Jay1

Because I'm more interested in leadership and practice than I am in straight up research, personally, I would probably choose a DrPH program over a PhD one. That said, the PhD program must be your top choice for a reason, so maybe try to find out the feasibility of getting in off the waitlist and maybe drop the crumb that you really want to come to their school and have this other offer pending. Also, how big of an issue would lack of funding be for you? If I was in that predicament, those would be the questions I would ask myself.

I saw your update and decided to email them too because my portal hadn't changed at all since I applied (I didn't even have this information about emailing them by 3/15). Less than an hour after my email, I could no longer access the portal with my login. And now (maybe 2 hours after emailing?) I just got an email to check because a decision has been made and when I checked, I didn't get in. And I'm not upset, this was my least preferred program I applied to. I didn't really want to go (to school in New York City) but they have faculty working in my interest area so I applied anyway. I'm just amused that it took an email prompt to get them to give me some sort of a decision that had obviously already been made. Oh well, it is what it is. Good luck to everyone still waiting to hear back or about to interview!!!!

Yup I'm international as well! Hopefully we hear back soon.

I didn't find you to be pessimistic or insensitive and totally got the (nervous) "Haha" in your previous post. I wanted to touch on this theme of optimism and hope and it being such a prized thing in public health. I'm in my 10th year post-MPH (I've been meaning to apply every year since like 2012). I've been working in a SBCC (social and behaviour change communication) job I adore (and also have dreaded leaving, adding to my procrastinating about applying since 2012.). All this to say, maybe it's just me, I find the real world public health space a lot more cynical and pessimistic than the one that exists in Schools of Public Health (caveat I'm not American and work outside of America- maybe things are different if you have strong health systems, but I don't assume so). I find it often feels very 1 step forward, (being extremely generous) half a step back and that the MPH as a practical degree doesn't prepare you for the harsher realities (especially in social and behavioural areas) of what working in public health really is like especially as you grow in responsibility and get into the leadership and holistic management-y parts of it. I think optimism and hope are good and essential to finding fulfillment in your work, but I don't think they're to me the most important thing I'm looking for in a program or the markers of success- especially a practical program. I got a lot of hope and optimism and inspiration in my MPH. In a public health leadership degree like a DrPH, I'm looking for faculty with experience dealing with the realities of implementation and human centered research practices that aren't just for research sake but actually aim to develop resilience and improve the communities where they are carried out. That's why I applied to Hopkins- for those things. Because the struggle in the actual public health practice world is real and leadership within it is not easy and the problems are complex and don't always color within the lines that SPHs set. And if what you're bringing to the ring to face those challenges as a leader is optimism and hope, it's easy to get crushed. I've rarely met people involved in public health practice who don't have a healthy dash of cynicism and side eye to spare, they just counter it with resilience and creative problem-solving and a can-do/must do attitude, and hopefully hope and optimism. Then again, take me with a pinch of salt. I'm still only waitlisted and already focused on Application Cycle 2020. It is entirely possible I was missing a dash of optimism and hope.

I just told them that I'd seen the waitlist notification on the portal but never received the promised email explaining how it worked, and then I asked about how the waitlist works i.e. if it is ranked and if so, was it possible to find out my standing, what the typical chances were of transitioning from waitlist to an offer of admission, and when I could expect to get a final decision on my application. At this point, I imagine the lot of us in the waitlist or even admitted camps are badgering away. There's probably no harm in asking. Maybe you could call them and leave less of a trace (? ) that way... I think working in admissions, they must be used to this time of year and all the questions. I'm still waiting for my email response so maybe I should pay the international rates and just call them as well.

No idea. They do have mega family planning/population health projects in all the key pop health hotspots around the world, making it THE PLACE to go for that. But again you never know. Since their funding isn't typically great, maybe people will go elsewhere, where they might have better offers. What I find odd, is that my waitlist decision is on the portal and they said they'd send an email in 24-48 hours which was maybe a month ago, and I've NEVER gotten that email from them, even after emailing them with questions about the waitlist. Try not to stress, it won't change anything. Focus on your B plan of improving your application, and that way, if you do get off the waitlist, it's a lovely surprise and you're happy, and if not, you don't feel lost because you already have a plan.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!

Applied to Columbia Sociomedical Sciences DrPH as well. Definitely will give more time next time to the non-admin stuff like perfecting my personal statement et al so it's not all a rush doing it on December 1. The struggle to do it with a full-time job that eats into nights and weekends, is definitely real!

No problem. I applied for the PhD program in Health, Behaviour and Society a.k.a. Social and Behavioural Sciences. I sincerely doubt that enough people are going to reject Hopkins in my department that the list will move up. I mean it's not impossible, miracles do happen, and they've never promised great funding which can be a barrier to admitted students who would otherwise want to accept, but I'm not hingeing my hopes and giving myself sleepless nights waiting to get off the waitlist. I'm already thinking about the Fall 2020 application cycle. Are you also waitlisted? What department/program?

I liked it fine. Everyone at the SPHTM is very nice and the vibe is very casual, very chill, very "laissez le bon temps rouler," very what you would expect from New Orleans. People (by which I mean professors) are very approachable and I wouldn't say it's an "intense" place to study- not that it's not academically rigorous, but like people aren't super competitive with each other, professors aren't really super self-important even though many of them had superb international experience etc. I didn't apply there for doctoral studies first, because it didn't fit in with my research interests and second, because my friends who were doctoral students there were there FOREVER. I wasn't friendly with anyone in the tropical medicine program, so that might be different especially since they're funding you. But my friends in GCHS and International Health were there for A WHILE (more like 6 years than 3-4) and their advisors were the type who didn't seem motivated to move them along and wanted them filled with the joy of learning and academic discovery and who didn't seem to realize that it's not necessarily plausible to be a doctoral student forever. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but it just felt a bit like a carry over from the general relaxed New Orleans vibe. As for living in NOLA, there's nowhere else like it to live in America, I don't think. It's a really strange and somewhat other-worldly place to be a student. It doesn't feel like the most residential place in the world especially downtown which is so funky and weird and tourist-centered, and it takes a while to get used to living there but it's interesting, fun, filled with culture, super friendly, lots to do, people will always want to visit you etc etc. The School of Public Health itself is downtown, near the French Quarter and bars and tourists (and by near, I mean within 5 minutes walk of swarms of drunk tourists EVERY SINGLE WEEKEND with an escalation in the weeks leading up to Mardi Gras). So don't picture that you'll be in the main campus with the greenery and antebellum architecture and history. Nope, the SPH occupies a 12-16-storey high rise (can't quite remember exactly how many floors) building downtown. There is quite a bit of crime (reportedly, I was never a victim, but it seemed frequent based on the school circulars and the tv) but as long as you follow big city principles, you should be fine. I lived in downtown student housing in Deming, which is graduate student housing for the downtown medical/public health campuses- the other student housing they might offer you is in Papillon which is nicer, but unfurnished and uptown so not within walking distance of school. Deming is within walking distance, is furnished, secure and includes utilities BUT it is more insitutional in nature because of that. Being somewhat of a college town, there are lots of off-campus options as well. There is a bus service but it's not the greatest and I wouldn't rely on it, there is also a tram service that goes between uptown and downtown, but you might want a car because it's not like a New York City with excellent public transportation. I've rambled a lot and hopefully some of it has been helpful. If you have specific questions, please feel free to ask.

I did my MPH at Tulane and I can say this is the Tulane-iest of Tulane-ishness! Quintessential!

Congratulations to all who got admitted to BU. And it seems like the Harvard rejection club is thriving. I have no idea if Columbia does interviews unfortunately. What department did you apply to? Based on last year, it seems we should know in the next week to 10 days. I've already kind of mentally decided to try again in next year's application cycle and to be more strategic about things. Unless an absolute miracle happens and I get off the Hopkins (PhD) waitlist with funding. But no regrets, this application cycle has been a major learning experience and really I should have made time to scour these forums BEFORE applying rather than last minute-ing everything around my work schedule.

Just got rejected from Harvard DrPH... Now my only remaining result is Columbia DrPH which I don't think I will get into (also was my least preferred choice of the 4 schools I applied to).

Wow @ April 24. That feels like forever away right now. No idea what the HBS track plans are. On the portal, it said they would send me details of the waitlist in 24-48 hours but that was probably two weeks ago. I'm torn between reaching out and trying not to rock the boat especially since I found out by obsessively checking the portal myself with no prompting from them. Did you apply anywhere else? Have you heard back? Are you going to planning to wait Hopkins out or do you have options you're considering accepting? My biggest concern is that even if miraculously I get admitted off the waitlist, I'm imagine any funding ship would have long sailed away. Meaning if I do get in by God's grace, I'm finally going to have to figure out how to get that money tree in my backyard to fruit some ???.

Good luck to you too!!! ??? Did you get an email from them or did you find out from the website application portal. I still never got an official email so ?‍♀️