DrPH Applicants Fall 2020

[RubyTue]

@Hugs4Pugs, is your agency going to pay for it?  My boss says he will try to get mine to pay for at least part of it, but I don't have a commitment yet.  Mine is really talking up employee satisfaction right now, in light of our dismal FEVS scores.  One thing they were pushing was training, so I hope to use that to my advantage.  

I'm a fed, too, BTW.  Small agency, but in public health & safety.

Edited December 8, 2019 by RubyTue

[Future DrPH]

@Hugs4PugsJHU and UNC are 2 of the most competitive programs.  As such, GRE scores are a significant factor.  With that said, however, both programs take a holistic view of each applicant.  My best advice for someone with relatively low GRE scores is to cast a wide net.  Presuming that you demonstrate a strong GPA history (not sure how your vet school graded, P/F, H/P/L?), you should be in the mix.  Remember that any discipline that is more research-oriented will value your GRE quant score.  If your dissertation focus is on ES, then there will be a good deal of data analysis.

Edited December 9, 2019 by Future DrPH

[SrirachaC]

On 12/3/2019 at 2:30 PM, ciara54 said:

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving! Mine was peaceful. I think it's safe for us to rest our nerves a bit until the new year. That's when all the craziness begins!

Well I spoke too soon! I have an interview with Georgia Southern on Thursday.  Wish me luck! 

[Ashdacat]

15 hours ago, ciara54 said:

Well I spoke too soon! I have an interview with Georgia Southern on Thursday.  Wish me luck! 

Congrats! That is pretty amazing-you earned that interview. I wish you the best of luck! Let us know how it goes

[SrirachaC]

Thanks @Ashdacat. I think it went well! I found out that they admit on a rolling basis and the interview is a standard part of their process. I spoke with the dean and about six faculty members. They seemed friendly and asked standard questions. Tell us about yourself, why a DrPH, why this program, leadership style, goals, etc. I asked a few program specific questions and that was it. About 30 minutes later I received an email that said a proposed decision had been forwarded to the College of Graduate Studies.  They said I should hear back no later than January. 

[Aman_Ratta]

Hi everyone 

I have applied to 7 universities. I am worried about my TOEFL score. It's 99. Most of the top universities ask for minimum of 100. Can I expect for waiver from the universities or I have to take the exam again. Any experiences?

Thanks in advance

[Ashdacat]

Happy New Year everyone. I emailed USF to find out when I can expect a decision. I was initially told I would find out in January thru the pre-info meeting (app deadline was Nov 15, 2019), but I emailed the assistant director today. She told me I should find out end of Feb thru March 2020. I may just have a full blown anxiety attack waiting for the decision!!! ?

[SrirachaC]

Happy New Year! I agree the wait is agonizing.  I wish we were on the same timeline as the PhD applicants.  For better or worse, most of them get decisions or interview requests in January.

Thanks for the update on USF.  I was hoping since their deadline was the earliest, that we would hear back sooner.  Oh well, here’s to the new year.  I hope folks start to hear good news soon! 
 

[Kalique23]

Hi everyone! Has anyone here applied to Tulane's DrPH?

[liz2019drph]

On 1/3/2020 at 4:43 PM, Aman_Ratta said:

Hi everyone 

I have applied to 7 universities. I am worried about my TOEFL score. It's 99. Most of the top universities ask for minimum of 100. Can I expect for waiver from the universities or I have to take the exam again. Any experiences?

Thanks in advance

Hi Aman_Ratta, 

Being a non-native speaker as well, I think providing TOEFL score that passes the minimum requirement is the safest option, because many applications were pre-sifted by hard standards like this, especially for competitive programs that receive tons of applications a year. If you still have time to take a second test, I would highly suggest take it to meet 100. ETS revised the TOEFL since August 2019 and I do have a few tips to share if you need (I crammed the new rules 2 days before the test and got a 115). Just let me know. Good luck!

[LauraBsms]

Hi everyone,

Just wondering if anyone else on here is waiting to hear back from the DrPH in Global Health program at George Washington? I got a confirmation email from them mid-December but have not heard anything since.

Best of luck to everyone and hope we all hear some good news soon!

[Aman_Ratta]

On 1/16/2020 at 7:46 AM, liz2019drph said:

Hi Aman_Ratta, 

Being a non-native speaker as well, I think providing TOEFL score that passes the minimum requirement is the safest option, because many applications were pre-sifted by hard standards like this, especially for competitive programs that receive tons of applications a year. If you still have time to take a second test, I would highly suggest take it to meet 100. ETS revised the TOEFL since August 2019 and I do have a few tips to share if you need (I crammed the new rules 2 days before the test and got a 115). Just let me know. Good luck!

Thank you for the valuable advice.. Tips will be really helpful.. 

[liz2019drph]

4 hours ago, Aman_Ratta said:

Thank you for the valuable advice.. Tips will be really helpful.. 

You're welcome. It would be useful to know which part of TOEFL you wanted to improve the most, listening/reading/speaking/writing? Often I'd suggest pick one or two for targeted improvement. It's a test, so the objective is to pass it quickly with a decent score.  

I recommend two videos, one analyses new TOEFL changes since August 2019, it'll save you a few hours of reading the official guide. 

The other is on Speaking section. I found it super helpful because speaking into a machine ALONE while sitting among 30 plus other people is extremely awkward to me . I had a 28/30 this time. 

“The New TOEFL Changes (2019), Everything You Need to Know in 20 Minutes“: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD-oAVSth6U

 

"TOEFL speaking is Weird": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPMW8fUoPRE

 

Regarding listening and reading comprehension: 1. Enhance vocabulary - I took GRE before TOEFL, so it's no big deal once survived GRE. 2. PRACTICE - use TOEFL tests in the past, and reflect each time where you got wrong. There should be plenty of official releases available. I did one moot test every night in the week before my TOEFL, and I witnessed the scores rising from 25 to 30. My final scores are 30 for both sections. 

Regarding writing - I'm afraid not so many tips here, as I got 27 while previously I got 30 easily. To be frank I did not know where went wrong. One tip is to write it structured, and with as many words as you can type. Limit grammatical mistakes. Leave 5 minutes or so for you to check overall before submission. 

I hope above tips may help you and other non-native English applicants.  Good luck! 

 

 

[Aman_Ratta]

16 hours ago, liz2019drph said:

You're welcome. It would be useful to know which part of TOEFL you wanted to improve the most, listening/reading/speaking/writing? Often I'd suggest pick one or two for targeted improvement. It's a test, so the objective is to pass it quickly with a decent score.  

I recommend two videos, one analyses new TOEFL changes since August 2019, it'll save you a few hours of reading the official guide. 

The other is on Speaking section. I found it super helpful because speaking into a machine ALONE while sitting among 30 plus other people is extremely awkward to me . I had a 28/30 this time. 

“The New TOEFL Changes (2019), Everything You Need to Know in 20 Minutes“: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD-oAVSth6U

 

"TOEFL speaking is Weird": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPMW8fUoPRE

 

Regarding listening and reading comprehension: 1. Enhance vocabulary - I took GRE before TOEFL, so it's no big deal once survived GRE. 2. PRACTICE - use TOEFL tests in the past, and reflect each time where you got wrong. There should be plenty of official releases available. I did one moot test every night in the week before my TOEFL, and I witnessed the scores rising from 25 to 30. My final scores are 30 for both sections. 

Regarding writing - I'm afraid not so many tips here, as I got 27 while previously I got 30 easily. To be frank I did not know where went wrong. One tip is to write it structured, and with as many words as you can type. Limit grammatical mistakes. Leave 5 minutes or so for you to check overall before submission. 

I hope above tips may help you and other non-native English applicants.  Good luck! 

 

 

Thank you Liz. It's big help. I need to improve on writing and speaking. Links shared by you are really good. I am now wondering will it be of any use to take the test at this moment?. I mean already reviews must have started.

[MJDRPH]

On 1/16/2020 at 1:01 PM, LauraBsms said:

Hi everyone,

Just wondering if anyone else on here is waiting to hear back from the DrPH in Global Health program at George Washington? I got a confirmation email from them mid-December but have not heard anything since.

Best of luck to everyone and hope we all hear some good news soon!

I applied to GW too, but to the Environmental Health program. Have you heard anything? I'm starting to get worried

[LauraBsms]

28 minutes ago, MJDRPH said:

I applied to GW too, but to the Environmental Health program. Have you heard anything? I'm starting to get worried

I haven't. It's odd because looking at results from previous years people reported having interviews around this time, but there are no results posted for 2019 so I am not sure if that is still accurate. I will be sure to let you know if I do hear. Fingers crossed for us both!

[MJDRPH]

1 hour ago, LauraBsms said:

I haven't. It's odd because looking at results from previous years people reported having interviews around this time, but there are no results posted for 2019 so I am not sure if that is still accurate. I will be sure to let you know if I do hear. Fingers crossed for us both!

Yes I was worried because of that too! I think you can't find any data from 2019 because the program only opens every other year, so last time t was 2018 and before that 2016. 

[HospExecDrPH]

@ciara54 I've recently joined this group as I applied to the DrPH programs at JHU and Harvard with a focus in health policy/leadership. Have you heard anything from the programs you applied to yet? I haven't heard anything and January has almost ended. Harvard sent me an email and their decisions will be released between Mid Feb - Mid March.

I struggled with my GRE as well as I last took the GMAT in 2009 and haven't taken a standardize entrance exam since. In my current role I serve as a hospital operations executive and I see the impact that large health systems have on the cost of care as well as the opportunity to improve community health with they have 

[HealthPolicyMgmtPhD]

I had an interview with Hopkins on the Health Policy track this past week... they are definitely reviewing candidates now! Good luck to everyone!

[PublicHealth2020grad]

Has anyone heard from JHU regarding the implementation science track?

[Ashdacat]

15 hours ago, HealthPolicyMgmtPhD said:

I had an interview with Hopkins on the Health Policy track this past week... they are definitely reviewing candidates now! Good luck to everyone!

I wish you the best of luck!

[SrirachaC]

Welcome @HospExecDrPH! I heard from Georgia Southern in late-December (they admit on a rolling basis). Still waiting to hear from USF, GW, JHU, and UIC.  The wait has been excruciating, but I'm working hard to keep myself distracted. Good luck, I hope you hear good news from both JHU and Harvard! 

Congrats on the interview @HealthPolicyMgmtPhD! I also applied to JHU's Health Policy track. Do you mind sharing  any intel you gained? Like what type of questions they asked? Was it a panel interview or just one person? 

 

[HealthPolicyMgmtPhD]

For the interview with Hopkins, I was interviewed by just one person. I had applied to both the DrPH and the PhD in Health Policy so the questions focused on why I applied to both programs and if I were to go the DrPH route, what I hope to gain out of the program. I might have been contacted because I specifically applied to both— I’m not sure!

Edited January 29, 2020 by HealthPolicyMgmtPhD

[AlphacentauriC]

Hello, hear waiting on decisions. I'm on team USF waiting on decisions. Like everyone here, I haven't heard anything since I submitted my application.

Here again, after my adventure back in 2016 when I got DrPH admissions at Tulane/Kentucky/etc but chose a $100k+/yr job instead: back then, the choice was take the job or accept the full-time admission. I chose the job . Up in the air if choosing the cash instead of doing the doctoral degree was wise. I will know in another five years.

Anyway, only focusing on part-time programs this time around:

1. USF

2. Boston - will attend full-time since I live here

3. Georgia Southern

5. Indiana

+Plus a scattering of others. Will see where I am in June. Just need one good admit and i'm done :). Good luck everyone....

[RubyTue]

Well, I had about given up on my JH application, given it was the end of January.  But, I was just offered an interview for the PhD program (epidemiology).  I applied to both that and the DrPH, figuring the PhD was a reach, but my dream so I'd give it a shot.  Actually, biostats was my dream, but after my GRE scores (very average), I didn't want to waste anyone's time.  Wow... I'm not quite sure what to do with myself now...  I'm still a bit unsure what I want to do as far as funding, focusing, etc, and I know it will be obvious. But, it is what it is and 24 hours won't change anything, so they are just going to get plain old, honest, me.