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For USC, yes, that program usually starts in summer, but the committee has allowed her to start in Fall...(she had plenty of internship experience before). Like what you said, we just feel though the program is under Price School, it is not the basic program like MPA, and we doubt getting this kind of degree would not be worthwhile for her if she wanna stay in US. For all international students, they need a H1B sponsor in order to work full-time, I know it is very hard, especially for non-science/tech degrees like this. But we will still try out, that's why we have to consider the school (program), the location, and the job opportunities. For money issue, neither schools give her any scholarships and the tuition fees are not quite different (Northeastern is a little bit lower), thus this won't be a major issue to concern. For the size of immigrant communities from my country China: L.A.> Boston > Pittsburgh . Climate would not be a big factor for us, for sure, L.A. is the best in terms of weather....

There is no region preference for us as long as that program is good and may help her find a job. That's the reason we are hesitating, say, it is easier to find a job in Boston or L.A., but U Pitts seems to have a better program in this field.

Anyone can have some feedback ? : (

Anyone who can give even a little bit suggestions? : (

Hi, everyone: Just to ask a decision question for my wife's She applied to professional degrees like MPA, MPP, MPIA, IPPAM, etc. (all related to fields like public policy, public administration or international affairs ). She got the following admissions, and she was wondering which to go: 1. IPPAM at USC: Master of International public policy and management, an 18-month executive degree, most classmates will have working experience (my wife only has internship experience), the program coordinator claimed there would be plenty of internship opportunities in LA, but H1B is not guaranteed (she is an international student) 2. MPIA at Pitts U: Master of public and international affair concentrating in international political economy, two year program, many Chinese students, most graduates go back to their home country, some internship opportunities, but wonder if it is possible for an international student to find a job at Pittsburgh? 3 MPA at Northeastern U: Master of Public Administration, two year program, include mandatory 300 hrs of internship, they recruit around 120 people each year and most of them are part-time, plenty of internship opportunities in Boston area. In terms of field-specific reputation, GSPIA at Pittsburgh ranked around 30th, though the Price school at USC ranked in top10, but this program is not as good as the regular MPA/MPP (I wonder if anyone knows the difference?), Northeastern ranked 60th in MPA. Her career goal it to find a admin-related job (or other job types) either at an NPO or a private company in US, at least with sponsorship so she can stay in US. Without considering the tuition cost (may vary depending on how many courses you take), but just take into account the location, the goodness of the program itself, Can anyone give me some suggestions? Thanks

Hi, there: Just to ask a decision question for my wife's application. She applied to professional degrees like MPA, MPP, MPIA, IPPAM, etc. (all related to fields like public policy, public administration or international affairs ). She got the following admissions, and she was wondering which to go: 1. IPPAM at USC: Master of International public policy and management, an 18-month executive degree, most classmates will have working experience (my wife only has internship experience), the program coordinator claimed there would be plenty of internship opportunities in LA, but H1B is not guaranteed (she is an international student) 2. MPIA at Pitts U: Master of public and international affair concentrating in international political economy, two year program, many Chinese students, most graduates go back to their home country, some internship opportunities, but wonder if it is possible for an international student to find a job at Pittsburgh? 3 MPA at Northeastern U: Master of Public Administration, two year program, include mandatory 300 hrs of internship, they recruit around 120 people each year and most of them are part-time, plenty of internship opportunities in Boston area. In terms of field-specific reputation, GSPIA at Pittsburgh ranked around 30th, though the Price school at USC ranked in top10, but this program is not as good as the regular MPA/MPP (I wonder if anyone knows the difference?), Northeastern ranked 60th in MPA. Her career goal it to find a admin-related job (or other job types) either at an NPO or a private company in US, at least with sponsorship so she can stay in US. Without considering the tuition cost (may vary depending on how many courses you take), but just take into account the location, job opportunities, the goodness of the program itself, Can anyone give me some suggestions? Thanks

I got the offer from Pitts as well and still hesitating whether I should go or not ? Did they also tell you to reply by March 29th? I am trying to extend the deadline, but their chair is travelling these days and will not likely to give me permission within this week. I actually prefer Boston University more but they have not updated my status yet (probably waitlisted...), this year was a disaster, I guess the competition is getting more and more severe for the coming years, so I would suggest you take at least one. GPA, GRE, LOR, Publication, ... nothing can ever guarantee you to get into those top-tier programs of the nation.

Pitts asked me to reply by 29th. They don't let me extend simply because they have to leave the chance to other possible comers , they are more research based thus need to recruit a certain amount of phd each year. I asked BU for update about 10 days ago, they said it would be coming up soon but still no news so far. UCLA did not reply my email. Brown told me I was waitlisted.

Hi, everyone: Since one of the schools require me to respond by March 29th, I probably have to make my decision now, the schools on hand are: 1. U pittsburgh: PhD in biostatistics, concentration in statistical genetics (thus the direction of future dissertation), RA, monthly stipend of 1.9k + SPH ranking 11, overall ranking 58, 2. Univ of Southern California: PhD in biostatistics, under medical school department of preventive medicine, first two years fellowship 30k/yr, 3rd yr on RA monthly stipend of 2.5k+ tuition waiver + insurance, thus can decide dissertation direction on 2nd or 3rd year, cannot find the subject ranking (their professor claim this is because they do not have SPH, but they have the most NIH grant among all departments of preventive medicine, and probably top 10 in NIH grant among ), overall ranking 25 3. Still pending: Boston U, UCLA, Brown U... Boston Univ has probably waitlisted me, the admission said the result would be coming up soon. (Anyone who got the offer from BU and plan not to go? Could you please kindly drop it earlier, BU is really my dream school... thanks) Brown U has contacted my thesis advisor, but not pretty sure if they will give me an offer. UCLA will probably reject me, though no news so far... 4. A few safeties, for personal reasons, gonna reject them within this week. Can anyone give me some suggestion on the selection? Thanks so much. BTW, I am currently a master at Yale

Hi, everyone: Since one of the schools require me to respond by March 29th, I probably have to make my decision now, the schools on hand are: 1. U pittsburgh: PhD in biostatistics, concentration in statistical genetics (thus the direction of future dissertation), RA, monthly stipend of 1.9k + tuition waiver, SPH ranking 11, overall ranking 58, 2. Univ of Southern California: PhD in biostatistics, under medical school department of preventive medicine, first two years fellowship 30k/yr, 3rd yr on RA monthly stipend of 2.5k+ tuition waiver + insurance, thus can decide dissertation direction on 2nd or 3rd year, cannot find the subject ranking (their professor claim this is because they do not have SPH, but they have the most NIH grant among all departments of preventive medicine, and probably top 10 in NIH grant among all medical schools... ), overall ranking 25 3. Still pending: Boston U, UCLA, Brown U... Boston Univ has probably waitlisted me, the admission said the result would be coming up soon. Brown U has contacted my thesis advisor, but not pretty sure if they will give me an offer. UCLA will probably reject me, though no news so far... 4. A few safeties, for personal reasons, gonna reject them within this week. Can anyone give me some suggestion on the selection? Thanks so much. BTW, I am currently a master at Yale

Got it... Millions thanks to both of...

Hi, everyone: I am a Canadian citizen and also have the nationality for another country, but due to some visa issue, I used the other country's citizenship, instead of Canadian citizenship at the time I apply to the schools in US. I turned in the applications a couple of months ago and most of them are still under review / at interview round. I wonder if my update of Canadian citizenship will help with my application ? e.g. better funding for Canadian than other international students? higher acceptance ratio ? I applied to PhD in Biostatistics, and schools I applied to include Yale, Columbia, Brown, Boston U, U Penn, UCLA, and a couple of more.... Thanks,

F**K Get out of here!!!

Hi, I am currently a MS. in biostatistics at Yale U, with gpa = straight Honors (Honor refers to 90+ in our school's grading system)...... I have some RA (at a Yale-affiliated institute) and TA experience. My college is at U of Toronto majoring in Human Biology, with a gpa= 3.9/4. My GRE is 710+800= 1510. Since my wife will be moving to some other cities but not New Haven (where Yale locates), I will apply to phD of biostatistics in schools other than Yale. Anyone in the forum who knows this area better? What do you think of my chance of getting an offer? Any middle-class (rank anywhere around 20) schools are acceptable. I know biostatistics is a really competitive program. Thanks,

Hi, everyone: I am a recent graduate from the university of toronto, St. George campus, with a Honored bachelor of science specializing in Human Biology: Genes, Genetics and Biotechnology. I am now a Canadian permanent resident (not becoming citizen yet, is it regarded as an international student in the US?). My gpa is around 3.85/4 and I had three times of transferring school experience (change the program as well, from previous Arts to the current Science program). I have very limited research experience in this field before (cuz I dont like doing lab research), and I plan to apply for some master programs that do not require much undergraduate research experience, and prefer more job-oriented fields such as Bioinformatics, Biotechnology. My work experience is also quite limited, just did some part-time casual jobs (like tutor, typist and admin) before, not really designed for my future career. I had plenty of volunteer experience, volunteer teacher in poor regions, volunteer in hospital, volunteer helper for orientation camp, and volunteer peer tutor. I also got some leadership experience where I was one of the directors in a school club in my previous university. BTW, I will take my GRE soon, and my estimated mark as I have already tested myself is around 1300-1400(800+500--600)+ 3.5-4. With regard to my reference letters, two of them will be the professors in university of toronto, one is my supervisor in the hospital I volunteered. I am just wondering what master programs and what schools I should apply for, where I have a better chance of receiving the offers.