
 
In summary, no matter how low your stats may be.....bet on YOURSELF, not averages!
 

I'm just going to be blunt with you. If that's a priority, even a low ranking one, you should reconsider graduate school. School should be about improving yourself. While you will meet new people and form new connections, you should not be jumping into any romantic conclusions. If it does happen for you, then great! But don't be actively seeking it. If you're in a program to manhunt, I'm sorry but your spot in that program should go to someone else.

I'm just going to be blunt with you. If that's a priority, even a low ranking one, you should reconsider graduate school. School should be about improving yourself. While you will meet new people and form new connections, you should not be jumping into any romantic conclusions. If it does happen for you, then great! But don't be actively seeking it. If you're in a program to manhunt, I'm sorry but your spot in that program should go to someone else.

I keep looking at these results in the Results Search and thinking..."damn, what did I do right??" or "what has adcom been smoking!?" because my scores are significantly lower than a lot of what has been reported on this site.

I'm just going to be blunt with you. If that's a priority, even a low ranking one, you should reconsider graduate school. School should be about improving yourself. While you will meet new people and form new connections, you should not be jumping into any romantic conclusions. If it does happen for you, then great! But don't be actively seeking it. If you're in a program to manhunt, I'm sorry but your spot in that program should go to someone else.

I think that schools of public health really value relevant experience and commitment to the field. Sure grades and test scores play a role but maybe not as much as you think. In fact, I had the head of a department in a top 5 school tell me that as long as your GREs aren't too far below the 50% mark, you will be fine if you have decent experience. I got the same message for GPA. I ultimately had around a 3.5, but I got several Cs and Ds in almost everything quantitative or business related (not good for a HPMer to have a 2.7 quant GPA according to SOPHAS;-). Yet I too have gotten into several top masters programs and a phd program. I don't say this to brag; I just want to give hope to future applicants. If you want to work in public health and have low stats, go for it! If you have experience, can write a a killer personal statement and can get great recs, you are way more competitive than you think! Do not let anyone, including yourself, tell you you can't get in to a great program.

Also, I personally think that a lot of people with lower stats are reluctant to post, so this forum can give you a skewed view.

These are just my thoughts; I look forward to what others think!

I'm just going to be blunt with you. If that's a priority, even a low ranking one, you should reconsider graduate school. School should be about improving yourself. While you will meet new people and form new connections, you should not be jumping into any romantic conclusions. If it does happen for you, then great! But don't be actively seeking it. If you're in a program to manhunt, I'm sorry but your spot in that program should go to someone else.

I'm just going to be blunt with you. If that's a priority, even a low ranking one, you should reconsider graduate school. School should be about improving yourself. While you will meet new people and form new connections, you should not be jumping into any romantic conclusions. If it does happen for you, then great! But don't be actively seeking it. If you're in a program to manhunt, I'm sorry but your spot in that program should go to someone else.

Wait, what? Why should I keep in mind that you're a white female? Admissions isn't gonna,...or at least they're not supposed to anyways. I mean, yeah, being a white female probably would make you the program's demographic minority, but you shouldn't be considering it as a factor in your application. What's important now is that you demonstrate your mathematical abilities (grades and test scores) and have solid letters of recommendation to vouch for it. Whether or not that race/gender mumbo-jumbo is true, don't think of it as so. That person got into a program because he studied his ass off for the quantitative test, not because he's white -- that's what you should be thinking.

I'm just going to be blunt with you. If that's a priority, even a low ranking one, you should reconsider graduate school. School should be about improving yourself. While you will meet new people and form new connections, you should not be jumping into any romantic conclusions. If it does happen for you, then great! But don't be actively seeking it. If you're in a program to manhunt, I'm sorry but your spot in that program should go to someone else.

Admitted to Emory. Check your OPUS everyone!

I'm just going to be blunt with you. If that's a priority, even a low ranking one, you should reconsider graduate school. School should be about improving yourself. While you will meet new people and form new connections, you should not be jumping into any romantic conclusions. If it does happen for you, then great! But don't be actively seeking it. If you're in a program to manhunt, I'm sorry but your spot in that program should go to someone else.

Damn. As someone who's moving across the country alone next fall...I was really hoping to gain something from this thread. 

I don't know if it's appropriate to talk about it here. I have no one to talk to right now. I'm probably gonna get downvoted to oblivion but hey, I need to let out a few words so whatever, why not?
 
I should be celebrating my acceptances. I should be happy it's the holidays. But not. I'm sad. It's so "high school" to say this but I was recently broken up with...but hey! It's Christmas time! I have to keep it to myself and put on a happy face for everyone to see  . Now I feel like I'm facing the future alone. I have to move cross country next fall, alone. 
 
I'm really fucking terrified of starting graduate school now. I'm looking at moving nearly 3000 miles away from home by myself. Why so far away?, you may wonder. Because I wanted change. I wanted to get as far away from my home state as possible. When I was applying, I was confident and had a good support system backing me up. But now I feel like the support system is crumbing, and my god, I'm really scared. 
 
How's it like moving to a new place on your own, when you're alone?
 
 
Hopefully someone out here can relate and help me out. If not, thanks for listening and have a happy new year.

Have you guys started FAFSA and all that fun stuff yet? 

Damn. As someone who's moving across the country alone next fall...I was really hoping to gain something from this thread. 

Thanks for everyone's kind words. I'm still very sad and scared. I'm fighting every urge to talk to him. He moved across country for medical school but I did everything I could to give his transition a little more stability. But now that it's my turn to do it, I have no support system. I'm throwing myself into the unknown with no one to fall back on. Yay...even as depressed as I feel now, I know I can do it. It's just tough. 
 
Thanks to everyone though.

I moved about 600 miles away from home for my undergraduate and did it all wrong. I was so lonely that all I could bear to do was hole myself up in my dorm room. Now for graduate school, I'll be moving about 3000 miles away from home and I'm pretty determined not to repeat the pattern. I really have to throw myself out there and make friends, and frankly and pathetically, I'm kinda scared to do so.

I don't know if it's appropriate to talk about it here. I have no one to talk to right now. I'm probably gonna get downvoted to oblivion but hey, I need to let out a few words so whatever, why not?
 
I should be celebrating my acceptances. I should be happy it's the holidays. But not. I'm sad. It's so "high school" to say this but I was recently broken up with...but hey! It's Christmas time! I have to keep it to myself and put on a happy face for everyone to see  . Now I feel like I'm facing the future alone. I have to move cross country next fall, alone. 
 
I'm really fucking terrified of starting graduate school now. I'm looking at moving nearly 3000 miles away from home by myself. Why so far away?, you may wonder. Because I wanted change. I wanted to get as far away from my home state as possible. When I was applying, I was confident and had a good support system backing me up. But now I feel like the support system is crumbing, and my god, I'm really scared. 
 
How's it like moving to a new place on your own, when you're alone?
 
 
Hopefully someone out here can relate and help me out. If not, thanks for listening and have a happy new year.

Not me personally, but I have a friend who went from SF/Bay Area to Minnesota. Not much to say aside from many bottles of Sriracha and Pocky sticks were sent via USPS flat-rate boxes. 

Damn. As someone who's moving across the country alone next fall...I was really hoping to gain something from this thread.