soylatte5

I was informed about that when I called to inquire about the status of my app

thanks for sharing everyone, very helpful!

Hello! I wanted to hear about your experiences being advised by an assistant professor as I'm considering my options. I really hit it off well with an assistant professor at one of the institutes I've been admitted to and, based on our conversation, his advising philosophy aligns quite well with how I would like to be advised/mentored. He is also one of a few professors that has projects aligning with my research interstes. My main concern is that since he is not yet tenured, he could potentially move on to another institution after some time of working with him. In your opinion, is it advisable to go with an assistant professor for your advisor if you match well with them? Should I aim to look for a tenured professor even if their research may not align so well? Would it be appropriate to ask your potential advisor about their likelihood of becoming tenured while deciding where to attend? If you have been advised by an assistant professor, what is/was your experience (assuming this is someone you work well with)? If your advisor moved on to another university/career path after some time, what was your decision in that situation? how did you make that decision? Greatly appreciate you sharing your experiences, thanks!

waitlisted at WUSTL accepted at UCI and JH still waiting on Berkeley (who won't provide any status updates!) and Harvard (still in review) Congrats on your acceptances!

btw for those waiting on harvard, they only release notifications on thurs/fri

just called Harvard and was informed that my PhD app is still in the review process and that i won't hear back till at least next week - could be longer as they "hope" to make all decisions by next week since it's late in the season already. if wait-listed you should be notified and the guy wasn't sure how many people are being accepted in EHS this year since it varies year after year. so the waiting continues... anyone heard from uc berkeley phd programs?? apparently spring visit day is Mar 17!!

this authorship business is ridiculous and there should be more protective measures in place for subordinates..if only EVERYONE was ethical in this world!! i was almost burned once but luckily my advisor was logical enough to understand my argument for why i should be first author - i literally did all of the work. authorship really is important, especially if you plan on staying in academia. as others have mentioned, i would suggest speaking with someone you trust on your campus/department and get their advice on the matter. if you don't have anything about authorship in writing, i would probably bring a cell phone/voice recorder the next time you discuss authorship to have your conversation on record in case you need it for future purposes (such as bringing the matter to an ethics committee or department head). the research world really is a small world and you'll eventually run into people again at some point in your career if you continue to do research in the same topic area, so it would be a smart move to maintain a cordial relationship unless you know for sure that reporting this PI will actually lead to real consequences or you will probably suffer more repercussions. best of luck securing a different position! i suggest screening out people you'll be working with in the future to avoid crappy situations like this.

You won't be missing out too much if you can't make it to the admitted students days. As a master's student, you don't necessarily have to have already identified a professor of interest prior to attending and if you already have one or some in mind, you can always email and/or arrange meetings with them at some point. I attended 2 admitted students days for my MPH - BU and Emory. BU was more of an excuse to visit Boston for the first time since I was already leaning towards not attending considering the tuition/cost of living (their scholarship was simply too minimal!) unless they wow-ed me, which they didn't because I was looking for international experience. Panels included intro, current students, and financial aid. You also get a tour of the facilities and speak with a few faculty members, depending on who was available. There was 1 other student in the same dept the day I went (they had multiple days you could attend) and about 3 faculty spoke with us. They were all very nice and welcoming. Emory put more effort into attracting admitted students. Breakfast first with other admitted students and then similar panels - intro, current students, fin aid. We then had a session with our depts where we had lunch and got to know some of the faculty/more about the dept. This was followed by a campus tour. The day ended with a networking event to speak with faculty from all departments and some research centers so you can become familiar with their work and speak to potential thesis advisors. Good luck making your final decision!

Congrats to all! Do you know how many spots are open? Were you also notified about funding at the same time?

second grad2020's advice I didn't really fully understand what public health was until I actually started school. I was drawn to PH based on reading about the research opportunities available during school/afterwards on various school websites. After one semester of courses in my MPH program, things started coming together and PH concepts simply made sense. What really draws me to public health is it's practicality - you really put into practice what you learn rather than simply try to expand theory (at least in the type of research I conducted and plan to continue with). PH is also so diverse that anyone with any background can easily carve out a niche for themselves whether it be lab based, field studies, evaluation, programmatic, etc. Entering the field of PH was one of the best decisions I've ever made. I've also applied to PhD programs this cycle. As far as GPA/GRE scores go, at least meet the minimum requirements and aim for the minimum GRE score at your reach school.

I think this probably depends on the discipline/department you are applying to. I applied to public health schools and at one of my interviews, the school indicated that all/most of the schools of public health have agreed on an approximate date (April) that all those accepted will have to respond by to give them a fair opportunity to hear back from every school they've applied to and some time to consider their decision. No one is required/pressured (at least in theory) to respond before that agreed deadline. Maybe you can contact someone from the program directly (such as director of programs/chair of the department you applied to/POI) to inquire about the funding situation. For one acceptance, thus far, I was notified via email that I was accepted and then received a letter with the funding being offered/response deadline about a week later. Are you suppose to receive an official letter? If the school has indicated that they will offer you funding, they should be able to tell you prior to receiving your acceptance/rejection to help you make your decision. The only situation where they don't have to is if they don't guarantee funding or indicate that there are scholarships that will be decided at a later time. Good luck!

http://forum.thegradcafe.com/forum/84-interviews-and-visits/ Something especially helpful is preparing a list of questions prior to interviewing. I spent maybe ~20-25 mins during a 35-40 min phone interview asking my own questions, which emphasized my interest in the program as well as the professor. One somewhat unconventional/blunt question I got was along the lines of ..if accepted, how likely are you to attend here? Be prepared for potential questions like that.

@drph_2014, awesome, see you there! @EOH_2014, PhD. I considered the DrPH route as well but a lot of schools did require years of work experience and I've only had ~2 yrs combined from post-undergrad/grad schools. I've heard that some DrPH-ers eventually take the PhD route since the curriculum is similar at some schools and the degree is more recognized. But DrPH seems to be on the rise. I went to Emory for my MPH if you have any questions (PM me). I don't know many faculty personally but I've interacted with a handful to some capacity. @Bri2014, the interview/visits section here has some great tips. The benefit is that they can't see you so you can have notes and they can't visually tell that you're nervous. Speak confidently and it should go well. Awesome to see that there are many EH-ers out there! good luck!!

Hi All, Been browsing around and it seems like a general thread for doctoral applicants was only started in 2012, so let's start a 2014 one! Where have you applied for 2014 enrollment, what department, and where have you heard back from? Applied to mainly Environment Health programs at: Hopkins - invited to recruitment weekend, Feb 7-8 Harvard Columbia Berkeley UCLA UCI (general PH, disease prevention track) - informal interview via phone I'm getting a bit nervous about the others I haven't heard from since it seems like in 2012/13 applicants received interviews from some of those schools at the end of Jan/early Feb. Is this a bad sign? Anyone else applied to these schools and hear anything back? Thanks for sharing!