HSR_PhD Hopeful

I was just accepted to the DrPH program at Hopkins as well!!! I'm stunned and so so excited!!

Congratulations!! I also just received an acceptance to hopkins and I'm in total shock. Maybe I'll see you at the admitted students day!

Congratulations to all my cohort peers at JHU! 
 
Just applied to 1 program and am over the top excited that I got in!! DrPH 2025 

I got in the DrPH program at Hopkins!!  This is my first acceptance!!  I'm beside myself!! ❤️

Got into Johns Hopkins DrPH!!!! So stoked!!!

CHECK YOUR HOPKINS PORTALS!!!! I’ve been admitted into the DrPH program. I can’t believe it omg. 

I got into Tulane's DrPH program!!!!
I am so shocked and I am feeling so blessed! I got the news today around 4:30 and I'm still shook lol. I'm also really excited to potentially work with my advisor and be in NOLA - which is one of my favorite cities in the country.
Still waiting on 4 other schools: GW, Hopkins, BUSPH (interviewed), and Rutgers. Honestly, I'm just grateful to have gotten in somewhere. Every other decision will just be icing on the cake. Praying for options, but pretty happy with this one if it ends up being my only acceptance!
 

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! ?

Officially in at Yale EMD! My dream program, and I’m so excited!
This is my second time applying to PhD programs. The first time (2 years ago) I applied to like 11 schools... was accepted to a few, but none of my first choices, and none with great funding (UW was a love of mine, but couldn’t deal with their funding situation). I chose to get 2 years of additional experience in order to really clarify my interests and goals, and applied to only 4 schools this time (something I was really regretting like a month ago) but ones with better fit matches. Was accepted to 2/4, including my first choice! 
 
So for anyone who didn’t get into the program they wanted this year... don’t lose hope! Everything happens as it’s meant to!
Also will be declining by spot at BU Epi... so hopefully it goes to the person who asked about BU waitlist here last week  

Hi all - I just heard back, and was admitted to UNC's PhD program in Health Behavior (first and only acceptance)! I'm wishing you all the best as you begin to hear back! 

I just got an email acceptance (no interview) to GW PhD Environmental Health in case anyone else is waiting for their response!

Hi! I've been in contact with my PI from Tulane's epi program. He let me know they recommended me for admission but I haven't received an official offer letter yet. He just updated me that these will be sent out in 1-2 weeks. 
PS I didn't interview.

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

Writing to the anonymous forum universe. Oh man, I just want to virtually hug everyone. This wait and uncertainty is torture. Hang in there, everybody. Hopefully we all know what our future holds realllllly soon.
 
 

Hi everyone,
I finally got accepted to a program (yay! it only takes one!). My acceptance letter talked about receiving some funding, and that information will come later. Do you know if you get that information before accepting the offer, or do you have to accept to receive the details?

I just accepted to Tulane's SBPS PhD Program!!!

Ya'll I've been waitlisted at JHU for their Population, Family, and Reproductive Health program! I feel really good about this, since it was a good fit but not THE FIT, which to me means someone else deserves the slot.
If any of ya'll are headed to the beach/Tampa Bay (or as my husband says "Champa Bay"), please DM me. I'm excited to connect! 
 
PS. Because I trust the universe and really dig what it has to say, I took my name off of JHU’s waitlist. I’m hoping that bumps up one of our GradCafe folks!

I have heard back from all my schools, and will be accepting at UMass Amherst for CHE PhD. I have not yet confirmed this with the school. I am waiting to speak with my prospective mentor next week about the specifics of the fellowship I was awarded, so I have a better understanding of what I'm getting myself into financially. While not an "elite" school, it's a great fit for me as an arts-based researcher in Public Health and Arts in Health and I want to stay closer to home (New Jersey) because of some family matters. Nevertheless, I'm super excited! This was my first application cycle and only applied to 3 programs (it's really hard as an arts-based researcher in PH finding a good fit). Posting here in case others get accepted or decide to attend UMass, as I'd love to connect off the forum! Also happy to connect more generally if you're interested in how the arts can compliment public health research and programming. You can find me on IG @dramatichealtheducator. Good luck to you all. What is for you, is already yours. It might take a little work, but it is yours. This forum has been helpful, and I appreciate the grace you all share with each other. 

Hi all, I've been lurking for about a month and finally decided to say hello. Here's what I've got so far:
Rejected: Harvard PHS-SBS (did not interview), UW-Health Services (interviewed, but not surprised at the rejection as I don't think it was actually the best fit) Wait-listed: Johns Hopkins-SBS Interviewed and waiting: UCLA-CHS, UNC Chapel Hill-Health Behavior, CUNY-Epi No word: Columbia-Epi, Berkeley-Epi, NYU-SBS, Yale-SBS And then I sort of have good news from the University of Minnesota Epi program. They don't seem to do interviews, but they're being really transparent about the process, which I love! They were the first school to contact me in January; they told me that I had moved on to the second stage and would now attempt to find an advisor and funding for me. They said they would let me know exactly what stage my application was in if/when I was curious. I reached out the other day and they told me I had an advisor match who was currently awaiting but optimistic about a grant decision. It's nice to be able to see into the process because I imagine similar things are happening with lots of folks on here at other schools - we just don't see it. Given that things could break down at any step of that process, it's good to remember that often these decisions are at the mercy of external factors. Just thought I'd share.

When all is done for this cycle, we should all get together at some stage to come up with a singular document of "Things I wish I knew before applying for a public health PhD". There are so many pearls in this thread that deserve to be written nicely for future applicants. For example, knowing that Harvard has a very strong preference for internal masters' applicants is helpful. Knowing that Tulane likes its applicants to reach out early to faculty of interest is helpful. Knowing about funding is helpful. And the list goes on...  Such a document will help prospective applicants and re-applicants manage their time and also strengthen their chances of being accepted.

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. 

I appreciate how warm and encouraging folks in this forum are! Last year, I was devastated when I was rejected from Every.Single. Program that I applied to. I just wanted to share my experience with everyone, especially those who have not heard from any of the programs they applied to.
After receiving all the rejections, I took some time to reflect on ways to improve my application while pursuing other public health opportunities that I was interested in. I ended up consulting for two local organizations in my country on some really cool projects. And fortunately for me, things picked up at work due to COVID, and I ended up gaining more responsibilities and experience (I work in International development btw).
Last year, I applied to 6 schools. This time around, I applied to 7. I thoroughly researched the schools I was interested in and spoke to numerous faculty and current students. I typed up every answer they gave to my questions and read through them when I was writing my personal statement. This was extremely helpful to tailor my statement to each of the schools that I applied to. I revised my personal statement from last year and wove the past year's experience in the essay. I also understood what I wanted to research better, and I believe the time I spent reflecting on how to improve my applications was the cause. I listened to podcasts, watched YouTube videos, and stalked the faculty members' Twitter accounts I was interested in. It also helped to see what they were interested in and really understand their areas of expertise.
So far, I have been accepted to two programs without interviews (Temple University & OHSU). And I have also been interviewed for UMD, Duke and Vanderbilt. This is all to say, hang in there! Don't give up! If a PhD is what you want, and you didn't get into any programs this year, remember the wise words of Aaliyah: 
If at first you don't succeed
(First you don't succeed)
Then dust yourself off and try again
You can dust if off and try again, try again
Also, if y'all have "academic" Twitter accounts, I'd love to follow you. It would be nice to have this community when pursuing my PhD studies, and I would also love to help folks when they submit new applications. My Twitter handle is @nana_add0 ?.

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.  

just got accepted to U Albany DrPH (Health Policy & Management) !
school verified complete application 12/14; although website said an interview is "required", I was not contacted to interview; got email today 2/17 to check portal
 

Just received an acceptance to the PhD program in CHS at UCLA!