HopingForGoodNews

Just got my last decision back (UCLA ID EPI)! 4/4 rejections. Time to start prepping for the next application cycle.. lol
As much as it stings, I'm allowing myself just 5 minutes to feel down. To those who are in the same boat, as much as we hate to hear it, it's a pretty random process. On paper, I would have a pretty competitive application (20 peer reviewed articles, several first author publications, 5+ years of professional experience, led some workgroups in collab. with CDC, great LORs, decent grades), but alas it all comes down to right time, right place. ?

Folks, I wanted to share my experience this application cycle so people really know how difficult it was to apply this year. I applied to mostly epi PhDs. Here goes:
Stats: Undergrad GPA 3.8 (well-known foreign school), MPH epidemiology and biostatistics from top 5 PH program (GPA 3.93), GRE: 170V 165Q, 2 years full-time research experience at top 5 PH school, 2 co-author publications, 1 first-author publication. Worked on my personal statement for months and got a lot of feedback. Looking at it now, I still think it was a good one and checked all the boxes you're supposed to check for a statement.
I did all my due diligence with contacting PIs before applying. I must have done 20 meetings. In each meeting, I'd specifically ask the PI if they are accepting PhD students next year, and if they'd feel comfortable with my including their name in my application. I always asked if they had any questions for me, and usually got interview-type questions. I had incredibly positive meetings with almost all the PIs I met with. 2 PIs at Harvard told me they highly anticipate my being accepted into the epi program. One PI at Hopkins who's on the admissions committee said she'd be very surprised if I didn't get at least an interview to the program.
Results season comes around - my first rejection was from Hopkins. What followed was a stream of rejections from "safety" schools and everything in between. My anxiety was through the roof as getting a PhD offer was literally the only way I could stay in the US. I applied to 13 programs in total and finally got one acceptance. The irony was that I hadn't spoken with the PI at all before, and his research has nothing at all to do with my research interests or experience. Don't get me wrong, I'm super grateful to have the offer and will definitely take it. Just wanted to illustrate how odd/difficult of a cycle this was to apply.
Anyway, hope this helps a bit. Congrats to all the folks with acceptances and for the folks with none, you'll come back fucking stronger next year. 

Hey there, me too!! And with that, I'm finally at the decision-making stage. Feeling very fortunate to be in this position but also overwhelmed!

Hi all, I finally stopped being a lurker to inform that I just got a BU HSR acceptance via email so hopefully some others may get something there too

I was fortunate enough to be admitted earlier this week to PhD programs in Health Policy at Stanford and Harvard, the decision science track for both schools.
I went into this process with a research question in mind, and during my interviews I was asked (read: grilled) about my topic and why it was appropriate for decision science and not economics, for example. I think that being purposeful, specific (I applied to three schools), and demonstrating that I was reading and thinking about the discipline outside of my day job in population health was a boon to my application. In several interviews I talked about how things I had recently read had shaped my thinking, even when the books weren't specific to health policy ("Thinking, Fast and Slow", "Mountains Beyond Mountains", random articles I had read).
I did reach out to professors before submitting and followed up when they recommended other faculty to talk to. When it came to the statement, I tried to answer three questions: "Why this?," "Why now?," "Why me?" I wanted the committee to want to meet me, not necessarily by having an intriguing background but by posing interesting questions. Naturally many of my interviews challenged me about the questions I posed in my statement. In hindsight, I don't think they expected me to have the right answers (that's what the PhD is for!) but to demonstrate my willingness to wrestle with them and engage intellectually.
Let me know if you have any questions. I'm very excited to think about healthcare fulltime, free from my corporate obligations! ?

I feel the same way! I haven't heard anything (so doubt I got in) but really hate that they can't just send rejections out so we know for sure. 

Ordered takeout and had a nice-ish bottle of champagne. 
 
And I’m keeping my job through August pretty much I think... ideally I’d take a few months off to travel, but since that’s probably not happening this summer I figure I might as well keep making money while I can... 

First acceptance y'all! University of Minnesota Epi PhD program, social/behavioral epidemiology track

Harvard HP will interview everyone they may accept and I think they have completed interviews (I interviewed with decision science track over two weeks ago). I think we are supposed to hear from them this week or next, and it is very reasonable to wait to hear from all the programs you have applied to before committing to a school. 

I'm also waiting to hear back from HP. I haven't seen any interviews for the Methods track on the results page, so still holding on to a little bit of hope. 

Got a yes from Hopkins (International Health, Human Nutrition) and I'm in SHOCK. It took me so long to even admit to myself that I liked the program (to avoid getting disappointed lol) so hearing back so positively is absolutely mind boggling. Eek!

Hi everyone, I don't know how to process emotions well and I am still in shock but I just received notice of my acceptance from Johns Hopkins into their Mental Health PhD program. For the past week I have been feeling so much anxiety waiting for their response to the point where each time I slept, I had a dream that I received a response (both good and bad) from them. I'm happy to say I can finally sleep in peace after this! Lol Anyways, before I tell the rest of my friends, I felt the need to come on here and share this news with you all. I just want you all to know how grateful I am to have found a community as supportive as yourselves. You have all been so encouraging through this process and it made it easer for me to handle each rejection I faced (UWashington, Boston, Michigan, and Brown). You all taught me to handle rejection as a redirection, and I was beginning to come to terms that if this year wasn't my year then I would simply have to try again. This is my second time applying to doctoral programs btw. Nonetheless, I appreciate you all and hope you all receive great news soon. May the universe bless you during this time. 

Got accepted into the UC Irvine, Public Health PhD, Disease Prevention through an informal email from the admissions committee chair tonight.  Had a group interview last Friday. 
 
It's a nice relief after hearing how tough it is.  I was very worried.  I am 44 year old classical musician with a decent performing and college teaching career, teen age kids and bills.  A few years ago a I met a retired epi/biostatician from Johns Hopkins/Harvard selling some furniture on Facebook.  We became friends and then he hired me for research.  Never thought I would be doing this! 
I have three more to hear back from, but good luck to everyone.  

Decision sciences. I read somewhere they tend to tell everyone at the end of Feb but it seems like this year is a bit weird with COVID, so figured I would check. 

I haven't heard anything for Methods for Policy Research Track. Which track did you apply to?

Just had my interview with the BU DrPH program today and I'm so pleased! The faculty seems to really love the program and I'm glad to know there are a number of supports in place for students.
I must say, I feel good about having interviewed. I know everyone they interview will be a strong candidate, but I'm glad I got the opportunity to talk about why I'm a good fit for the program and why my particular lens is important in public health. We shall see what happens since* it's a numbers game at this point. But I feel good with how I performed in the interview.
I was super excited after the interview, but I believe they said final admissions decisions will be made mid March. So I expect we will hear back in another month to month and a half.
 
 

I have no post-doctoral professional aspirations, I’m content soaking up funding and a valuable spot at the university of my choice in order to make airline ticket checkers refer to me as “Doctor”. 
 
My grandest hopes and dreams are that some day, an individual on public transport of some sort will collapse, and I will be able to answer the call “Is there a doctor here?!”, but deflate the entire room with a smarmy “Oh sorry sweetie not THAT type of Doctor.”

Hi everyone! Some updates from me: 
Rejected: Harvard PHS 
Interviewed and pending response: BU Epi 
Offer of Admission: Brown HSR, JHU Epi, UNC Epi, University of Pittsburgh Epi
I am still in shock that I have been admitted to 4 amazing programs! This is my second time applying. I didn't get into any schools last cycle. I say this to encourage y'all to not give up. I started my application very early this cycle, got a couple publications in, networked with POIs, and spent A LOT of time on my personal statement! Wish you all the best of luck. 

Just got my rejection from Brown's HSR program. This was expected as I wasn't interviewed. 3/4 rejections so far. The 4th will come soon, as I haven't been interviewed there. I'm going to need to regroup and re-strategize for next year's cycle.
I've been working in maternal and child health space for 12 years, am a returned Peace Corps Volunteer, I graduated with my MPH from Johns Hopkins where I won an award for my capstone research project. I worked on monitoring and evaluation of global maternal and child health programs for a few years post-MPH, and for the last three years I've been working as a researcher at a Harvard SPH lab. I have first authored 2 papers, second-authored 3 papers, and am a middle author in some others. I did not submit my GREs unless required. I'm interested in the intersection of MCH quality of care and implementation science. My recommenders are well-known in the field.
I'm writing all of this to contribute to the ongoing conversation on this forum to de-stigmatize rejection. I'm trying to view this as an opportunity rather than a failure. I only applied to schools that were geographically close this year due to covid, so next year I'll get to expand my search a bit more. Hopefully that will make it easier to find a better match.  I'm using this year to regroup, gain more experience, and to identify programs that might be a better fit. (And maybe try for a kid pre-PhD!).
This has been a great forum! It's good to know that there are so many up-and-coming, qualified, passionate public health researchers. We need it! Good luck to you all!

I was accepted into UC Berkeley's Environmental Health Sciences EHS program last night. 
Still haven't heard anything from most of the other schools I applied to (all EHS programs), but it feels great to finally have confirmation that I will be a PhD student next Fall at a school with a great research fit. 

Hi me too! ?

accepted to emory BSHE PhD a few mins ago.
! 

My kid took his first steps today! I'm excited but also scared because I am totally not ready to chase him around everywhere. haha. 
Anyone else with good news today?! Let's cleanse the palate, burn some metaphorical sage, and move on to positivity. 

Salam fellow applicants,

Boo as you must to keep up appearances, but you know I’m right. This saccharine charade of camaraderie holds no purpose; consider, once the utility of this board has ceased, nary another thought of it you’ll have. Unless, of course, you’re that one person from the 2020 cycle in attendance, ostensibly, to inform anonymous strangers that s/he attends Brown. Have you tried sneaking into undergraduate Zooms to inform them of your lofty status?
The fact of the matter is, I’ll take a spot from some of you, and some of you will take a spot from me. That is how a scarcity of resources works. Pretending otherwise is just as useful as the urinating contest known as “stat posting”. 
Pardon my language, but blowing sunshine into each other’s assholes isn’t the psychotherapy you think it is. 
Have a nice day! Hugs and kisses!

 
 

Swag