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jjj02027

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  1. Like
    jjj02027 reacted to 00ber in PhD applicants: Fall 2018   
    I JUST GOT MY FIRST ACCEPTANCE!!! The relief is extreme! UNC epidemiology PhD with my first choice of advisor 
    Good luck to everyone! I think several programs will be delivering decisions this week. 
  2. Like
    jjj02027 reacted to hccgrl in PhD applicants: Fall 2018   
    ??☹️??
  3. Like
    jjj02027 reacted to west_k in PhD applicants: Fall 2018   
    Unofficial acceptance to Upitt Behavioral and Community Health Sciences today.
  4. Like
    jjj02027 reacted to storm_jonas in PhD applicants: Fall 2018   
    I heard once that's there's a preference for Friday's. I guess having the weekend is nice for good or bad news? I really hope we hear this week! This has not bee a productive work week.
  5. Like
    jjj02027 reacted to pharmah in PhD applicants: Fall 2018   
    Just got waitlisted at Hopkins - hoping for the best! They are my number 1 choice. 
  6. Like
    jjj02027 reacted to mph2015 in PhD applicants: Fall 2018   
    I also received a rejection  
  7. Like
    jjj02027 got a reaction from west_k in PhD applicants: Fall 2018   
    A rejection from Johns Hopkins Epi PhD. I hope everyone else who applied get better news than me!
    Also, I hope everyone who had interviews this week aced it and get good news! Feel free to share with us on how it went.
  8. Like
    jjj02027 reacted to west_k in PhD applicants: Fall 2018   
    Just got an email from Pitt Behavioral and Community Health PhD for a 30 minute phone interview! 
  9. Like
    jjj02027 reacted to deleteaccount in Let’s just TALK about it...   
    Anybody actively unsubscribing from emails and filtering emails so that they don't get notified by annoying frequent newsletters and such? I would get excited that I got an email, and then see it was just junk.
  10. Like
    jjj02027 got a reaction from MarylandGirl in PhD applicants: Fall 2018   
    I also wonder whether 'no interview' equates to 'no admission'. It seems difficult to tell from the results survey page whether all candidates are interviewed prior to admissions, given that not everyone who applied will have uploaded their results/statuses (it would definitely be interesting to see how many candidates were accepted without interview, but we'll never know!). Also, as you say, institutions may go case-by-case in conducting interviews. So we'd probably be second-guessing, and as @west_k say if you really want to know probably best to check programme websites or contact the adcoms. However, I think things are pretty much out of our hands at this point... 
  11. Like
    jjj02027 reacted to EpiNYC in PhD applicants: Fall 2018   
    Dare I admit, this has severely impacted my ability to work during the work week ?
  12. Like
    jjj02027 reacted to hccgrl in PhD applicants: Fall 2018   
    Here's to the beginning of obsessively checking and refreshing our emails/portals for the week. ??,?
  13. Like
    jjj02027 reacted to ianmleavitt in PhD applicants: Fall 2018   
    Skype interview request just came through for the Social and Behavioral Sciences in Public Health program at George Washington University. 3 interviews over 5 days should prove fun!
    Now just waiting to hear anything at all from UNC's Health Behavior program...
  14. Upvote
    jjj02027 reacted to west_k in PhD applicants: Fall 2018   
    just got off a 15 minute skype interview with UNC Health Behavior. Figured I'd put the interview questions out there for anyone who is going to interview or is curious what is asked:
    1. what are your research interests?
    2. what are you interested in learning in the program?
    3. what do you think you will find challenging about pursuing a PhD?
    4. Is there a particular methodology you would like to learn?
    That's all! 15 minutes is short 
     
    Good luck to all those interviewing! We'll find our place 
  15. Like
    jjj02027 reacted to storm_jonas in PhD applicants: Fall 2018   
    Looks like I posted a few hours early. Heard back from the clinical epidemiology track about an interview
  16. Like
    jjj02027 got a reaction from MarylandGirl in PhD applicants: Fall 2018   
    @linnbear me neither, but January is too early to give up. Hang in there!
    Anyone else realising that the applying was the easy part? The waiting is excruciating! 
  17. Upvote
    jjj02027 reacted to storm_jonas in PhD applicants: Fall 2018   
    Hi @linnbear - as others have said don't give up just yet. UNC seems to cycle their application through your listed POIs, so it's possible that it's just taking longer because of someone you listed being busy. Don't forget that there's also the waitlist! Historically there have been some late acceptances in March. Otherwise, hope people put in data points so that you can asses your application and try to address limitations in case you opt for another attempt.
  18. Like
    jjj02027 got a reaction from solu in PhD applicants: Fall 2018   
    @linnbear me neither, but January is too early to give up. Hang in there!
    Anyone else realising that the applying was the easy part? The waiting is excruciating! 
  19. Like
    jjj02027 got a reaction from hccgrl in PhD applicants: Fall 2018   
    @linnbear me neither, but January is too early to give up. Hang in there!
    Anyone else realising that the applying was the easy part? The waiting is excruciating! 
  20. Like
    jjj02027 reacted to 00ber in PhD applicants: Fall 2018   
    Maybe this is because they don't uniformly do Skype interviews with all top applicants in all fields of study within the Epidemiology Department? That's only a guess though. I applied to the Cancer Epidemiology and Cancer Prevention field of study, so I'm not sure if it's the same for all. 
  21. Like
    jjj02027 reacted to ianmleavitt in PhD applicants: Fall 2018   
    Congrats! I'm still waiting to hear back from that program at UNC. As for the interview: Sell yourself! Why are you a good match for the program, and why is the program a good match for you? Why do you want to do a PhD? I put a few links below that may help as well...
    https://www.reddit.com/r/gradadmissions/comments/4binyr/list_of_questions_i_created_for_my_visits/?st=jc6ol952&sh=4a366feb
    https://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/99845-interview-prep/?tab=comments#comment-1058533641
    https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vP09ltqHSCJNgqcB0NmIGRsW1LjkM_6W_uVehDYeuBk/edit
    I would think that the strong majority of programs do interviews of some type, whether it be in person or over the phone/Skype. After all, you can only get so much of a feel for a student from what they wrote down and submitted. Perhaps lesser caliber programs don't do interviews as often, but I'd think even then you might find a 50-50 split.
  22. Like
    jjj02027 reacted to a_photo in Statements   
    Hey everyone!
    Would anyone who has accepted to grad school be willing to post their statement? It would be insanely helpful to see some examples. Thanks! 
  23. Like
    jjj02027 got a reaction from chupacabra in Venting Thread- Vent about anything.   
    May I ask what course it is?
    I find it surprising that such cliques / passive aggressiveness exist at grad school, given that these are 'graduates',  i.e. adults.
    Perhaps it is a younger cohort than usual. I don't think you need to feel sad or left out for not being involved or attached to cliques or immature 'private' jokes. But it's a shame that there is no-one mature enough to mitigate this passive aggressive behaviour of 'circling people out'. I hope you find someone like-minded, who is mature and serious about graduate school.
    As somewhat introverted myself, I understand your concern. Obviously don't block people out, but don't resort to their immaturity and just be confident about yourself! (feel free to ignore advice from a complete stranger)
  24. Like
    jjj02027 reacted to west_k in PhD applicants: Fall 2018   
    would you mind sharing what kind of ph programs (epi/global health/ etc) you applied to and some of your background information/ stats like GRE scores for context? Thank you!
  25. Like
    jjj02027 reacted to publichealthhbadv in PhD applicants: Fall 2018   
    Hi all,
    I applied last year and found this forum extremely useful, although I didn’t make many contributions to it. I vowed that if I got admission, I would give back this year. I thought I would share my thoughts and experience with the process in case it helps those of you currently applying or thinking about it.
    Last year, I applied to 8 programs (nearly all top ranked public health schools), interviewed with 4 schools, and was admitted by 2. One of my main takeaways from the process is that the most important factor in admission is narrative (although you might also note that I benefited by casting a wide net; you never know who will find your application appealing)! You must identify the common thread in your studies, work, research, and tie it all together into a story that demonstrates a logical transition/progression. If you are hoping to shift from what you did before to what you want to study going forward, the application and interview are not the time to make that known. Although plenty of people change paths during their PhD studies, schools are looking for people with direction, so if you provide evidence that you have too many interests or hope to shift focus, it will put you at a disadvantage (in my opinion). Programs will try to classify you based on topic of past research; embrace your category (for now)! Maybe this is obvious to you, but to me it wasn’t (at first). I wanted to pursue a PhD to develop my own area of expertise and research questions, which were not necessarily perfectly aligned with my work experience. So, I would recommend trying to show general area cohesion across all parts of the admission process: in your statement of purpose, in identifying faculty with whom you would be interested in working, and during your interview.
    I only contacted faculty at one school in advance of the application, and in my case, I think it hurt me for admission to that school, but helped me with admission to others. The faculty members who I spoke with gave me direction (including that I needed to show more focus with my interests), which I applied to other schools, but I think it hurt me for that school. Be careful in who you pick to talk with first (unless you feel highly confident that you have it all together)! Although I did not reach out to faculty at most of the programs, I did a significant amount of research to identify faculty at each school with whom I would be interested in working, and I included a paragraph in the statement for each school detailing who those people were and why. I typically identified three faculty members for each school (because I didn’t know who would have time/space for taking on another advisee, if my application/narrative would be appealing to that person, etc). The schools that I didn’t receive interviews from were also those that I did not feel a strong match with faculty or had trouble seamlessly tying them to my narrative, so I probably would have been better off to just recognize that and skip those programs.
    Be sure to follow up and follow up again if it is taking longer than anticipated for a decision. I sent thank you emails after each interview and was told I would hear back within X weeks. I only received admission to one program within the time frame they had specified at interview. The other three programs took far longer to release a decision after interview than they had specified. For two of the three, I did nothing and just waited. The third program that was taking longer, I emailed, let them know I was still very interested in their program and was waiting to hear from them before accepting another program. This offer turned into an acceptance. The other two that I did not email turned into rejections. I chose not to email them because after interview, I had already received admission to what I thought was my dream, perfect program. At that point, I wanted these two programs to reject me. I didn’t want to mislead them by inquiring about my status and feigning interest. I also didn’t want to insult the program by withdrawing my application after interview but before receiving their decision (I’m not sure if this would be taken as an insult, but it seemed wrong to me). I might have been rejected by these schools anyway, but to be on the safe side, if a school that you are very interested in is taking a long time to decide, I would recommend reaching out to let them know you remain highly interested. If their program is your top choice, you should let them know that. However, I would be cautious in wording because what you think is your top choice may change (and you also don’t want to seem desperate or pushy)!
    Ultimately, I decided to turn down my dream, perfect program in a top ranked public health school to go to a small, relatively new public health program at Washington University in St. Louis. This was the last program to which I applied because I didn’t even know it existed until in my paranoid state of wondering whether I had cast the net wide enough, I read through from A to Z the entire list of accredited public health programs to determine whether I should add more. Previously, I had explored programs based on rankings of schools of public health, and that is how I missed the program at WashU, which provides 100% full funding (tuition and stipend) and is housed in an awesome institution. You wouldn’t come across the program in the rankings because WashU doesn’t currently have a school of public health. Because the program is still growing, lots of resources are being devoted to its growth, making it an ideal time for you as a student to benefit. I completed my MPH at a top ranked public health school, which was awesome, but I also feel ecstatic over the rigor of WashU’s program and quality of research opportunities here. If you haven’t considered it, I highly recommend checking it out.
    Some logistics stuff… I didn’t submit my initial SOPHAS application until pretty late… 11/28/2016. So, if you’re rushing to get stuff together, it won’t necessarily hurt you. I was extremely careful in entering my courses, etc, to make sure there wouldn’t be delays with verification. I also filled in all the sections even if they weren’t required. I detailed every relevant experience with an explanation and what I learned from each one.
    I hope these notes help! I know the application process is so excruciating, but it will soon pay off! Good luck to you all!
     
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