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statsgirl4

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Everything posted by statsgirl4

  1. Hi, I know this is a little late to the game, but I'm actually coming from a similar background (I work in a medical lab) and will be pursing a MS stat in the fall. I thought about an MPH, but decided against it. One of the nice things about the MS is that it gives you the quantitative/practical skills that get you a job. There are a lot of people that go into an MPH program because it has a lower barrier to entry, since you don't need the math courses, The material in a good MPH program can be fascinating, but I've met a lot of people with an MPH that went back to working at the same job they had in the hospital before they left. If you have the bio/health background, it doesn't seem like you learn that many more skills unless you go to a top program and throw yourself into the internships. If you're not sure about what you want to do, I would go for the degree that opens up more options.
  2. No problem, I'm in Manhattan Valley around 107th st. I really like the neighborhood. If you get into Columbia Housing near campus, the buildings vary a lot so it's kind of luck of the draw, but some are super nice and a good rate for the area for a 1br. The bureaucracy can be a little ridiculous (I know some people who have had some crazy problems with getting paid! Don't be afraid to be a squeaky wheel, be friendly with the admin staff, it'll work itself out but be prepared for occasional bumps). The school will most likely try to nickel and dime you if you're paying your way. But honestly, your experiences will probably vary a lot depending on the school/department. Try not to be one of those students who only stays between 110th st and 120th st and Morningside Park- there's a lot to enjoy in the area beyond these super arbitrary bounds that people seem to stay in unless they're going downtown. Falafel on Broadway is the best lunch under $6 imo. Your ID gets you into a ton of museums for free, and there are a lot of shows and stores that give very good discounts so be sure to ask. I've enjoyed my time at Columbia, as have my friends there- best of luck to all of you, and be sure to take advantage of living in the city!
  3. Hey, I'm actually a post-bacc at Columbia now (won't be there in the fall, as I will be attending a different program), but I wanted to suggest Manhattan Valley as a neighborhood- it's the area between 96th st and 110th st on the West Side, sometimes getting lumped in with UWS, as well as Inwood (residential and quiet) and Washington/Hamilton Heights (more lively) if you don't mind getting on the subway. Nakedapartments is a pretty good resource. I've heard really mixed things about The Arbor- the building is very nice, but the area around it is really sketchy. If you are only going to be taking the shuttle and doing errands near Columbia it's fine, but I know someone who was robbed at gunpoint in the park near the building. They transferred to different Columbia housing after the incident. I would avoid living there if you are planning on traveling without the shuttle at night, but I guess it depends how risk-averse you are- plenty of people don't have problems with it.
  4. 1. Find some type of exercise you actually like to do, and carve out that time in your schedule. You DO have time for an hour of working out- that's an hour you would probably spend on GradCafe or other internet uselessness anyway. 2. I'm a HUGE fan of making food ahead of time and putting it in the freezer. I love my copy of Don't Panic- Dinner's in the Freezer ( http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Panic-Dinners-Freezer-Great-Tasting/dp/0800730550) The recipes come out good, it's cheaper than grabbing ready made stuff, and it doesn't put you in a position where you're hungry and trying to pick out food to eat- that's where I go from 'I want a salad' to 'BURGER ME'. 3. Give yourself downtime. There is always more work to do, but give yourself some time off where you aren't going to worry about an assignment or a project. This is hard for me, but it helps keep some of that stress in perspective. School isn't everything, and you are more productive when you are well rested anyway.
  5. Congratulations Ellie! I'm so happy for you! Has anyone heard from Northwestern? It's starting to get really late in the game to hear back for PhD acceptances, I think.
  6. Haha the Stanford ones are pretty good sometimes. I'm sure Stanford rejected you because you were overqualified....
  7. I'm in a similar position- but definitely wait for your official offer to come through before you accept. It stinks waiting for the wheels of bureaucracy to turn, but it's important to see the details of your funding or any admission stipulations that the admissions office may attach. Be patient and make sure everything is in line before accepting. You're already in, and that's the important part. Congratulations!
  8. Ellies, who did you contact in the department? Was it Dr. Kolassa? I am also waiting to hear back from Rutgers.
  9. Definitely! If they are going to reject me I wish they would just rip the band-aid off, I have life decisions to make.
  10. The money has been very tough this year! The 'cheapest' application was $65 going up to $105. Thankfully, most of the programs allowed unofficial copies of the transcript to be uploaded or that would've been expensive. If you change your mind about schools after the GREs (and I sure did), that's $27 a pop. All that money to bow and scrape and wait >3 months to hear back from the department feels like a pretty raw deal. I agree that departments should be more straightforward in telling what kind of students they are looking for- it's less work for them, and less financially stressful for us. But it feels like every website has the 'we love students from different backgrounds, and offer research opportunities in [lists every major subfield]'. I'm pretty sure they're just running a random number generator to see who gets in.
  11. Agreed. Come on guys, I have life decisions to make and my lease ends in May.
  12. The whole application cycle has been a mess for me- I'm shifting fields so my application is a little shaky to begin with, and one of my letter writers disappeared on medical leave right as a bunch of applications were due/past due without letters (I hope they're okay but wow). Waiting to hear back is torture. But the hardest part is balancing the dream of what I want to do with realistic possibilities of what I can do in the system as it exists. Yes, I want to go to an amazing program with some of the best faculty, students, and researchers in the field, set up the connections that I lack from my not-very-illustrious undergrad institution. My husband has encouraged me to shoot high- but he's been a model student. But I realize that I'm returning to school and shifting fields, had a rocky start in undergrad due to health issues, not published in anything, my GREs have a perfect score in the wrong category, and are only pretty good in the other. How much should I realistically compromise? Will I accidentally sell myself short or completely overshoot? Is this cycle a waste of time (and money that I barely have)? On another note, I'm pretty sure I'm already bitter about academia coming from a nontraditional background.
  13. I applied to another program, and I still haven't heard back. I'm worried that the department/university does not have much funding right now... I wish they would let me know so I can move on if I need to, but the deadline was December 1st and nothing yet. Oh well, we'll know when we know!
  14. Technically an acceptance, but I really enjoyed: "No word on funding yet. Not sure if I'll accept as the name of the school is so difficult to spell." -Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
  15. I've heard that similar things have happened in the past with MIT. You'd think the preeminent tech schools would be better at emailing people. I can't imagine the emotional roller coaster of getting into your top choice and then having it revoked...
  16. I jump to my phone every time I get an email, and I'm really starting to resent the Princeton Review and random admissions department emails from the schools that bought my name from the GRE. You guys don't get to put the words 'admissions' 'department' 'decision' in a subject line, OK? It's so tough- the only two schools I have heard back from were my big reaches (swing and a miss, there). My husband is very supportive, but he was one of those first round draft students that heard back Mid to Late January when he applied so he doesn't quite understand my anxiety. Our lease runs out at the end of May and I just see this totally blank calendar and it freaks me out. Most of all, it makes it so difficult to concentrate on the work I actually need to get done this semester. I just feel very burnt out.
  17. Work out where my husband and I move to (he's graduating with his PhD at the end of this semester), I'll apply for jobs and internships and reapply to a smaller selection of schools next cycle if I don't magically land my dream job. Life goes on, but I admit I'll be pretty sad and feel defeated if I don't make it in this round. We made a large financial sacrifice and left my job to do post-bacc studies to get in and change fields, and it would be nice if it pays off sooner rather than later.
  18. Not to make people panic, but in case someone reads this thread in future application cycles: I had a letter writer drop out of email contact around mid-December through my application cycle and letters were not being submitted. I had been out of school for a year and had moved, so I was no longer on campus. I continued to send email reminders for a couple weeks, figuring with the holiday season and breaks that letters had been put on the back burner. Mid-January I called the department office as I was getting concerned, and it turned out that my letter writer was out on medical leave and was totally out of communication with the department as well. I ended up having to contact another faculty member late in the application cycle, who was thankfully able to take over the remaining application letters and really saved me, but we weren't as close so I'm not sure as to how strong the letters actually are. I still don't know what happened to my initial writer, and I have sent them get well emails and a card to their office, but if anyone is running into problems with a lack of communication, ***try and figure out what is going on as soon as possible***! I wasted a couple precious weeks trying to be polite and considerate of the finals/holiday/break cycle. The week where I had to do damage control for this was one of the worst I've had, and I am still torn between concern and anger at my former advisor. (They are either truly incapacitated or truly inconsiderate, and I hope that they only violated my trust and are not very sick.)
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