epi_hopeful19

Does anyone have any sense of the likelihood of being accepted off of Yale's waitlist? I was pretty disappointed to be waitlisted (they were one of my top choices) and I know there's nothing I can do about it now...but I am trying to figure out if I still may have a shot.

Whew thanks for noticing that! Major (if potentially momentary/unfounded) relief ?

Nope not yet! Saw one post on the results page (an acceptance) but haven't heard or seen other updates (at least not for PhDs). Fingers crossed!

I appreciate the perspective- I live in a constant state of expecting to hear news and that anxiety occupies the majority of my brainspace. Can't wait till I have an answer from all my schools, then at least I can start weighing pros and cons and making some decisions.

I think a lot of PhD programs actually cover the same coursework people take during a masters- so in that sense, going straight to PhD means you wouldn't be missing out on whatever masters students learn. As for learning the masters skills elsewhere (research job, fellowship, etc) - I think you could learn some, but not all. I think my masters gave me broad background in public health/epi/biostats. I've used/sharpened some of those skills at work, but don't think working would give me the same breadth of knowledge that the masters did. One consideration if you do wind up with debt from a masters and then do a PhD is the NIH loan repayment program: https://www.lrp.nih.gov/ It provides 35k/year for 2 years directly towards your student loans (given that you meet certain criteria)- I absolutely plan to apply for it post-PhD!

I have a masters so I can't say I'm in the same situation, but I do have significant student loans from my masters degree. If you can go straight to the PhD without it, more power to you! Wishing you luck, and fingers crossed

Hi all, Does anyone happen to know which programs definitely do interviews for Epi (besides Michigan)? It seems as though for some programs you can get accepted without an interview, but I don't know what to expect. I'm particularly curious about UNC, BU, Yale, Brown, and Harvard. Thanks in advance!