themmases

Maybe, but my reply was to mikapika who claimed that their unspecified MPH was difficult to get into. Also, the ASPPH does not only represent U.S. schools.

http://www.asph.org/UserFiles/DataReport2010.pdf In 2010, there were 6,806 new MPH enrollments in 46 accredited schools, an average of 148 per school. The report includes graduates with an MPH by school: min 20 (SUNY Buffalo and Maryland), max 351 (Columbia), mean 112.98, median 95. High-reputation programs were often larger, for example Johns Hopkins had 293 MPH grads in 2010 and Michigan had 204. Applications and total enrollment for the MPH have mostly been trending upwards as well. If there are a bunch of tiny programs out there, it is likely because they are new or newly accredited. Public health is a growing field, which is awesome, but it is not a competitive field (it could hardly be if it were going to grow). I say this as a public health person.

Definitely the RA. It's better for you professionally, and could help you with your own thesis work. Also, it looks like there's room in there to add more time in subsequent semesters as your advisor's work on this grant picks up. Once the project is mature, it seems like there would be more for you to do at the higher salary level. I often work on projects that are just me and the PI in the beginning while we set things up, then gradually pull more people in or take up more of my time as things get rolling.

I was accepted by my division and am waiting for the university to confirm, so I'm definitely nervous. I confirmed by email that I'll be going, and sent in my deposit to the school, so rather than wait for the (notoriously slow) university I'm just waiting for my deposit check to clear. That's when I'll let my admission offer at my second choice school go-- it makes me feel bad to hold onto it so long, but I did decline #3 already and it just makes me nervous to decline before the confirmation that I'm really truly going to enroll. Plus once it's confirmed I have to give notice at my job. Definitley not doing that until every i is dotted.

Classes generally don't count unless you're in a humanities field where research papers are the product. Unless they took time off to work between undergrad and grad, most people's research experience is part time and either their job or an internship/volunteer work situation. I found my first undergrad experience on my college's job board just because I needed a job-- I actually had no idea at the time it would become something I was interested in. The next one was offered to me by the research coordinator over the summer, with a different professor whose work she also supported. I think people also find them by talking directly to professors they have a rapport with or whose work interests them.

Interesting question! I got rejected from one school this cycle, Harvard School of Public Health. I heard back on 2/28 after they acknowledged receipt of my application on 1/6. I heard back around the same time all the other HSPH applicants did-- they didn't seem to leave the rejected people hanging. They did send me invitations to some summer program while I was waiting, which annoyed me. It looks like a cash cow, and they say in the emails that it doesn't imply you'll be accepted but they must know people strongly consider going just to help their chances at a brand name school. I think they genuinely tried to write a nice form email but it was actually kind of an annoying one as well. And I have read good rejection form letters before-- they are possible. HSPH's implied I must be disappointed-- I wasn't-- and talked about how their standards were very challenging in a way that I think was supposed to be comforting but actually came out kind of patronizing.

I did the same thing, but once I looked into it I found I was actually able to qualify for a regular credit card (I do have a full-time job right now). If I had gotten denied for this one, there are also secured cards available to people with limited credit history-- you give the card issuer a deposit and usually the deposit is your credit limit. After a year of using it responsibly, you should be able to convert to a normal card and get your deposit back. Most of those cards do report but it isn't obvious that it's a secured card on your credit report, so you can build credit by using them. I used the boards at Credit Card Forum to get an idea of what first-time credit users were getting approved for and liking, and ended up with a Discover card. Also, in IL at least not having a credit history didn't prevent me from getting an apartment or signing up for utilities. In college, the gas company even claimed my "good credit" meant I didn't have to give them a deposit when I opened my account. It seemed like these places were looking to avoid bad credit and red flags, rather than hold out for people with known great credit.

I love the process of doing research, and wanted to be a historian before this. When I got into coordinating clinical research, I found I still loved it because it is research. I like planning studies and integrating our study design with the actual resources and conditions of our hospital. I like spending a moderate amount of time with patients and the rest of the time concentrating deeply on something alone. I want autonomy. I understand that researchers aren't free agents and are accountable to employers, funding bodies, the public, their research subjects, etc. But I coordinate research right now, which I like, and I've also experienced being right about the study design but being talked over; having an idea that gets "maybe someday" when I say it, and fast-tracked when the department chair says it; and generally that people feel free to call me "the research assistant", ask if I'm a student, pile on administrative tasks for their pet projects that aren't research, and treat me like an intern when they disagree with me even though I'm a 26 year old professional with 6 years of experience doing my job. I know I could be a good manager of people like me, and a good collaborator to the people I work for now who are good clinicians but really do not understand research or study design. I will be qualified to do this stuff as an individual contributor but not a PI after completing an MS, and I'll be using this time to decide if the PhD is what I really want.

I don't think there's any subtext here. When the committee recommends acceptance, there is other work that coordinators have to do, like letting the graduate college or university know, getting a final decision from them if necessary (if the adcomm just "recommends"), sending out notifications to applicants, etc. If there is other information that gets sent to applicants, like login information or funding details, the coordinator has to request those too if not do them herself. That's what "turning around" almost certainly refers to. Some schools are known for not getting decisions to applicants in a timely manner even after the decision has been made (which is why people get into discussions here about whether to just call and ask), or for the university taking a long time to make acceptance official after the committee's recommendation. The coordinator is telling you that decisions aren't being made and then just piling up in her inbox; if you haven't heard, the decision probably really hasn't been made yet.

You can also highlight your text and, in the "paragraph" section of the "home" ribbon, click the button that looks like lines of a paragraph with up and down arrows next to it. Then just click the spacing you want from the drop down menu. Don't even bother going into the paragraph dialog and confusing yourself. I only use it for business letters with stupid spacing conventions, or to undo stupid spacing the previous document author did. Seriously though, the internet is apparently full of people whose hobby is answering questions about how to use the weirder features of Office products. I owe everything I know about Excel to these mysterious pasty strangers.

Volunteer work at a wildlife hospital can definitely help. There are public health angles to vet practice (some of the application processes you'll read about when you research schools will lump vets in with MDs and DDSs as a category of applicant) even if you personally are mostly treating injuries. Talk to some of the people you volunteer with about your interest in public health-- they can probably tell you a lot about their contact with public health agencies and how the program you volunteer for might fit in. They might even make good references. Also, any work experience is good for getting you into a masters program and getting you employed after you graduate. It helps you show that you know how to act in a professional environment (and work around health professionals in particular) and were building on career experience with your degree. Good luck!

1. Research epidemiologist attached to a medical center, studying health disparities and making MDs research ideas happen (working on it) 2. Hopping to academia after doing 1 for several years (working on it) 3. Biostatistician/general research center resource for new physician investigators (plan B; would be ready after the MS) 4. Historian (nope) 5. Freelance science writer (based on the science writing I've read, literally anyone is qualified to do this)

It's actually not illegal or unethical to sign something written by someone else on your behalf, and a lot of jobs (including mine, where I speak for a committee and write letters that get signed by the chair) wouldn't exist if that were the case. Most LORs aren't totally origina compositions anyway-- they pull from past letters the reference has written and the applicant's materials. Recommendation letters are a gray area because, of course, admissions committees want the honest opinion of the recommender. This is one reason application systems ask applicants to waive their right to view letters-- but applicants actually don't have to do that (otherwise it wouldn't be a right that has to be waived). It's a social and professional norm to waive that right, and many online application systems have the ability to tell your references whether you waived or not-- SOPHAS, for example, does warn you that it's normal to do and could affect whether your references feel comfortable being honest. But that doesn't make it unethical not to. Many people, including me, have been given a copy of their letters outside the system by references they were particularly close to, who wrote something glowing and wanted them to know. It is unethical for a reference to submit a an unedited or barely edited letter written entirely by the applicant, and it's unethical for an applicant to write the letter if they know that might happen or to try to take advantage of the situation and write something glowing. Both of those situations would dishonestly represent the applicant's self-assessment as the reference's. But it's not wrong to give a reference an outline of what you need a good LOR to convey, if they do plan to write you a good one. I think this is what most references are getting at when they ask for this, because they may not be experts in your field or the requirements of your degree. Applicants should do what's smart to do anyway, by asking if references would feel comfortable writing a strong LOR and giving them a lot of information to help them do that themselves.

I think these boards can give the impression that getting into MPH programs is very competitive, but honestly it isn't. Acceptance rates are well above 50% at most schools. More schools are gaining accreditation all the time, and accredited ones are growing. It's still nervewracking to choose where to apply, do all that work, and then wait, and wait, and wait... But I honestly don't think people with truly low (sub-3.0) GPAs need to worry. Also, I got into all MS programs with a 3.3 in a totally irrelevant major, and wouldn't consider it low. Work experience is very important in public health admissions, as is some type of experience or perspective that can show you're interested in public health specifically and understand how it is different from, say, medicine. The posters here have really good work and volunteer experience, and I don't think you guys need to worry-- just emphasize that in your SOP and how it relates to your interest in public health and the school. Also, since this is a professional degree consider strongly where you want to work. If you get some good help editing your SOP, you have a solid chance of going somewhere you'll be very happy with. So devote a good chunk of your school research time to finding out whether you like the schools in the city and region where you want to end up living. The MPH often involves an internship, so also look into where students at each school tend to intern. If you want to work in a public health department but a school sends most of its students to its own medical center, that might not be a great fit. If you're applying somewhere far from where you want to work, the school should be helping you out in some special way like a great research fit or an opportunity to intern at an organization you're very interested in. Not only will this help you once you're job searching, you'll make a stronger case for your acceptance in your SOPs, and improve your chances of admission. Best of luck to everyone!

One of my references asked me to do this, and I declined but offered to write her some extra information on what my field is and what they're looking for. (This reference is a medical physicist; I'm interested in epidemiology. Also, English is not her first language.) Personally I don't think I'd agree to do this in the future, either. Any normal person will be editing the letter themselves and just using it as an outline of your strong points and what the program cares about, so I don't really see it as unethical. However, I just don't really feel comfortable writing about myself in those terms. I think a lot of people wouldn't. IMO it's fine to say you don't feel comfortable doing that-- because it's awkward and you don't know how to write a recommendation letter since you're just starting your career, not because you're questioning your reference's ethics-- and offer them more details about yourself and the program. If you have a draft SOP, that would be a great thing to include. So would a summary of what programs in your field want, and anything special about this program's focus.

I received a decision email from the student coordinator in my division on Wednesday night-- but the portal still hasn't been updated. The email said I've been recommended for admission and I'll get a confirmation from the university as well once they process the decision. I assume that's why the portal is still the same, because they haven't. I do know that some decisions were delayed because faculty were out of the country (per the student coordinator), but that they met a couple of times this week so decisions should be made soon if they haven't been already. It sounded like masters and doctoral candidates were both affected. Best of luck to everyone!

Yeah, no. Again, I live in Chicago and you do not have to be "constantly sharp" all the time, you just have to not act dumb. It's really not that much of an effort. I give food and money to people on the street all the time, and it has never been a "trap"-- what does that even mean? The worst things that ever happened to me was that one person hugged me and one person kissed my hand. Your friends are ignorant and mean if they told you that feeding hungry, homeless people is dangerous. It's not. Again, since I've lived here for years I walk home alone, in the dark, all the time. I stay over at people's places sometimes too-- because it's late and sometimes I want to. I have no idea what you mean by carrying "a bag of money" with you-- are you carrying a big sack with a $ sign on it like a cartoon bank robber? If so, people here will probably assume you're mentally ill and keep their distance. I have a purse big enough to double as a book bag and I carry it around, open at the top, at all hours of the day and night-- everyone does. I've never been robbed. And since I love my home enough to be pretty insulted by your ignorance, I can assure you it's not at all tiring to live here. It is tiring to constantly explain to ignorant people that I don't live in some chaotic nightmare of urban violence.

Thanks! I've actually worked in a non-profit hospital here in Chicago for four years (I assume it was what got me in), so I've noticed it but it doesn't affect me directly. I'm interested in researching health disparities, particularly in health literacy and outcomes, so hospitals are really the best setting for that as well as the setting where I'm comfortable working. I would be interested in a TT professor position if it worked out that way, but I think the most realistic and attractive career to me is really working in a hospital research center. I don't hear much from the Chicago department of public health, but UIC itself seems pretty active-- Ceasefire is their program. I'm attending Malcolm X for some prerequisites right now, and I got an email from them about summer research opportunities at UIC the other week which I excitedly opened... And it was for their Diversity in Public Health Program that I mentioned admiring in my SOP! It made me pretty happy to see that their program was a real thing I'd encountered in my daily life, and not just a defunct workgroup that hadn't been taken off the website-- something I've definitely experienced other places. If I had to pick a community resource that I think is really dynamic here, it would have to be the library. I'm not sure why that is, although it could be that they have branches in every neighborhood in a city that is still very segregated.

Panicking, you are mistaken. If you read the thread, people who commented talked almost exclusively about the areas they know. They aren't deciding whether to live in those areas for years-- they do live there or have lived there. A good friend of mine went to U of C and while, yes, she was forced-- forced! to use her common sense every day like the normal, intelligent woman she is, most of her stories are actually about crappy amenities that go with being in a neighborhood that is stereotyped as bad (i.e. segregation in Chicago is alive and all too well), or go with being a student. She had a bad apartment with a careless landlord. When she visits friends in Hyde Park, she has to call a cab because none will be patrolling. It's not well connected to the rest of the city by public transportation. Personally I don't plan to "get drunk at midnight carrying a bag of money alone through a dark alley and have not work out for years," because I'm a normal adult who doesn't experience the use of common sense as a huge burden. The scenario you're describing doesn't even sound fun, and I say that as a person whose apartment is best approached through a dark alley. My dumb 19-year-old friends and I were smart enough to walk each other home at night, or at least take lighted streets and check in by text, in the notorious hellmouth of Urbana, IL. It can certainly be expected of a grown adult in Chicago.

I finally heard back from my last one! (Also my first choice) UIC (MS Epi): SOPHAS acknowledged 1/18, supplemental app acknowledged 2/4 (I had to email them because the system still said incomplete; it was actually done right away). I emailed for an update at the end of February, when I was told I might hear back, and was quoted another 2-3 weeks. Apparently some faculty were out of the country. I was accepted last night by email from the student coordinator in my division. An application for divisional financial aid and a curriculum outline were included. To anyone still waiting, or waiting in future years, I really recommend contacting your program. I worried about being a pest because I felt like I contacted UIC so much (I actually met someone in admissions a year before applying), but they were always responsive and informative whenever I reached out.

If you're finding that you often can't communicate with different professors in your department, it's very likely that you are part of the problem. I can see from your post that you're probably not picking up this professor's social cues, nor the ones of this board. The good thing about finding problems in yourself is, you can fix them yourself and be happier. If you don't know a professor well, they're probably not a good person to ask for a letter of recommendation yet. That's especially true if they've made it clear that you were annoying them when you did meet them. If someone tells you that they don't like how you prepared for something, you should apologize, ask them to clarify what they do want, and then make sure you do that going forward. If you see yourself collaborating with this person a lot, you should make that clear in your apology, and ask how you can prepare in a way that would make them willing to work with you. You should ask your advisor, grad director, or a professor you have a rapport with already for a letter or for suggestions about whom to ask. It's not appropriate to suggest that grad school isn't work, especially on a grad school forum. Are you suggesting to your professors at all that you don't see your PhD as a job or as real work? You will certainly alienate people if you continue to say that. Much like at a traditional job, you'll ingratiate yourself to others by making yourself useful-- not by trying to force relationships or belittling others' work. If you give this professor some space, work on your approach with others with whom you already have a rapport, and come back later with a clearer idea of why you would make a good collaborator, you might get a better response.

My partner and I are making this awesome recipe tonight: http://www.eating-for-england.com/pan-fried-white-beans-greens/ This is genuinely way better with cooked dried beans if you have the time. If you don't, using canned beans on cast iron is the second best. The whole blog is worth a look-- we've also made and enjoyed the cassoulet.

Has anyone had success with general divisional funding applications? I was admitted to my top choice program (UIC), and they sent a funding application and a timeline with the decision. I've contacted the department before, so I know it's not common for MS students in public health to come in with funding but "most people who want to work are able to" and can network into something after 1-2 semesters. My partner and I are prepared for that, but of course I still want to apply and do the best I can. Also, I've coordinated clinical research for the last 4 years so I have some experience creating budgets and proposals. I feel like I have a golden opportunity here to quickly turn in something persuasive and professional. What I see as my strong points: - My experience is specifically in making other people's projects happen. Every year I help medical fellows who have never done research before get trained, start projects, and get a conference abstract accepted within 4 months of their arrival in my department. - Versatility. My interest is in health disparities, and I would be willing to pursue a disparities angle while helping with work in almost any health problem. I've worked on projects with infants to senior citizens. - Justifiable budget. I won't be moving, so my estimates of my expenses are based on years of budgeting. Expenses will either represent a reduction of x% from what I spent as a full-time employee, or are below my means now and are good choices for a grad student (e.g. my rent includes all utilities). Weak points: - Obviously I'm a masters student. - I don't have stats experience yet. - I don't know my advisor yet (they'll be assigned in July). - There is one application to be considered for everything. I'm switching fields and don't feel qualified to teach much of anything. Is there anything I'm missing? I feel like I should spend most of the time emphasizing my usefulness to the department, with a short justification of my budget. There's no stated word limit, but I'm sure shorter is better. Thanks so much to anyone with insight!

I use a timer to start stuff when I really don't want to. A big part of writing is just overcoming your unwillingness to get a first draft out there so you can start editing (at least in my experience). It's easy to do anything for 15 minutes, even if you don't think it will work, if you've promised yourself you'll only do it that set amount of time. I use a pomodoro timer app for my phone but there are a lot of timers out there, dedicated and not, for what you need (e.g. maybe you need to stay off your phone to write).

Yep, I did it in February. It's pretty easy if you've done your taxes (I think you can even import that information), but you can also use last year's taxes as an estimate to get the information to your schools. Then you'll just have to update it as soon as your taxes are done. Everyone should do the FAFSA. It's better to find out for sure what you qualify for, rather than assume you won't get anything. Also, the specific financial aid you get is done through your school, which might have a different determination of what you need or deserve based on the backgrounds of their students.