studyepi

thanks so much! it's a full day, 6+ meetings or so! very thankful for the invite, but will have to mentally prepare for a brain marathon for sure

Got an email this morning about a virtual visit day at the end of the month, which I believe is an interview day. I am not sure if it's been sent to everyone or not, but they did want folks to RSVP asap, so unfortunately that might mean it's been sent to everyone they're currently eyeing for spots--but I am just guessing, I could be wrong since there's a fair amount of time until the visit day

I don't know for sure but for a fair amount of PhD programs, funding via a fellowship needs to be guaranteed before they can accept a student. so it may be that for that particular program, you need the fellowship to be admitted as a PhD student. so, I'd take that as a sign that your application is strong enough for admission but they're looking now to see if you are a good research fit for available funding/the fellowship. i could be wrong--i am going off of very few details, haha.

From my understanding, the way harvard epi phs works is that subcommittees meet first (so, the specialization/tracks) and then they have PIs reach out to people to gauge you research interests/fit, and then the whole committee meets to discuss further and decide on who/best fit later on. So, if your application is sort of at the intersection of more than one specialization in epi, it might just be two different specializations/subcommittees trying to see which faculty in their area you might fit best with

No problem! It's under the "Results" tab in the website navigation bar at the top of the page. the link is: https://www.thegradcafe.com/survey/ I usually filter by "public health" or "epidemiology"; not too many new phd entries right now but a few

Also, just noticed someone submitted a Hopkins epi rejection to the gradcafe survey. They're so quick to review! Wild. A bit nervous now...going to try and get back to work and stop checking my email, maybe.

I don't know for sure, but I feel like I have a mix of friends over the years who have started a PhD in public health fields with 0 papers, or 1 or 2 on the way, and then also some who have a ton because they've been working a bit. I've also heard of folks/had colleagues getting rejected previously with a ton of pubs and also those without. So, as FuturePhDPls said, I think it just depends on fit and they try to be comprehensive? but this is all me guessing. Having one pub in the works is a great thing to bring up again in interviews

Thank you! It was epi. I had it yesterday and it went ehhhh due to technical issues but I think they appreciated that I mustered through, but the issues led to a frazzled brain so I'm not sure I was as specific or eloquent as I could have been. In case anyone's interested, questions asked were pretty standard, why PhD, why public health, why epi, why USF. Then, describe strengths, weaknesses, as they pertain to PhD work. Also, how do I address setbacks. Good luck everyone!

I did get an interview invitation for this week with USF. I am a bit nervous so if any lurkers from previous years have any tips I'd appreciate it ❤️

The three application/three fee process is WILD--honestly, I didn't realize the third one until recently and if I had earlier on (and hadn't already had recommenders submit letters to UCSD [again, why should they have to submit twice??]) then I probably wouldn't apply due to THREE fees.

I am applying to both of those--definitely struggling with their earlier deadlines + keeping sophas verification time in mind haha