dmf

From what I know, this is unusual but probably nothing to be concerned about. Faculty interest in specific candidates often play a huge role in admissions decisions but some programs are more upfront about it, while others try to downplay it. Do you mind sharing which school/program this is? I'm getting worried that I didn't apply to enough programs and am searching for programs that are still accepting applications/looking for students...

I still haven't heard anything definite either. I'm expecting to hear from SUNY Albany (Wadsworth Biomedical Sciences Infectious Disease) within the week as I had an email saying decisions would be made by the end of January. I've also heard from the IDM department at Pitt that my application is under review, so hopefully I'll hear more soon. I know that the first round of interviewees has been invited to the UW Pathobiology program, and there many or may not be another round. Absolute silence from Berkeley SPH IDV department (just mass email from school saying application was recieved) and Harvard SPH Biosciences in Public Health.... Torture!

This might have been a mass email, but thought I'd share in case it wasn't. UC Berkeley SPH just emailed to say that my electronic application had been received and that decisions would be emailed by APRIL 15... This app was due/submitted Dec 1(and SOPHAS was mailed by mid-Dec). Does it really take 5 1/2 months to review applications and make decisions?? The email was from SPH admissions, not even my specific program (Infectious Disease and Vaccinology PhD program)... If they really don't release decisions until 4/15, do they expect us to not commit to other schools by then? Ridiculous. Hopefully that's just a worst case scenario and decisions (at least the good ones) will be out well before then! Has anyone else been notified of an absurdly late decision like this?

This is mainly in response to the recent question raised on the results page... I've been in email contact with the department about a problem with my application (never received GRE scores, even though ETS shows they were sent, resulted in them not even considering me in the first round of review...AHHH). From that contact, I've gathered that decisions have been made on a first round of interview invitations and some or all of these people have been contacted. Based on how many people decline interviews (or maybe eventually decline admission), they may or may not send out a second round of invitations to "second-tier" applicants. Sounds like they've agreed to review my application if they do another round of invitations so I remain hopeful, but not too hopeful. Apparently they had an unusually high number of applications this year. Hopefully this helps those who were wondering about this program...

CALL OR EMAIL IMMEDIATELY! I thought the same thing, since it says it may take 2-4 weeks to enter everything. In my case the only thing missing was my GRE scores, which I had confirmed had been sent to the correct code. Didn't want to harass them so didn't do anything until today (6 weeks after deadline). I emailed about it and got a short response that said: "Thank you for your interest in our program. I don’t show we have received your scores. We were unable to include your application in the pool as it was not complete. " This was my top choice program and I know they receive less than a hundred applications a cycle. Could they really not have trusted my self-reported scored or emailed/called me when they started reviewing applications? I am furious and hopefully, since I'm pretty sure it's their mistake that they don't have my scores, they'll give me a late review or something.... So not to scare you, but you should really check with the department ASAP. You're deadline was more recent so hopefully they won't have started reviewing yet. Best of Luck!!!

Hey fellow public health folks! I applied to PhD programs in Infectious Disease/Immunology at Harvard SPH (actually Biological Sciences in PH through GSAS), UC Berkeley, U Washington (Pathobiology), Pitt GSPH, and SUNY Albany (Wadsworth Biomedical Sciences). My stats are fairly similar to those mentioned above... GPA 3.48 from respected liberal arts college, Molecular Biology major w/ High Honors, 4 years undergrad microbio research, 2 years full time research, GRE V610, Q680, AW3.5, Bio GRE 860 (96th percentile). Recs should be strong. Did anyone else apply to any of these programs? The waiting is just killing me! Especially curious about other Harvard Biological Sciences in Public Health people... During an informal visit this fall, a member of the ADCOM told me that interviews were scheduled for the end of Jan and they hoped to have interview invites out by mid-Dec. However, she seemed skeptical about this timeline and I haven't seen any evidence that anyone else has heard from them... Anyone? Good luck to all of you guys...keep us all posted with updates/decisions!