Machaon01

Anyone have any idea what being wait listed might actually mean in terms of getting acceptance? I'm sure it varies by program, but anyone have anything more concrete that they've heard, maybe from previous applicants, current PhD students?

Hey All, Congrats to all with acceptanaces, so just going through the forum and the results page, no one has heard from Columbia post Interview? Or Brown post interview? And anyone with even a peep from BU? D

Hi tmiaj1, I'm a native New Yorker so i was able to visit Columbia several times, I didn't get my MPH there (I got mine at Berkeley) but the MPH students seem happy, and there is certainly an energy there, especally in global health. I'd be more than happy to talk with you

Hey, I've travelled a lot and Boston is easily the most racist city that I have ever been in. So much so that as a person of color I was constantly stopped at Logan after 9/11. It was so bad that my company would fly me into NY, put me up in a hotel and then send me by train to Boston just to avoid Logan. I've been to the city several times since, and it is still the most segregated city that I have ever seen. I dated someone in Boston and she visited me in Durham and what surprised her the most is that she would see black people and white people in the same place. That does not happen in Boston. And the cost of living is crazy, if you do decide to go, try Somerville. I think Columbia is having serious financial problems. But a lot of programs are. But they seem a little more cut-thoat about it. They're letting go anyone who doesn't have enough NIH funding to pay their salary and then some (SMS just let go Kim Hopper who was doing some great work in NYC in mental health). I just interviewed there, and it seems like there has been a siginificant drop in PhD applicants and when I interviewed, their most pressing concern was whether I would be able to get external funding. That said, they get 650 new MPH students each year and it is really exciting being around them, plus Columbia has bought up all the real estate within spitting distance so their on-campus housing is really reasonable if you compare it to NY market rate. And from what I understand, unless you already live in the tri-state area it's pretty easy to qualify. Talking to some of the PhD students, there is a big connection with NYC Health Department and also Pfizer (so definately take that clinical trials course even if you weren't thinking about it) Anyway, just some random thoughts D

Hey Kang 6789, I interviewed at Columbia last week also, but haven't heard anything. Haven't heard a thing from Yale, have you inteviewed there? D

Hey guys, Not a peep here either

Anyone hear anything from Yale Epi yet? Columbia was interviewing 41 applicants via Skype over the last few days and plans on making decisions tomorrow. They got 150+ applicants, they narrowed it down to 41 and I don't know how many they admit, but previously I had been told that they normally get 200 applicants, they admit 35 and about 8 actually enroll.

Hey All - Got my rejection from Pitt (not a competitive applicant) which seems kind strange since I got interviews at Brown and Columbia. I think for the record, I like the letters that say "many qualified applicants, really couldn't choose" rather than Pitt's which basically comes down to - "you kinda suck" Any other thoughts?

Hey snapea, I think Brown's SPH sent all of it's Ph.D. candidates that it was interested in invitations to "Recruitment Day." Not really sure what it means, but from what my letter said, it looks like it was sent to all of the fPHD candidates applying to the School of Public Health. I applied in Epi, but it was addressed to all PhD applicants. I hope I'm wrong, and good luck. It's been the only good news that I've gotten so far.

There are a bunch of acceptances and rejections for Pitt on the results page, they started sending them early and it looks like they don't send them all out at once. That said, I haven't heard from them yet, and it doesn't seem like they're doing interviews either.

Anyone hear from Yale Epi? Someone posted on results that interview invitations were sent out, they didn't get one so they're guessing that they're rejected. Anyone get an invitation? D

Haven't heard back from anyone either, but in a fit of optimism I filled out my taxes, so I could fill out my FAFSA and 7 hours later, I still haven't heard. But good luck, you're not the only one getting closer to losing it

Hello Everyone, I haven't heard a peep from anyone, I'm not sure what that means. I applied to Brown, Yale, Boston University, Columbia, and University of Pittsburgh -- all PhD Epi, except Yale, which I think is specifically Chronic Disease. Anyway I'm 52, and an MD, got my MPH in 1999 and want to move into genetic epi, I worked for a corporation a few years back working on their genetic diagnostic tests. I'm currently practicing. I don't know what factor the age will have, my stats are pretty good, a few publications. Anyway, I should be working instead of compulsively checking the results pages. So I better get back to it. D

I don't know what my flaws are, but I guess they must be legion, I haven't heard anything back yet. I got my first application in in mid-October, the next 2 about a month before the deadlines of 12/1 and 12/15 and the 4th right on the deadline. I'm applying to the 5th right now. Meanwhile, I've read through these posts, checked my spam folder and have gotten nothing, except "we have received your application and it is complete." I'm applying to graduate programs in epidemiology, specifically interested in genetic epidemiology. My major flaw and one that I can do nothing about is that I'm 52 and am sort of changing careers. I've practiced medicine for the last eight years or so. There's was a stint in corporate America, doing work on genetic diagnostics before high throughput sequencing, and a fellowship at Berkeley where I picked up the basics of molecular biology and phylogeny. I was an English and Classics major before medical school. I'm applying to schools of public health, I already have my MPH from Berkeley and am boarded in Preventive Medicine and Public Health. I have good grades, pretty good GRE's (160Q, 169V, 5.5W), I think pretty good recs. I still haven't heard anything. My first application went in October 15th. Am I pretty much doomed?

Retook the GRE and went from V 170, Q157, AWA 4.0 to V169, Q160, AWA 5.5. Percentile changes were V unchanged (99th), Q 68th to 78th (that 3 point difference came out to 10 percentile points) and 58th to 98th on the Writing. Since you're applying to a science PhD, you might just want to retake it. For the math, I just did more sample tests. For the writing, I practiced writing a long BS filled essay in less than 30 minutes. I needed a higher quant score more than a higher AWA, and I got it without too much effort, but the 200 bucks did hurt. Something to keep in mind though, if you have a better idea of what schools you're applying to you can send your scores the day of the test for free to 4 places, I think it cost $27 each to send them after, so you can save $108.

The first time I took the GRE I think I got a 4 on the Writing, 58th percentile and a perfect score on the verbal. And I know that I'm a good writer. My quant was also kinda low at 157. I took it again, but my strategy for the writing was to practice writing BS essays. I mentioned this in another post, but I would do the practice essays and try to reference the work of various scholars in the field. I used the dwarves in the Hobbit and made up research that supported my point of view. The thing about the writing part that I think I had most trouble wrapping my head around is that you can MAKE STUFF UP. And you should make up a lot of it. Anyway, Writing went up to 5.5, 98th percentile and the math went up 10 percentile points. The increase on the math was most improtant though, my second score of 160 put me in the 78th percentile. Most people have told me that anything above 50th percentile is fine. ETS has this long thing about how grad progams shouldn't have a cut off, but almost everyone I've spoken to believes that most schools won't look at an application with scores below the 50th percentile. If scholarships and funding are limited, most places seem to be looking for 75th percentile or better for funding. Otherwise, they don't really use the scores. And of all the scores, they look at the writing the least. I think it is just such a poor measure of writing ability that unless it's positively dismal, it's ignored. Short answer, I wouldn't bother.