cmoon

Basically... I love one school wanted me as is but another school offered me a SIGNIFICANT financial incentive with a disclaimer. I have no idea what to do.

Hi all! Title about says it all, I'm trying to decide today and I've narrowed 5 choices down to a final 2 -- Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University and University of Michigan. I'm interested in human behavior and health education, with a specialty in sexual and reproductive health. Here are some factors: Emory + I went to a visit day and was really impressed - Have both a HBHE program and a concentration for sexual reproductive health under global health concentration - Expensive! I feel the material they've sent about how much the school costs esp in comparison to others has been misleading + offered me a 20k scholarship (split between both years) yesterday - but would likely be $100,000 in debt unless other funding comes through (tuition + living expenses) + my favorite school + connections to CDC, other public health orgs Michigan - missed the visit day because of COVID, have had spotty experience connecting with faculty +/- Have HBHE program, sexual health classes but not defined track or concentration +++ Offered me a 50% tuition scholarship, would likely need to take out little to no graduate plus loans for tuition and living expenses - my admission is contingent on taking and passing a math class this summer + high name recognition across fields of study Other info: I was also accepted to UIC, UCLA, and Boston. I officially declined UIC yesterday. Cost of living appears to be similar for both areas

Got another acceptance, but still waiting to hear from three huge schools. While I'm glad I've only gotten good news (I'm 3/3 with who I've heard back from), I need to know about the other ones. I know I shouldn't equate silence with rejection but if that's the case I just need the band-aid ripped off.

Accepted to UIC! Still waiting to hear from UCLA, Mailman, and Michigan.

Was also surprised that there wasn't a thread for MPHs despite the PHD program thread being so active. Where did you apply? Boston University, Columbia University, Michigan University, University of Illinois - Chicago, Emory University, and UCLA What are your stats? (GPA/GRE) GPA: 3.5 GRE: 154 Verbal, 121 Quant, and 4.5 Writing Interviews? None yet, but have been already accepted to Emory and Boston without interviewing. What are your research interests? Sexual and reproductive health, sexuality studies, gender studies, sociomedical sciences, social determinants of health, behavioral sciences, health education and promotion, sex education, sexuality in media

Had my second dream about refreshing my email and getting rejections. ?

I applied to six schools -- I've heard back from two quickly and got accepted to both, but I am fully losing my mind about the other four. Especially because other GradCafe users reported decision emails from them last week and I still haven't heard anything.

I had a similar experience. For every program I needed a minimum of three letters, and all asked for a boss and two academic references. Everyone I asked enthusiastically agreed and said the deadline worked with their schedule and workload, and assured me it still worked for them in my follow-ups as the deadline got closer. My boss did it almost immediately, but the academic references were incredibly stressful to hunt down. I felt so disrespected. I couldn't believe how nonchalant their approach was to something so directly linked to the success of my applications. I didn't reach out to schools about it because I ended up getting everything in under the wire for the schools with the earliest deadline and met the others just fine. Something I think helped the situation with the reference I was having the hardest time with was sending a polite yet stern email letting them know that the missing rec letter was holding up my ability to submit. I thanked them for their time profusely, but also stressed that not being able to submit by the priority deadline would jeopardize my chances of my application being reviewed and considered for financial aid. I'm not sure what the etiquette is for reaching out to schools is in this case, but I would start with expressing your honest, anxious concern with your letter writer.