belafish

i'm still waiting on Columbia SMS - they've handed out some acceptances and a bunch of rejections, so who knows what will happen at this point. My POI let me know that they extended offers to their "very top candidates" and made it sound like I'm on the cusp... so I still have a sliver of hope I also haven't heard from UIC (CHS), but I never interviewed with them so I'm pretty certain it will be a rejection at this point.

Some updates: I got my official rejection from Berkeley HSPA yesterday and today from UNC Health Behavior. Got word from Columbia's SMS PhD program that they have extended offers to a very few select top candidates, but possibly have some more offers they will extend soon.

congratulations on your acceptance, panache!!!

@ sjohansen: sounds like a tough situation, but at least you have an acceptance If Tulane is really your dream school and your top choice, I would definitely suggest that you wait to accept your other offer. Schools are technically supposed to give you until April 15th to make a decision, so depending on how strongly you feel about waiting, I might even contact the school you were accepted to and ask if you could have a few more weeks to make a decision. You want to make the most informed decision possible, and the schools want you to, too. It's not like they will take away their offer of admissions or lower your funding if you ask for a bit more time. [i was in this boat when I was applying for MS programs - I had a great offer from Pitt but was waiting to hear back from Columbia. Pitt was really nice about giving me more time... and I ended up getting accepted at Columbia.] I think one of the influencing forces here is that this whole waiting process is so freakin exhausting that I'm sure we all just want to get decisions/make decisions and be done with it. PhD programs are 4-7 years of your life, though, and if you're still waiting on your dream school then don't accept another offer! @ strongerthan, I don't think there is an advantage to accepting earlier... I would think that having any terms like that would at the very least be frowned upon and at most be illegal. But I'm not sure. Sounds like you have a pretty sweet offer - congratulations! @ acdelco: thanks for passing on the information! I'm also waiting on Hopkins HBS but am surprised that offers have been made and none are showing up on the results page. Still not losing hope, either. Waiting to hear back from Columbia SMS PhD any day now, during my interview they said by the end of February.... uuughhh. Also really eager to hear from UNC's Health Behavior department. Anyone have any info? And what about Berkeley HSPA?

Sorry to hear that, @mpheels. Good move getting in touch with them, though, and even though you didn't get the news you wanted at least you get peace of mind. Best of luck with Hopkins! For the rest of us... fingers crossed for some news today! I can't take this waiting anymore. Is it just me, or has anyone else developed a love-hate relationship with weekends (the relief and frustration of knowing we wont hear anything)?

Oh, and when I interviewed with Columbia, the prof I was talking to specifically asked for me to keep him informed if I hear anything from other schools.

I don't think it's rude, though I understand your hesitation! I'd probably get in touch with whatever admissions coordinator is listed on the website (rather than a professor), unless you've had direct contact with a specific prof. I'm thinking of saying something along the lines of "I applied for admission to blahblahblah program and was wondering if you could please let me know when the X department will be making their decisions? I've received a couple of offers and just want to get an idea of where I stand." Congrats on your acceptance, mpheels! And congratulations to you, mmajum01, and welcome

I haven't heard anything either. Not much data in the admissions results from previous years for this program... but from what I can tell, I don't think they do interviews. Hope we all hear something from them soon! My plan is to email all of the schools I applied to as soon as (if?) I get an acceptance. I feel like once you have an offer, it's completely acceptable to get in touch with the other schools you applied to find out when their decisions will be released.

Just finished my interview with Columbia (sociomedical sciences dept)... I think it went well! The only slightly awkward part was when I was asked where else I was applying and how Columbia ranked amongst the other schools. They said they will be wrapping up their decisions definitely by the end of the month and "sooner rather than later" for their initial offers. Congrats on your acceptance, julia!

aaah stop scrambling my brain! (watch our app status not get updated for another month.)

Thank you for all of the good will! No clarity re: Johns Hopkins yet. My husband has convinced me (most of the way...) to think of it as something that was just automatically added to all applications that still have coursework in progress. And it looks like the admissions blog agrees: http://www.jhsph.edu/admissions/admissions-blog/What_Youre_Asking Hopefully we'll get some definitive news from Johns Hopkins soon, though, VBD And hopefully this coming week will be fruitful for us all

Though it's not exactly the news you had hoped for, being waitlisted at Hopkins is pretty awesome. I've heard/know of plenty people getting admitted off of waitlists... since people usually apply to at least a couple PhD programs and can decline admissions for so many reasons... I would say your chances are good, depending on how long the wait list is. From my experience, admissions tend to be pretty transparent about their waitlist. So if you're curious about where you stand, I recommend getting in touch with them once you get official notification. Your post prompted me to check my Hopkins application and has left me perplexed. No decision is available yet, but I scrolled down and saw something listed under Other Supporting Documents at the bottom of the page... it says: Final Official Transcript Upon Admission: Not Received. It definitely wasn't there before... so of course I'm reading into it and freaking out a little The right course of action for just about anything, haha.

Thank you, acdelco! And thanks for your suggestions. I applied to the PhD program.

I'm so excited to share my first bit of news! I just got an email inviting me for a phone interview at Columbia (Sociomedical Sciences). I can't decide if I'm more excited or nervous... any helpful tips/advice would be much appreciated!

congratulations elsewhy, loganartemis, jordanhina, and songsong2012 on your first acceptances! now that it's (finally!!) february, here's to hoping more good news comes our way this month.