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.

haven't heard a peep... decisions seem to be trickling out for some departments, nothing from any of the departments i applied to. boo. @elsewhy: congrats on your interviews! how did they go?

Thank you, elsewhy! For my Fulbright project, I am examining Russian physicians’ socio-cultural representation of addiction. I am hoping to isolate the moral attitudes of Russian physicians towards people who use drugs—particularly injecting drug users—to get an idea of the conceptual framework that influences their treatment of addicts and beliefs about addiction. Your bachelor's sounds really interesting and amazing! I think you'll definitely stand out as a unique candidate We overlap in quite a few schools (though different programs) so maybe one day our paths will cross... Best of luck to you!

Hello fellow applicants! I, too, am applying to PhD public health programs this year. Here's my list: Emory (BSHE) UNC (health behavior) Columbia (sociomedical sci) Johns Hopkins (health behavior & society) Berkeley (HSPA) Harvard (health policy, medical society concentration) UIC (community health sciences) I am anxious and eager to start hearing back already!! At least some schools let you know a bit of news in January (emory sent out interview invites in Jan, and I think UNC accepted some people in Jan). I'm actually re-applying this year-- I was rejected from three program last year-- and am hoping that my Fulbright research grant will make me a stronger candidate this time around! @elsewhy, what did you get your bachelor's degree in? i'm also interested in ethics/bioethics... I studied philosophy as an undergrad and got my master's in bioethics. Taking PH classes as a masters student was when it really "clicked" for me: this is something both practical and that I love studying/researching!

My husband is going to be joining me in Russia and I was under the impression that he would need to fill out the same medical forms that I did. I asked Rachel about it, though, and she said he doesn't have to fill out these forms or get medical clearance. Just check into your country requirements (immunizations, HIV certificates, etc) and make sure he does all of those...

Russia Grantees - would you be interested in starting up an email group correspondence? I, for one, have questions to ask Rachel about the grant (like if we definitely don't have to go to orientation, which lab results they are looking for in our medical, etc) and am sure that at least some of you would be interested in her responses and/or have some of this information already. I'd also love to hear more about other projects and where you will be working! Shoot me a PM with your email address if you're interested and I'll send out an email by the middle of next week. Best of luck to those of you still waiting to hear back from Russia (rooting for you, pelevinfan!!)

I got it!! Full grant to Russia! It still feels surreal... Good luck to those still waiting it out

CONGRATULATIONS!! I have the email in my inbox right now, waiting till I get home from work to open it with my husband. SO EXCITED AND SO NERVOUS. I am shaking! Wish me luck

I can't take it anymore, either!! I stopped checking this site for a couple of days thinking it would keep me more sane... it did not work. So, on March 27th pelevinfan found out that we should be hearing in the next two weeks, which puts us at TODAY, and on April 7th RusPNI got a response indicating that we have another one-two weeks of waiting left. Unfortunately, I think the most recent information is the most reliable... but I wonder if IIE is still waiting on Russia or they are just processing our data with FSB? I realize that obsessing over these bits and pieces of news will, of course, not speed anything along, but I can't help it! Waiting is awful but I can hardly imagine the stress of having grad school deadlines on top of it; I hope we hear before April 15th so you don't have to deal with the added stress! RusPNI, I feel your pain re: thesis... I've been putting off writing mine because if I get the grant, I will use my project as my thesis. Ugh. Good luck to us all in the wait. I hope news comes this week!

I just discovered some more info about this year's pre-departure orientation and wanted to pass it on... it looks like much fewer countries are required to attend the "in-person" orientation and will instead have a virtual orientation. What a great idea and excellent way to cut back! "A virtual Pre-Departure Orientation for U.S. Fulbright Scholars and Students selected to receive grants will be made available later this spring via a U.S. Department of State website. Selected scholars will be notified via email when the Website is available" http://www.cies.org/us_scholars/orientation/

Hey pelevinfan, Just wanted to let you know I didn't get a save the date email either. I don't think either of us should read too much into this (unless other Russia applicants *did* get an email) because you never know how these emails are being sent out. From what I gather from your phone call to Rachel, Russia still hasn't made up their minds... so I doubt the US would already send out save the date emails to some Russia applicants but not others. Maybe it's wishful thinking on my end, but for whatever reason I don't feel disheartened by this.