CurrentGHD

Hey folks, Apologies for posting this on PhD thread. I did not get into any programs for PhD yet but received acceptance to Harvard MPH in Global Health. I have not seen any other postings yet about it, so was not sure if this was a mistake or something. I saw a few epi MPH acceptance postings stating their scholarship amount. Did you. get the funding letter in the myharvard decision portal or the financial aid portal?? Just want to confirm if I am seeing things correctly!!

Yeah, the websites do mention that interview is not necessary. But again, seeing folks starting to get interviews, I am beyond the stage of freaking out. Applied to Duke PHS, Emory Global health and development, UNC MCH, JHU IH health systems, Yale, Harvard MPH, Washu and Brown. Haven't heard a word back. If any one has any info on these programs, it would be really helpful...

Has UNC MCH already send their interview invites?? I guess I will start applying to European programs now.

Folks, any updates? This silence is killing me!

Hello folks! I wanted to get your perspective on my application profile particularly on programs I should apply to and how high I should aim. Undergrad gpa: 3.91 (Economics and Poli sci with a minor in Maths) from a small unknown US university Grad gpa: 3.41 (Development economics and International development focused on quantitative analysis) from Georgetown University. Worked extensively at the World Bank on education issues during grad school. Graduate capstone is focused on education service delivery with the World Bank as my client. Upon graduation, I had a field placement with the World Bank's Health, Nutrition and Population Group in sub-Saharan Africa working on a large scale public health project with substantive experiences in research, operations, and implementation. It was amazing experience on health financing and health systems strengthening. I was pivotal in creating $200m+ performance based public health contracts, designing and analyzing health surveys, supporting Ministry of Health on health resource allocation optimization. The project encompassed 6 ministries and 30 government entities across federal and state level, which really taught me ins and out of health system. Furthermore, the verification of performance required deploying HMIS, for which I drafted the ToR. This experience is why I want to pursue PhD as I think performance based financing is the way to go in a resource and capacity constrained setting. After that I worked for a few months in Yemen for USAID. I have a publication in maternal and child health with another on the way. My current interest lies on optimizing performance based contracts of community based health service delivery. But do I apply for public health programs, general international development program or economics program? There are also business school PhDs that focus on optimizations, which could be useful for my research interest. Just one program doesn’t seem to fit either my background or my research interest, and I don’t know how to shortlist my schools. As you can see, my grad GPA is lower than undergrad, which is a huge negative. However, on quantitative courses such as advanced econometrics and applied econometrics, I did well. Based on this info, is top 10 public health PhD based on international health too ambitious? Any guidance would be immensely helpful. Thanks in advance.

Hi @agm316, Congratulations on your acceptance offer. I send them other offers and told them about my financial situation. I personally met several faculty members and financial aid officer and appealed to increase the aid. That helped for me. I hope it works for you as well. Best of luck!!

A passionate team of professors who run the program and know every students personally since it is a small cohort. In addition to that the adjuncts that are brought in for courses are amazing and there are so many paths you can choose through connection with GHD professors. And I felt like Georgetown was less urban while still being in DC and grad programs were well integrated to the main campus and all its resources. Even though I did not have to take any additional language classes, some of my friends have been taking language courses for 4 semester for free if that's what you are interested in.

Send me pm and we can definitely talk more about the program. As per negotiating for financial aid, there were a couple of things I did. First, went to the accepted students' day and met with professors and staffs to make sure I was not just a name in paper. Second, made it very clear of my financial circumstances and that I really wanted to come there. And third, showed them my other offers to perhaps show that increasing aid for me would not be a bad idea. The offer I showed was far from being a competitive school and a completely different program. Also keep in mind the stipend that university provides during the summer for international internships.. That could be an additional cost in other school that you do not account for at the beginning.

I found out second week of March I think.... They are still going through this year's applications, apparently largest so far!! Best of Luck!!

Again, I created a new account to post about GHDP but there are other programs within SFS that have better job outcomes for students. One example, MASIA program feeds into Asia focused IR, consulting, and government jobs. Professor Cha got nominated for U.S. ambassador to Korea and Professor Green is next most respected scholar of East Asia. Same goes with other programs that focus in specific field. As per scholarships, I am not sure about MSFS but there is so much funding, FAR MORE than what you guys are assuming here. Bottomline, do more research on other programs within SFS and prepare to negotiate after you receive your funding letter. If lack of funding and career opportunities your reasons to not apply to Georgetown SFS then you are just not doing enough research about Georgetown SFS.

GPA: 3.96 from a very small unknown college. GRE: 166 M 157 V. GHDP is fairly quantitative program and I think having a higher Quantitative score with a good GPA was THE reason I got in. I had no prior international development experience as suggested in the program website.

Hi everyone, I used this forum extensively during my application period and keep on checking it once in a while. I am surprised why there is not much conversation about Global Human Development Program at Georgetown University. Someone mentioned in another thread that programs other than MSFS with in SFS is not provided enough resources, and it is so not true. I will try to make a case (depending on your interests) on why you SHOULD apply to GHD Program. 1) It is marketed as a practitioner focused program i.e. they require capstone rather than a thesis for graduation and some of the courses are tailored to more consulting/management type roles. If you want that, it's perfect. However, if you are trying to be more academic, the program is really flexible. You can work with great professors in campus on "independent study" to publish academic papers. Since, you can take your electives courses in other schools expanding your options immensely. For example, I am taking U.S. Labor Policy from McCourt with probably one of the leading scholar in the field. 2) Scholarships: THERE ARE TONS OF SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE. Almost everyone has some financial aid. I got a full-ride along with another student and I know almost a dozen student who pay very minumum (like ~20 percent of tuition). On top of that, the program secured sponsors for three fully-funded scholarships just last year. 3) Program fully funds travel and stipend for summer internship which for me was equivalent to $5000 ($2000 for airfare and $3000 stipend). So, you are getting some of your tuition back indirectly. 4) Academics- I cannot stress enough the quality of professors here. As I said earlier professors in Georgetown are really good. Last year, we had the World Bank hotshots like Shanta Devarajan and Sudhir Shetty offer micro economics class. I was interested in quantitative survey methods and economist who led Living Standard Measurement Survey and helped form almost all major survey coming out of the Bank taught that class. 5) Internships- It's required and professors are more than happy to help. All of my classmates have internships (some paid and some un-paid) either in development contractors or the World Bank or as an RA with professors. 6) Small cohort- Upside: Everyone knows everyone. There are two bonding trips the first year, one with professors and one with second years. This means professors know you individually and depending on your field of interest, you are assigned a faculty mentor who will help you personally to navigate your field. Having said all of this, I would sincerely ask you to consider GHDP. Do not get scared by thinking you are not qualified. I thought I definitely was not. Also I did not get full scholarship at the beginning but negotiated the heck out of it. Let me know if you have any more questions.