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 just received acceptance into my last program!! Thank you guys for being an outlet these past several months!! Many congratulations to everyone who has been accepted, and to those who were not, please do not give up!! 

Long-time lurker as well. I have benefited so much from reading these posts and your advices. Honestly it's so nice to know I'm not the only one in this process. I have ran into a bit of a situation and I would love some advice.
Background: international student. MPH from Top 5, 2.5 years working, no publication, research experience primarily doing lit reviews and collecting raw data (which is a nice way of saying I have zero research experience)
Situation:
Accepted to a small Midwest PhD program without funding. Emailed faculty advisor regarding this last week but still haven't heard back.
Rejected by Columbia PhD but offered spot in MS in public health with no funding.
Please help! I honestly don't know which one to choose.
On the one hand, Columbia program is an one-year program and would give me more research exposure and has a better rep? On the other, I don't want another round of repeated education in public health and NYC is expensive!
As for the PhD program, there is possibility of obtaining funding after first year (yes I'm that optimistic person). But the faculty advisor has been radio silent and I don't know if that's a bad sign.

Oh you're an international applicant as well! Yeah I've been putting off calling them because I figured if I am going to get rejected I don't want to inquire about it myself. But thank you for reassuring me that I'm not alone! I hope we all get some answers sooner rather than later!

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'm still waiting to hear from UIC but I'm thinking about plan B just in case.  I'm new at this so can anyone offer any advice for reapplying? Who to talk to, re-writing personal statement, etc.

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 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 TOTALLY agree with this entire post! Within my MPH program we were taught the same thing, extreme optimism -- we will change the world, BUT no one taught me about the red tape, politics, and how incredibly disheartening our field can be! Especially if you are working with marginalized communities and you want to see them have access to the same things other communities have, just to hear a big fat "thank you for your input, but no." To even further drive home your point, DrPH degrees with a focus in leadership is rather new; therefore, we have people within in Leadership positions across the world that do not have a background in Public Health and do not fully understand the need for it to create evidence based prevention techniques, resiliency and social justice. We can never lose hope, but a dash of cynicism helps deal with the hurdles we have to jump every single day. 

Also, thank you for understand my nervous "haha" because that's exactly what it was -- a nervous chuckle. 

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.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!

Yep - just got the email too. I guess it is impossible to know our chances - probably just depends how many people go elsewhere instead of Hopkins...

I was waitlisted too. The email says they will let us know no later than April 18. 
 
Congrats to everyone accepted!

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!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!

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!

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 haven't but I called their admissions office last week. They said that due to Mardi Gras we might not hear for the next two weeks.

LOL at the mardi gras excuse

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.

Well this is a busy day, just got accepted to Boston with a partial scholarship!!