apex45

It's time to revive this thread, comrades

Sorry you got yeeted bro

I have heard nothing from any of the programs I applied to. I am hoping that the next couple weeks are productive for adcoms and we all get some news soon!

I have heard nothing from any of the programs I applied to. I am hoping that the next couple weeks are productive for adcoms and we all get some news soon!

Hey all, just checkin in. 
As of yesterday, I've sent all my applications. I'm applying to just 6 schools... think that's enough? I can't find any other places (1) with faculty that align with my interests and (2) in an area where I think I could live comfortably as a graduate student. 
It hasn't even been 24 hours, and I'm obsessively refreshing my email and checking old message boards here and elsewhere to try to determine when/if I'll hear back. Waiting season has always been the worst part of applications for me

I think Epi department only (judging from the email subject)!

It's time to revive this thread, comrades

Sorry you got yeeted bro

It's time to revive this thread, comrades

Sorry you got yeeted bro

It's time to revive this thread, comrades

Sorry you got yeeted bro

Worries: I didn't do enough to reach out to POI before applying. I applied too soon and could have had more accomplishments on my CV if I waited until the deadline. It's been 3 weeks since I applied and no one has contacted me. I keep looking at past posts here and on other forums and comparing my stats to others who have been admitted or rejected from the programs I applied to. I don't stack up well on stats-- my quant GRE is low and my undergrad experience was mediocre. I haven't worked in the field I'm applying to for very long. I'm in a Master's program now, but I just finished my last final for the semester and my thesis. I don't have anything to do over winter break except refresh. those. portals. Ughhhh. I feel like this is my only chance at PhD programs because I'm not going to have the time/resources/support I had this year to go through the whole application process again next year.
Excitement: I'm starting a new research project with a research organization outside of my university. So if grad school falls through, I can probably get a job with them?  

Hi everyone!! Already applied, hate waiting for the response getting really crazy and looking at all the forums. I am really unsure I will get in since unfortunately I could not publish before applying Hope everything works out fine.  
Undergrad Institution: Private school in Mexico
Major(s): Medicine
Minor(s): n/a
GPA in Major: n/a
Overall GPA: n/a
Position in Class: 2° in class of 50 something
Type of Student: International female
Postgrad: Specialization in applied statistics in Mexico

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 164 (87%)
V: 164 (94%)
W: 3.5 (42%)


TOEFL Total: 115

Research Experience: 2 years as research assistant in largest mexican cohort and 6 month visiting appointment at HSPH

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Fulbright Scholarship for PhD studies, Mexicanos en Harvard Scholarship for visiting appointment stipend, 30% Scholarship from medical school


Applying to Where: (all for epidemiology) Harvard, UW, Boston U, Emory, UNC, and Vanderbilt.

Hi guys! 
This is my second time applying to Ph.D. programs - hopefully, something actually works out this yr! Last year, I only applied to 5 programs and only had an interview at Harvard but was then rejected. This yr I'm applied to 9 schools (yes, I think I'm crazy as well), see list below: 
UCSF - Global Health Services University of Washington - Global Health - Implementation Sciences   Harvard - Global Health - Health Systems  Brown - Behavioral and Social Health Sciences  Yale - Social and Behavioral Sciences  Johns Hopkins - International Health - Health System  Columbia (ONLY DrPH program) - Global Health  University of Toronto - Social and Behavioral Health Sciences  McGill Univerity - Epi  Yes, I know. It's a lot of programs but we will see. I was able to speak with at least 1 faculty from each program. I hope we can make this page more active like last yr! It really helped (even though I didn't get into anywhere it was helpful to know that people were going through the same thing!) 
 

The schools you picked aren't terribly competitive. Emory is the most competitive of those 3, and even then I don't think your GRE score will be the deciding factor for admission. Health behavior isn't a heavily quantitative field. I wouldn't bother taking them again this late in the application cycle.   

I had my first responses starting on January 13th of last year (and heard from 4 of 5 that I applied to by January 19th)...most admissions committees at top tier schools are likely not going to meet until after the holiday season. For Harvard (since I see that you applied), I was reached out to on January 17th about conducting a a video interview. 
Be patient! And here's hoping for good news come January!

My impression is that high quant scores are more important for epi and biostats than most of the other tracks. My target quant score for my upcoming second attempt at the GRE is the 70th percentile, and I'm applying for social/behavioral. But maybe I should be aiming much higher like you. Magoosh is predicting me between 155-160 (59%-76%), so hopefully I can get on the high end of that with a month's more work. Do you feel like you can put in the study time do better on a retake? If so, no harm in trying again. 

I'll be applying. 
Definitely applying to: Harvard Pop Health Social Behavioral Sciences, Brown Behavioral and Social Sciences, Yale Social Behavioral Sciences (maybe Chronic Disease Epidemiology though), Michigan Health Behavior & Health Education
Maybe applying to: Columbia Sociomedical Sciences, Hopkins Social and Behavioral Sciences, Pittsburgh Behavioral Sciences, UT Austin Human Development and Family Sciences (not public health) 
Currently working on getting my GRE scores up. 
Here's to the start of a looooong process.

http://www.howigotintostanford.com/

For a December 1st application deadline, I began contacting POIs in mid-September (mid-October is probably the latest you'll want to send them out). For those that I didn't hear back from after a little while, I sent a follow-up email about 2/3 weeks later. Avoiding the end of summer/beginning of the fall semester is recommended, as your email may very well fall into a void.
My goal for sending the emails was to see if the POIs were indeed open to accepting new PhD students for the upcoming cycle, as well as to get more information from them in terms of the program. Some simply responded to me with an affirmative that they were accepting students - I kept those schools on my list. Others, I was able to arrange a phone call with - these are highly valuable! Those who said that they were not looking for new students recommended some other professors for me. Perhaps I was lucky, but I heard back from everybody that I had contacted.
Remember, you don't want to just reach out haphazardly to them...you want your research goals to line up at least moderately with their research interests and the program. At the time I was ready to send my emails, I had identified 9 programs that I felt as if I could fit in well with AND had a good mentor match, and had ranked them into three tiers. When I sent my emails, I reached out to my POIs in my top 2 tiers - the bottom tier were programs with later application deadlines, so there was no need to rush.
Initially, contact your top choice POI at your programs of interest...see if you can arrange a more in-depth discussion to determine if you do indeed match well with their research interests (and personality). If Dr. X isn't accepting new students for the upcoming cycle, reach out to your next choice - I would personally hesitate to have more than one ongoing discussion with any given professor at a school at one time. Maybe it's just being cautious, but it could reflect poorly on you if you're just throwing your hat in as many rings as possible.
In the email, keep it brief (something that I obviously struggled with, given the length of this response). I discussed who I was (pertinent academic/professional/research background), research topics of interest to me, some of their current/previous research, (ask a question about this...show interest!!) and then asked if they had an opening for a doctoral student. My emails were ~250 words, and even that was on the long side. And yes, I included my CV - whether they opened it or not is still a mystery to me, but it can't hurt.

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!

Same thing. As an international student, secured full funding is my TOP 1 reason to choose a school and a program.
I think PhD is a job to work for professors. If I work for somebody and I still have to pay for it by myself, I don't want to do that.