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Stories

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  1. Sounds like your natural career progression is a fine fit for a graduate program. With a 2.4uGPA, the biggest concern most schools will have is can you complete graduate coursework at an adequate level? I think by showing you've taken classes since that time and done well in them, you can be a successful graduate student. What you need to determine is the type of degree you want and go for it. Obviously, you can't apply to random programs in which you don't have the career or educational background for, but anything that's related (even with a "general" biology degree) you should be fine. Specific schools will offer guidelines of what types of majors and work histories their competitive applicants have. Apply to various schools at all levels, particularly if you're flexible about moving. You never know where you'll get in, and you won't know unless you try. You owe it to yourself to attempt it at the very least.
  2. I was always under the impression that you need to significantly improve your application, not just re-submit it the following year to have a legitimate shot at gaining acceptance at a school you were previously rejected from.
  3. Facial hair is definitely much more common amongst the mid-20's men this generation. Go with the flow. Do what you think looks cool. Unless, of course, you have trouble growing facial hair... (me)
  4. Goodness. One more reason to do paperless e-bills, yeah?
  5. I think you just discovered three of the most important parts of an application.
  6. Well, if you're going for a MPH, I think what you're doing is perfect. Keep it up and you should no issues with getting into a MPH program if you have decent grades and GREs. If you want to get into a PhD program, especially without a MPH (or MS) before hand, you definitely need to get involved with the heavy duty research side of things. The primary reason is that a very large proportion of folks entering into PhD programs come in with a MPH (or other master's degree). Heck, many schools require a master's in public health or related field to even be a competitive applicant. For number tossing sake: 15 folks come to the interview day at Yale. 14 of them had a MPH or equivalent MS.
  7. No clue there, sorry.
  8. I'm in a similar situation. I'm going early to start working on various projects that are going on in the department. I don't know what the expectations are, but it's interesting that they like students coming early before classes to do some work. The stipend kicks in early, too. Not bad, right?
  9. Yale's distribution is usually one per department. Chronic Disease Epi had two, though.
  10. You have a very good GPA. 3.5 is not average. Trust me. The general GRE is fine. You'll need to take the Biology subject test, too. You should really apply all over the place. More than your scores, the proper research fit is the most important criteria for admission into a PhD program. Make sure the schools you apply to do work in the field you're interested in. No matter how great your scores, you won't get in if the research fit isn't there.
  11. Stories

    New Haven, CT

    New Haven doesn't seem terrible from what I saw during my interview day. I'm sure a lot of it is what we make of it!
  12. If you have a friend that is very good with algebra and geometry, ask that person what he/she finds as useful methods to thinking about certain kinds of problems. Usually, figuring out an algebra or geometry problem is the way you frame the question.
  13. Yale University. PhD: Environmental Health Sciences
  14. Me too, even though I'm enrolling in the environmental epi division at Yale 8) I'm somewhat surprised at the very few numbers here.
  15. So I finally got word back from Drexel (an email saying my decision is in the mail) and a letter from SLU (rejection, as they said they didn't have a good adviser for me). I'm not broken up about either at all, just curious that the decisions went out so late in the cycle.
  16. Nope. Everyone congratulated me and even got me a cake with the Yale logo on it
  17. You could also ask for deferrals and apply for outside funding.
  18. If your school is known to have low GPAs... that might be whole other matter. Almost all my friends that also graduated from Boston U. were in the 3.0-ish range and all are doing great in grad school (law, med, PhDs, etc.).
  19. Stanford probably has a ton of applicants. It's always nice to apply because you never know. But whenever applying to schools that probably get 50 applicants per 1 spot available in the program, don't get your hopes up too much. Graduate admissions are nothing near predictable (like undergrad). Your GRE is fine. It's not a deal breaker either way. Campus meetings definitely help attach a face and contact to an application. But it doesn't significantly impact your ability to get in, though. Remember, doctoral programs really focus on what you "publish", in this case, the application materials you put together. That is by far the biggest component. Unless of course your program interviews, then your face and way you present yourself matters, too
  20. CU is one of those schools that you move to because Boulder is so awesome. Well, that's all I can contribute to this topic.
  21. Go for the cheapest school. Especially if you're not doing the PhD. The MA is simply a stepping stone to a PhD, and there's no sense in getting into debt over the degree, especially if you're planning on pursuing a PhD since you'll have a very hard time paying back your MA debt while in school (or even accruing interest).
  22. 1.) I knew after the 1st year of my MPH I wanted to do the PhD. 2.) I started writing my application materials in August of last year. I submitted my completed application in November. I began researching schools I was interested in January of the that same year. 3.) I shot everywhere. Yes, everywhere 17 applications! Oddly enough, many of which never sent me a decision. 4.) Publishing helps. But it's not imperative. You should definitely have solid grades, LoRs, and SoP. Good GRE scores help, too. You need to have something of everything for schools to consider you. And most of all, your research interests have to line up with faculty at the school you're applying to. My academic background before applying to schools. BA in Biology in '06 (Boston University), GPA: 2.9 -2 years of laboratory research -1 year of senior independent research GRE: 520V, 730Q, 5AW MPH in Epidemiology + Environmental Health in '08 (Boston University), GPA: 3.5 -2 years as a full-time research assistant in the field I'll be doing my PhD My future: PhD in Environmental Health Sciences projected in '13 (Yale University) -Full funding from National Cancer Institute, 4 years.
  23. Looking at the list now, yeah, I'm surprised at the number of master's that are fully funded.
  24. I'm nearly in the same situation as you. I did my BA and MPH at the same school (Boston University), but I will do my PhD at Yale this coming fall. In a field like Epidemiology, where there is no undergraduate study program, it isn't necessarily a bad thing that you do your undergrad and master's at the same institution (all Schools of Public Health are graduate schools--some offer courses for undergrads, though).
  25. I'm going to venture a guess and say no. Unless you're talking about a top-10 school with impeccable placement records for employment, go for the funded offers (even then I'd be hard pressed to recommend a school that'll get you into debt).
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