jball2

I've been accepted to Tulane GHSD for a PhD where I would work with their malaria group on projects related to intervention and health systems evaluation. They do not have funding to offer me a tuition waiver, but do have funds for a stipend to cover living expenses. I love the work that they do and I think I can see myself doing program evaluation work for a career. I did my undergraduate degree at Tulane, I love New Orleans, and I would be working with the professor who got me interested in public health in the first place I've also been accepted for University of Florida for a PhD in Epidemiology. I have funding (tuition and stipend) for at least another 2 years (I am already a graduate student here, not in th College of Public Health and Health Professions), and it is likely renewable. I wouldn't likely be doing applied research. I'm getting involved with multiple projects here, including getting written in on a grant. I'm interning at an NIH NIAID lab this summer to foster a collaboration between my boss at UF (who would be my PhD advisor) and the PI at NIAID, which could also turn into a dissertation topic. I'm sure that if I were to go to Tulane that I could still work on this, but it has nothing to do with malaria and would not be a viable dissertation topic for GHSD. Benefits of Tulane: Working directly with the people whose careers I wanted to have when I was in undergrad--can be easily re-integrated into the department I would be working towards a professional niche Moving back to New Orleans Strong and highly ranked program Lots of opportunities for field work in Africa and other countries Doing an applied, program evaluation dissertation project Drawbacks of Tulane: No tuition waiver, only funding for a stipend (not sure how much that would be)--> Loans I could probably not continue with the projects that I am currently getting involved with at UF, except maybe the NIH project Program is in Global Health, not as marketable of a degree as Epidemiology Few teaching opportunities (though I am not looking for a job in academia after I graduate) Comparatively very small, with few research centers. Less grant money brought in than UF purely because of numbers Benefits of UF: Tuition and stipend Working on 2 grant proposals right now--already have a professional network Possibilities of NIH project Epi is a more marketable degree UF is hiring a bunch of prominent faculty in infectious disease dynamics other areas that I'm interested in Cost of living is lower than NOLA Major major research university with tons of resources and research centers on campus Drawbacks of UF: Gainesville, FL is a small college town, and I miss living in a city The public health school at UF is not at all highly ranked, though I would be working with good people in their respective fields My research would be less applied, though still interesting. And I would learn new methods--don't know how I could translate this into an applied public health career I'm afraid that I won't become an expert on anything because I'll be involved with a bunch of diverse projects I know that I will get unbelievable training in either program, but one puts me in a niche for careers, and the other could have me spread thin with different projects (which is not necessarily a bad thing). Thoughts???

I've been accepted to Tulane GHSD for a PhD where I would work with their malaria group on projects related to intervention and health systems evaluation. They do not have funding to offer me a tuition waiver, but do have funds for a stipend to cover living expenses. I love the work that they do and I think I can see myself doing program evaluation work for a career. I did my undergraduate degree at Tulane, I love New Orleans, and I would be working with the professor who got me interested in public health in the first place I've also been accepted for University of Florida for a PhD in Epidemiology. I have funding (tuition and stipend) for at least another 2 years (I am already a graduate student here, not in th College of Public Health and Health Professions), and it is likely renewable. I wouldn't likely be doing applied research. I'm getting involved with multiple projects here, including getting written in on a grant. I'm interning at an NIH NIAID lab this summer to foster a collaboration between my boss at UF (who would be my PhD advisor) and the PI at NIAID, which could also turn into a dissertation topic. I'm sure that if I were to go to Tulane that I could still work on this, but it has nothing to do with malaria and would not be a viable dissertation topic for GHSD. Benefits of Tulane: Working directly with the people whose careers I wanted to have when I was in undergrad--can be easily re-integrated into the department I would be working towards a professional niche Moving back to New Orleans Strong and highly ranked program Lots of opportunities for field work in Africa and other countries Doing an applied, program evaluation dissertation project Drawbacks of Tulane: No tuition waiver, only funding for a stipend (not sure how much that would be)--> Loans I could probably not continue with the projects that I am currently getting involved with at UF, except maybe the NIH project Program is in Global Health, not as marketable of a degree as Epidemiology Few teaching opportunities (though I am not looking for a job in academia after I graduate) Comparatively very small, with few research centers. Less grant money brought in than UF purely because of numbers Benefits of UF: Tuition and stipend Working on 2 grant proposals right now--already have a professional network Possibilities of NIH project Epi is a more marketable degree UF is hiring a bunch of prominent faculty in infectious disease dynamics other areas that I'm interested in Cost of living is lower than NOLA Major major research university with tons of resources and research centers on campus Drawbacks of UF: Gainesville, FL is a small college town, and I miss living in a city The public health school at UF is not at all highly ranked, though I would be working with good people in their respective fields My research would be less applied, though still interesting. And I would learn new methods--don't know how I could translate this into an applied public health career I'm afraid that I won't become an expert on anything because I'll be involved with a bunch of diverse projects I know that I will get unbelievable training in either program, but one puts me in a niche for careers, and the other could have me spread thin with different projects (which is not necessarily a bad thing). Thoughts???

I applied to: Columbia (PhD Epidemiology) Tulane (PhD Global Health Systems and Development) Georgetown (Global Infectious Diseases) Univ. Florida (Epidemiology--I'm currently here doing my MA)

Hi all, I'm currently finishing up my MA program at a very large, major research university, and I have been fortunate enough to secure funding thus far, with a guarantee for at least another 2 years, and I'm not at all worried about getting funding after that. My interests are in international health and control of neglected tropical diseases. My problem is that I will be switching from my current department to a different one that fits my interests better, but nationally it is not very highly ranked. I have been fortunate enough to make amazing professional contacts here, and multiple professors in 3 different units on campus have offered to let me get involved in their projects, including co-authoring an NIH grant; adding a research component to a previously only clinical Center (part of the Medical School); and the opportunity to get involved in an international project in a part of the world where I have already done fieldwork. Only 1 of these 3 projects are directly related to my research interests. Sounds great, right? Well, I'm not very happy socially here--part of it could be that I'm very young for where I am academically, and all of my peers are 4-6 years older than me, and some even more (which, at my age is a pretty significant difference), but it's also that I'm used to living in a city with culture. I will most likely have an offer to go back to the city where I did my undergrad, which is a leading university for NTD research. I was told that I would most likely be offered funding (higher amount than I currently am receiving), and I would probably have the opportunity to immediately involved in current projects which directly relate to both my research interests and my career goals. I also might have offers from other top programs in the field, one of which would be guaranteed funding for 5 years, and the other is an ivy which may or may not offer me funding, but there is the possibility of a fellowship in the second year. These other schools are all in big cities where I think I would be much happier from a social perspective. My question to you all, then, is do you think I should give up the professional opportunities I already have here to start over again in whatever city I would go to? I don't know for sure, but I'm thinking that my time to completion will be 3.5-4.5 years where I am currently, and perhaps a bit longer in the other schools. Does it really matter what school your degree is from? I want to work for the government and/or private research sector, most likely not academia. Any advice would be really welcomed!

i was choosing between PSU biobehavioral health and anthropology at UF...chose UF but best of luck! they only accepted 6 students total, so you're going to get to know your cohort really well!

I called U of A today and I was told that the recommendations have been made to the Graduate School so we should be hearing back within a week or so...hopefully. Good luck all!

I have yet to hear back from USF for my MA in medical anthropology. I applied to the MA/MPH dual degree program (my background is in public health). When did you hear from them? I just sent a follow-up e-mail so we'll see. I got into UF for a PhD in medical anthropology but as of right now I do not have funding...