Rutabaga

I just got one that said no more than 20 hours including your 20 hours of work for your RA/TA, and no more than 25 hours including the same if you work part time on campus. So basically you can work 5 hours for some office on campus and that's it. I don't know what they have to be so confusing in the phrasing of these things!

I have a whole bunch of scientific conference posters/presentations. Mainly as secondary author, but first on an oral last year. Publications is a lot more sparse with just the one that I finally got around to submitting being accepted this spring. I don't know if any one thing made me competitive though. My interests are also a little bit left field so that professors who do study what I want are perhaps a little more willing to take me on since it's not as common to see students pursuing my interests.

Undergrad in econ: 3.9 GPA MPP: 3.9 GPA 3 years work experience. Several policy interships + time on the Hill 730q/630v/6a In at 4 of 5 policy PhD programs.

Nice, in at American's Public Admin PhD with at least some sort of money (details in the mail). So now I just need to try decide what to do! I'm officially done waiting for admissions. In at 4, out at 1. Not bad! Almost makes it worth having taken on $$$$$ in debt to get my MPP!

I would like a doodling aptitude test. Perhaps also a miming essay.

No, from what I heard they will try to have funding decided by mid-March. I have an unofficial notice of funding of at UNC though. Although I admit that now I have a fear that funding will somehow not materialize anywhere!

What a joke, no money at all from GW (letter came today)! I'm in at a much higher ranked school with money, so whatever.

yeah I saw that it was two days, but the letter I got in the mail mentioned only the April day. So my program at least has events planned only for the April date. The letter also mentioned $500 for travel (which doesn't really matter much to me since I'm just taking the train up for the day anyway). I got my letter pretty promptly after the web status changed.

congrats! The visitation day is in April for my program at least.

You might be pleasant surprised by UMD. My experiences with the socy dept there (though limited) were all quite positive. I say give them a chance and then decide. If you're prepared to go through all this again and don't like UMD then I say wait and and try again.

yeah I'm having some impostor syndrome setting as well now.. eeep. I mean.. I feel smart and like I have a great deal of potential. I also feel like these people are way ahead of me in terms of actual knowledge about my field though :/ It doesn't help that based on the stats the average student is almost 10 years older than I am. I'm also on the board with with Get Smarter Before School plan!

I'm still waiting for American's Public Admin/Policy PhD program, but chances of me going there even if I get in are pretty slim since they don't have a health subfield as such. I'm also in at UNC and JHU for heath policy specific programs. As right now I still can't decide at all, but then I also don't have any tangible funding information, so hopefully it will be clearer later!

They could be doing it by field? I think your chances are still good since we some rejections early on!

Would that I knew! I think the visits will be really important for me. Did you hear from JHU yet by the way?

Thanks! I also got admitted to two health policy programs, so I need to try to wrap my head around this one! Anyone have a take on if it's better to go a broad public policy program with a topical focus (like GW or American) vs. a more narrow program like health policy (education policy, etc.)?

Just got mt GW status (affirmative!) online. Looks like they are sending something in the mail as well. No funding info though for now...

In at Hopkins and GW! No news on funding from either though, so we'll see! Man... choosing is going to be hard if I actually do get money from all three schools. I'm officially done waiting for news cause my last school was a backup of no real interest anyway.

True, the first link was specifically health policy though. So I think all that would really matter is the policy ranking and the overall school ranking since the OP is accepted to the policy track. yep, still nothing in the mail from JHU and they are refusing to tell me. awesome.

It's not ranked http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandr ... lth_policy and and not top 20 here http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandr ... pub/search That doesn't mean it's not a good program though. I would explore the web site, maybe see what stats you can find on the program (try here maybe http://graduate-school.phds.org/rankings/public-health). Harvard was a no finally by the way, after 3 phone interviews. Honestly I'm relieved to have that out of the way since there was no one there who really matched my research interests anyway (applied more for the name recognition I guess).

well I think also that graduate school loans are fixed at 6.something% I was checking why my rates hadn't gone down despite the lower rates right now and I read somewhere that they remain fixed...

Hmm, looks like it might be apply yourself having issues. I sent in a ticket and got this reply Thanks for your patience. I apologize for the inconvenience you experienced. We are currently working on this issue and we will contact you as soon as the matter is resolved. Again, thank you for contacting Technical Support. They are depriving graduate students to be across the land of this SUPER important information! And I exagerate only slightly ETA: ok, so it' s not them, it's the school. I guess I will have to wait...

Oh for f***s sake! I checked my JHU status and there is a decision made but the decision will not actually LOAD. So I called them and all they could say was that a decision was made but they can't tell me what it is and I should have it in the mail by Friday. This is going to drive me up the wall!!

I was this person last year. Applied for a PhD and was offered one unfunded, one waitlist, and one masters admit instead. I opted for the masters and I'm really glad I did. My interests changed a great deal over that time, and I'm much more competitive for PhD programs now (in at one of my top choices with funding). I didn't get any money for the masters either since I decided to go part time and keep working (done in 2 years a semester, not so bad). I would recommend it over an unfunded PhD for sure!

lol, that's my plan too! It's rough being the one with all the debt! Hopefully it will pay off though...

So I'm just thinking about money and how much I have saved versus how much I owe...and the amount I owe is unpleasantly high (about 40K after finishing my masters). Admittedly, I'm in a field where I could enter the private sector after graduating or work for the gov't and gradually get my loans repaid... but still the prospect of paying all that off when I'm done sucks! Especially when I consider if I should use my savings for that or to say buy someplace to live. Anyway, anyone else thinking about the massive amount of money they already owe?