VBD

Stay in contact with the LOR writers, definitely. It seems rude to just email them expecting them to remember you. A simple updated email could suffice Also, it seems your third LOR is just someone you had class with. It seems that a simple "does well in class" may not help your application nor will it really hurt it. Can you think of a third person who can speak to your skills that a grad school adcomm is interested in? ie. professionalism, researching skills, etc. Don't be hesistant to do so. I "fired" my third LOR and I've had more success this time (it's my second go around). I concur with everyone saying to do some POI research. Spend a lot of time combing through school websites. If you aren't getting successful, I'd suggest picking some of your fave academic journals and look at articles in the fields you like and see what program they are currently at/came from. Then contact them, even as early as Sept/Oct, and keep up with it. If the POI ignores you, ask the grad coordinator of the program if that POI is just unattainable through email. Suggest phone call interviews/skype interviews after you get a response. Best of luck. Also cheers for calling this whole thing a rodeo!

I'm headed to UW as well, and similarly am trying to figure out how to get housing situation worked out while I'm in PA. I'll be getting a PhD in Environmental Health at UW's School of Public Health. Hello fellow future UW students! While I was there for an interview, I did get a chance to walk around U District (I'd consider living in the upperbounds of U District_, but after hearing about other neighborhoods like Ravenna, and Wallingford, I think I'd like the feel of those instead. Soapy, in general, are those locations are ok for groceries, going to school, socializing (perhaps a bus out to that scene?) and the like? In general, how are people making the cross country move? Are you renting a place sight unseen? o.o

I'm leaning toward the program over the one advisor in this case, especially with the advisor being relatively new. If she were a more established name that may be a different story. Furthermore, what happens if she doesn't get tenure, your last year is in jeopardy. What happens if she loses funding after your fellowships are done but you're still finishing your studies, who else in the program can you go to? However if you feel like you cannot be happy at the more prestigious program then you should go with the advisor even with all these extra worries that I listed about. Your happiness can depend on the feel of the program and its students (cooperative vs. competitive?), how "less of a personality fit" that other adivisor is, etc. By the way, that little blurb you mentioned about the less personality fit should be clarified -- you don't want to have an advisor that is a micromanager when you are a more laid back student, and vice versa, but we can't know how s/he is a less of a fit.

So we were having some fun talking about this in the chat.. If your field were to have a movie, starring a protagonist with an advanced degree in your field, what would happen in it? Can you think of some ludicrous or poignant plot? What kind of movie would it be -- an Oscar-bait melodrama movie, an indie international film fest darling, an action-packed feature film, an animated movie, a musical, and on and on? For example: Environmental policy -> Erin Brockovich Archaeology -> Indiana Jones Religious Iconology and Symbology -> Angels and Demons Let's put our overactive imaginations to work!

Beware the Ides of March!

Also, I need to add that UW contacted me through my cell phone in addition to email so your phone may be a safeguard. Aw thanks Msadult. That's a bummer about the 1 -4 mistake but hopefully it didn't affect anything Best of luck to you during your waiting game.

My MPH was in population health which was my program's mix of HSR, epi, biostats, and environmental health. I could have easily gone for global health though since the classes I chose were similar.

NO ಠ_ಠ,You're not crazy. If you are then we ALL are. Mazaya, that's such a horrible feeling. Can you ask whether you are on some waitlist for funding and approximately when you can hear about it? I hate how your dream is crashing due to money. Argh money. Up, I would recommend you visit the campus. NOT on the planned admitted students day, but on your own. If you arrange it with the office, they can plan for some tour or faculty talks, etc. Also, if you want, politely inquire if the program would be willing to partially reimburse for the cost of visiting. For me personally, I tend to lean toward methodological training since that might be a unique experience at the school/program, and not something that you can learn while on the job. But maybe you should look to see if Berkeley's DrPH provides you with methodological training if you take certain optional courses, etc. and vise versa for Harvard and interdisciplinary classes.

Congrats! The first is always exciting. Ask about a campus visit or an MPH admitted student day. That's where you'll learn the most about the school, the program, and the faculty/students. and get a feel for the atmosphere.

Water people unite! I'm more interested in microbial detection (with experience in bacteria, viruses, and parasites) in water. I will say this, UNC has a HUGE water emphasis, especially for these next two years and they have the water institute, and other resources for students. Many of their students who got a masters choose to stay and continue on to a PhD. Other than what mmajum said about the JHU's environmental department, I don't know much about the other programs. In passing, I know that Michigan has excellent placement record for those interested in industry work, and that Texas is excellent for tox work. The MPH is 100% what you make of it. I had others in my MPH cohort who did not do as lab-y or quantitative stuff and instead did more people interactive research. That's the beauty of a public health degree it's all so versatile and what everyone does is important. Since I knew I wanted to continue on a PhD I made sure my MPH could set me up for that. Others treated it as their terminal degree and go into the "real world" and even others more plan to go back to school a few years down the world for a DrPH. The MPH opens all those opportunities, as long as you look for them. I don't think picking an MPH vs. MSPH limits you in anyway. For the MS degree there may be more a leeway for NOT finishing all of ASPH's competencies (Health Behavior, Epi, Biostats, Policy/Management, and our favorite Environmental health). But MSPH and MPH, you will have to take all those classes for degree completion.

Yale SPH notifies through an email telling you to check the app website which then has an uploaded letter for you. UW (Seattle -- which is what I assume you mean by regular) notifies by email. No idea about the others, but most likely email. AK48 is right, Harvard is one of the few SPH's that notify acceptances and rejections by postal mail. Yay pretty letterhead. Also if you are truly worried about losing mail, you can register your new address at USPS's change of address website - https://moversguide.usps.com/icoa/icoa-main-flow.do?execution=e1s1&_flowId=icoa-main-flow&referral=MG80 - which forwards your mail for like a month for a low cost. Last year, I only paid a dollar for it.

VBD - stands for Vector-Borne Diseases, (like malaria, west nile virus, etc.) which was my area of interest the first time I applied to schools/used this forum. My current interests have shifted a little but can still include vbd's <- avatar is a picture of A-bo the onionhead, from an Asian comic. I love onionhead's defiant/superhero pose, and I think that with all of us applying to grad schools, we need a superhero for inspiration.. even if it's an onionhead whose greatest enemy is the delinquent scallion!

Congratulations on your two acceptances, Kyliabg!

"If you go to THAT school, then I can't brag about you to the other side of the family!"

What I really liked about my Masters was talking to people who actually care/understand the issues or research that you think is so "OMG. THIS IS AMAZING!" whereas a regular college educated person would be all "OK? I don't care?" Grad school brings up a sense of friendships that is like a mix between colleague and buddies. We always joke that we will be future collaborators on a paper some time in the future xD

I've been in a biology lab since sophomore year of high school which I won at first through an internship. So since that time, I got a strong taste of what biology research would entail. How some aspects could be boring, but others intellectually stimulating. So I guess from then on, I decided that I wanted to earn a PhD and go do research. The PI and his lab was in what you consider the private sector. So I wanted to follow in his footsteps. Then in college, I met upperclassmen who went on to do fellowships with the govt (think CDC, EPA, fellowships for undergraduates/recent graduates) and decided I'd like to do that post-PhD. Even now I'm not sure if I'd want to be a professor; however, since I loved TAing during my masters, I cannot and will not count it out just yet. My high-school dream was challenged while I was in college though since classes were starting to get difficult (ie. Do I REALLY want to do this for 5 more years?!) but I would feel odd not being in a lab, so I stayed true to the dream. Many people I know graduated college with different aspirations than when they entered -- it's a natural thing, so don't be alarmed that so many people had PhD plan before/after you. One thing that DID change in college was what discipline. I matriculated freshman year as a biochem major, then I changed to be a biology major, then I considered a bioethics-related major, and finally settled on a biology major again. Even within the biology major, I entered with a genetic focus, then shifted a little to immunology, and finally found a balance between two projects, one sort of ecology based, and one sort of immunology based. So don't be afraid to use your time in undergrad to find out what discipline you want to do. Good luck finding your way outta the maze! Edit: Oh hey, it's you! I didn't really look at the topic starter. Yo dmb!

If you are currently renting an apartment and want to sublet/rent out a spare room: You should make sure that your current lease allows this. I've seen some poor students get evicted for not reading their apt's lease well. Also if you are currently living while with a subletter, I would heavily consider renter's insurance. If you do this, you definitely need to set some ground rules (maybe even put it in the lease). ie. What you will do if they are late on payment, WHO the payment should be to (to you or the landlord?), pet issues, building rules, the usual. If you are going to rent out a room in a house: Some landlords have to abide by rules like lead paint issues, so make sure you follow any similar rules in your municipality. Otherwise, the whole thing is rather simple, especially if you are in a college town, this helps with monthly costs. I know of grad students who have successfully bought a house and rented out extra rooms which helped pay the mortgage. One thing that you have to establish if you own a house (my personal experience because I was a renter of someone who did this for his house) is what to do if something goes wrong in the house. My worst story is that the landlord had an A/C unit that only cooled his room, and when it broke, he wanted all us renters to chip in. We thought it was unfair and fought so we didn't have to pay for something that we couldn't even use. I think he was upset since it ate into his savings. So be prepared to spend some money as landlord/supervisor. Also with owning a house, you'll have to deal with chores, because it's a lot more to do, esp as the owner. Us renters agreed to divide everything in a chore cycle (ie. This week I do chore A, next week, I do chore . Also you need to make sure that if you resell the house post degree it's in a good situation/neighborhood so you don't lose money over this. Another tale: while I was in this rented house, there was an issue that an international student wanted a room, and got it, but when it came time to move in, there was another guy (who I suspect was there illegally). They couldn't do this with a management company in an apartment complex, so they did this plan to a guy with a few rooms to spare. I doubt this will happen to you, but it's the only cautionary tale I can remember for now. (There are probably more issues, so this is not a comprehensive list by far) As for sites, craigslist is the go to, but I've heard positive things from AirBnB, since the site "verifies" people. If your school has a forum/apt/house listing site, definitely use that. Also there maybe neighborhood emailing lists you can get on, and independent advertising in the school library, etc. Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

I was told that while Admission (the novel on which the movie is based) is an interesting read, it delves in melodramatic issues that take away from the book if you were interested in finding out about UG admissions. Someone told me to check out Mitchell Steven's Creating a Class for that purpose. I have not read it yet, but the sneak preview on Amazon is tempting me. On the other hand, the movie seems to have gotten a full Hollywood make-over from meldramatic novel into rom-com, so I'd say people are interested in it for the Tina Fey/Paul Rudd laughs. Who knows? Let us know how you think the movie is when it comes out

I wanted to really make sure that my studies were in a school of public health, since I most liked the interdisciplinary aspect of those schools. I realize that some of my interests could be met at some cool and super awesome engineering program, but I chose not to. So program-wise, it was only Hopkins's EHE and UNC's ESE that I applied with with engineering in their name. Mad respect for engineers though

This is the dreaaaamm school. But I was afraid of moving to a whole 'nother continent and leaving my parents behind in the US. >.< I hope you get in *cheers you on*! Good luck~

The views to the results survey must be some tremendously large number... o.o I'm almost scared to find out, ha.

I mean the theory of it is fine, a centralized app. Common app made applying to undergrad easier and AMCAS makes applying to med school easier (so I'm told, I would never go that route). So then, why is SOPHAS failing with decently successful predecessors?

Haha. I got rejected too, also without email notification. Oh well. It's nice to know I'm in distinguished company!!

I have a classmate in this program currently, and she did not even hear from them until March 30th, so don't freak out if you haven't heard from them. Also keep in mind year to year fluctuations. The whole university was shut down for a week because of snow -- there was even a travel ban in place, and who knows if that slowed down the adcomm? Best of luck to you in your waiting game!