hccgrl

For those of you who may be looking for programs to apply to next year in MCH, I found a listing of schools that are federally funded "Centers of Excellence" in MCH. They not only provide technical assistance to communities but they also have a heavy focus on training doctoral and master's students to pick up the mantle. 
Note that there are a ton of great programs not listed here that also focus on MCH, they just don't have the same federal backing. Thought I'd share, since my search did not include many of these and would have if I had known. 
 
https://mchb.hrsa.gov/training/projects.asp?program=17

The interviews exceeded my expectations! I am definitely team Harvard right now ? .
IMO, the best way to prepare is just to reflect on what brought you to this moment... your personal/academic/professional experiences and why this program, POI, career choice, etc. Practice articulating these responses, but don't over rehearse. Scripted answers prevent an interview from evolving into a conversation. It really comes down to just being yourself and seeing if this is a right match for both parties. 
I will send you good vibes for the interview - you got this ?..

In addition to all the amazing interview advice that posters have already given, I wanted to add a few potential curveball questions that I've seen online:
1. Why are you applying now? Why not take a few years and get more work experience? Conversely, if you already have significant work experience, what would a PhD offer you that work experience can't?
2. How did you arrive at your proposed research questions? Whose input and mentorship did you seek and why?
3. Describe a time you experienced a setback, academically or personally.
4. How do you perform in an unstructured environment? What guidance will you need to make sure you can finish your dissertation?

I’ve only had one interview thus far and one upcoming, so I’m no pro. To add to what everyone is saying, one of the questions I got that I did not prep for (although I’ve thought about it personally) was something along the lines of: “tell me how the world would be a better place with you in this field?” So my advice would be to think globally about the broader impact of your work.
 
Some other things that I think helped me...
1. I practiced on video, since my interviews were all via video-conference, and I watched and rewatched it trying to gage everything from the quality of my responses to the lighting in my office and my eye contact with the camera (which makes people feel like you’re looking at them). 
2. It was a lot easier for me mentally to prepare when I thought of this as a standard job interview. I’m a bit older (early 30s) and it’s been forever since school BUT I’ve had a ton of job interviews in my life so framing it that way abated some of my fear of the unknown. 
3. I researched everyone that I knew I was going to interview with. I looked at their papers, their CV, etc. This gave me an idea of how best to frame my research interests. For example, if I’m interviewing with a demographer then I’m going to talk about the broader impact of my research from a population health standpoint vs a health systems view. 
4. My interview was very short. Think 30 or 40 minutes. Most of that time was spent asking me questions. I got about 5 minutes to ask my own. It’s helpful to have your most pressing 1-2 questions on-hand (ie the ones that will help you make a decision) vs the small talk approach of asking about everyone’s research interest. For me, I asked about funding and fit. 
 
5. Be authentic, bring your whole weirdo self to that interview (within reason) and see if there’s real fit. There’s nothing worse than making mistakes you can’t take back, so don’t be fake just to wind up in a program you hate. 
 

I just received an acceptance to USF's Community and Family Health PhD program! It was via email and seemed automated (vs. personalized) and was not from my POI. 

Hi all, I just got an interview request for Columbia's psychiatric epidemiology training fellowship! I don't know what that means for my chances of being accepted into the epidemiology program but I'm taking this as a sliver of hope during this (extremely tough) waiting period. 

Hi all! This is my first time posting. I've applied to four programs and have yet to hear from any of them. Trying to stay positive, but I'm open to applying again next year if it doesn't work out this year. I applied to: Brown HSR, Harvard Population Health - Global Health and Population, Hopkins Population, Family and Reproductive Health, Yale SBS. I'm interested in maternal and child health, implementation science, and health services research.

I see a lot of science (biology/chemistry/physics/etc...) post online of a typical day for a first year phd student, but can't seem to find what it's like for those in public health/social sciences.   Does anyone want to share what their first semester/year as a new phd student was or has been like.  Of course it will vary depending on the school, but just general idea would be great. 
 
Thanks!!

This exactly!!!! This might be my second year applying... If anyone ever gets back to me. Even with great fit, it truly is just dumb luck. 

This exactly!!!! This might be my second year applying... If anyone ever gets back to me. Even with great fit, it truly is just dumb luck. 

I emailed one back in may and she got back to me and we had a phone call. Our interests were identical and she was even astonish at the similarities. I reached out again a month ago and she hasn't replied. I just sent another email. Since our last chat, I spoke to students and the program director, to make sure it was a right fit overall. Now I can't get a hold of her. It's the only school I need GREs for and if she's not getting back to me, I don't wanna take my GRE and waste my money. 
I emailed 3 others and no one has gotten back to me. One of them I've worked on research with about 2-3 yrs ago, and the other one I had spoken to last year-again very similar interests and she was even doing research on a similar topic I had done my research project for mph on. 
 
I should mention, I'm looking to apply to public health, health psychology, and demography programs. Unfortunately demography might have to wait until next year because just found out that they are not accepting applications this cycle. 
I'm feeling very discouraged and thinking I should wait until next year to apply.  

I emailed one back in may and she got back to me and we had a phone call. Our interests were identical and she was even astonish at the similarities. I reached out again a month ago and she hasn't replied. I just sent another email. Since our last chat, I spoke to students and the program director, to make sure it was a right fit overall. Now I can't get a hold of her. It's the only school I need GREs for and if she's not getting back to me, I don't wanna take my GRE and waste my money. 
I emailed 3 others and no one has gotten back to me. One of them I've worked on research with about 2-3 yrs ago, and the other one I had spoken to last year-again very similar interests and she was even doing research on a similar topic I had done my research project for mph on. 
 
I should mention, I'm looking to apply to public health, health psychology, and demography programs. Unfortunately demography might have to wait until next year because just found out that they are not accepting applications this cycle. 
I'm feeling very discouraged and thinking I should wait until next year to apply.  

52 weeks. 

Has anyone had any luck with initial emails to POIs? 

One form for all of them. Make sure you let them know that you'll be applying to multiple programs and not one specific program( you don't want them to mention a specific program).

Thanks!  Unfortunately I am very very very limited in programs that I can apply to.  I have a 7 month old baby, just bought a house right before the pandemic hit, and my husband plans on going back to school for occupational therapy.  I live outside of Philadelphia, so programs have to be within 2 hrs driving distance.   One of the program coordinators ive been chatting with gave me this piece of advice: 
One of the most critical components of the PhD application is the applicant "fit" with a faculty member who has a shared research content expertise. I strongly encourage you to research our faculty and be sure that we have someone who is actively conducting research in the area that you want to concentrate in. It is important to have the support - and even a letter of recommendation - from this faculty member as part of the application. I am happy to discuss!  
With her suggestion of getting a letter of recommendation from this faculty, I wasn't sure if maybe I would need to reach out more often, and how to go about this.  I also have to ask for clarification on whether the faculty's letter of recommendation would be one out of the three needed or just an extra one.  
Is anyone planning on taking GREs?  I have to retake mine, but last I checked, they were doing it remote from home.  My windows computer is not reliable at all and not sure how itll work. 

Hey all, i'm thinking of applying this cycle to BH programs.  I was just wondering how you are all going about reaching out to faculty during these times.  I spoke to a great match back in May, but not sure how to follow-up and reach out again to let her know I'm still interested.  what do I say exactly? do I jsut strike up a random convo on how her reseaerch is doing? not sure how to go about this.  Any advice?
I have an MPH and my background is in diabetes in underserved populations.  

My two cents:
The difference between a "top" and "OK" program can be a bit messy. US News rankings, based on a limited sample of academics' opinions about other programs will only get you so far. The amount of research output and citations also comes with its limitations. I don't know if there are rankings based on student perceptions for public health grad programs, but even those data would come with a certain degree of self-selection. My point is, for doctoral training, the totem pole is not so well defined, and who is to say that the ok program will not provide as good or better training than the top program. 
My approach is to see if the faculty are engaged in research that I like; if it seems well aligned with my interests. Then to see if there seems to be a good fit with a potential mentor at the school. Can u see yourself doing good work here? 
What are the red flags, and are they deal breakers? 
Finally, what is your level of acceptable risk with regard to funding? For me, I have a very low risk tolerance as I am an international student from a developing country who will be taking a dependant with me. I can't afford to move across the world on the hope of securing funding year to year, so full funding is my choice. Your level of acceptable risk could be different which should also be considered.
Good luck!

Just off HSPH waitlist…No funding info though.
Now I have 3 days to decide?
Any funding info/school visit feedback/suggestion is much appreciated!!!!
 

I like to think that no news is good news! When I interviewed, it took 3 weeks to hear back, which sucked but I would also assume if they didn't want you they would have told you right away. Think positive! You got this!!

I committed to UW’s global health metrics program. So pumped. Now to get ready to move across the country... 

Hopkins

I’m going to commit to UNC!

Has anyone else committed yet? I committed to Harvard on Friday and it felt so good to sign off on the paperwork!

I think PhD stipends in general for public health are going to fall somewhere between high teens to 40K depending on where the school is located. I.E. Columbia offers at 39K stipend. I doubt the University of Iowa would give you much more than 20K given the cost of living is so low (but just a guess!). At Hopkins the stipend was offered as an annual amount I believe.