PhD/DrPH Applicants: Fall 2021

[DrPH or Bust]

Just got accepted into NYU's DrPH program!! ❤️❤️

[EpiPhD7]

1 hour ago, ♀HealthMatters said:

Y'all, it finally happened. I got accepted. I'm going to get a PhD in epi! UMass may not be ranked t10, but it's a great school and in three years I'll have the degree. Anyone else going to accepted student day tomorrow? 

CONGRATS!!!!!?

[MCH_Hopeful_2021]

1 hour ago, ♀HealthMatters said:

Y'all, it finally happened. I got accepted. I'm going to get a PhD in epi! UMass may not be ranked t10, but it's a great school and in three years I'll have the degree. Anyone else going to accepted student day tomorrow? 

Congrats, Dr. HealthMatters! 
 

PS. Screw the rankings! If this program is going to help you achieve your career goals with 0 debt then that sounds like a steal to me! 

[DrPH21]

1 hour ago, DrPH or Bust said:

Just got accepted into NYU's DrPH program!! ❤️❤️

Same!! Got an acceptance email from the DrPH program director saying the official letter will come soon.

NYU DrPH ❤️ 

[niram]

For those of you who are waitlisted, have you tried asking the program what your position is on the waitlist? I would really love to know what my chances are but I dunno how to ask. 

[teabunny]

4 hours ago, PHPhDApplicant said:

Thanks for the info. Fascinating that one of the most well-funded public health schools is only just now providing full tuition coverage and not really on par with less-well funded peers when it comes to stipends. The program does look like a great fit for my interests so I'll keep my fingers crossed all the same. Thanks again. 

Adding my two cents:

The funding situation within the IH department at Hopkins is much more precarious than the Epi/Health Policy departments (at least that's what I gathered from chats with current students) since they don't guarantee stipends. For Human Nutrition within IH, they have made nice-ish strides to implement a TA requirement that pays a small (tiny) stipend at the start of year 1 and year 2. You do have to TA 4 classes through that requirement before you can TA for full pay, though... There are other opportunities to get larger awards, but they're crazy competitive so most students cobble together RA hours. 

I ended up declining my offer because of this. Many students I talked to said that funding was the number one stressor they had, especially during the first year when they were swamped with coursework (so unless you had someone else supporting you to cover living expenses, be prepared to squeeze in 20 hrs/wk of RA work). The Center for a Livable Future, which I was hoping to be a funding mechanism during years 2-4, unfortunately has frozen its funds to new fellow applicants. Only one cohort has been eligible for re-funding for the past 3 years, and it's still unclear if they can re-open applications to new students even in 2022. 

At the end of the day, students agreed that they had awesome research opportunities and it was worth the burden. Personally for me, I didn't want to burn out in year 1 in addition to the dissertation years. Plus with better financial support at other schools with equally compelling research landscapes, I felt that the overall PhD experience would be better elsewhere if I at least had peace of mind about funding. It's a little sad, since I definitely went into this cycle expecting to accept an offer from Hopkins if I got one. But my interests and values don't quite align as well as I thought they did, so here we are ?

 

[niram]

10 minutes ago, teabunny said:

Adding my two cents:

The funding situation within the IH department at Hopkins is much more precarious than the Epi/Health Policy departments (at least that's what I gathered from chats with current students) since they don't guarantee stipends. For Human Nutrition within IH, they have made nice-ish strides to implement a TA requirement that pays a small (tiny) stipend at the start of year 1 and year 2. You do have to TA 4 classes through that requirement before you can TA for full pay, though... There are other opportunities to get larger awards, but they're crazy competitive so most students cobble together RA hours. 

I ended up declining my offer because of this. Many students I talked to said that funding was the number one stressor they had, especially during the first year when they were swamped with coursework (so unless you had someone else supporting you to cover living expenses, be prepared to squeeze in 20 hrs/wk of RA work). The Center for a Livable Future, which I was hoping to be a funding mechanism during years 2-4, unfortunately has frozen its funds to new fellow applicants. Only one cohort has been eligible for re-funding for the past 3 years, and it's still unclear if they can re-open applications to new students even in 2022. 

At the end of the day, students agreed that they had awesome research opportunities and it was worth the burden. Personally for me, I didn't want to burn out in year 1 in addition to the dissertation years. Plus with better financial support at other schools with equally compelling research landscapes, I felt that the overall PhD experience would be better elsewhere if I at least had peace of mind about funding. It's a little sad, since I definitely went into this cycle expecting to accept an offer from Hopkins if I got one. But my interests and values don't quite align as well as I thought they did, so here we are ?

 

Great point! Which track were you accepted for in IH? 

[MNCH Hopeful]

I work for a major international health agency & I have several colleagues who are currently full time PhD students at GW, UMD, etc. I spoke to a few and they seem to be managing school + work fine which I find amazing. Is anyone considering working during their studies to help with cost of living? 

[CommunityHealth21]

1 hour ago, niram said:

For those of you who are waitlisted, have you tried asking the program what your position is on the waitlist? I would really love to know what my chances are but I dunno how to ask. 

I have been waitlisted in 2 schools, one of them I did not reach out to learn about my position. However, for the other one I knew my position because I knew someone in the faculty. I don't know how common it is to ask, but I think it depends on how you feel the school is going to be like. If you do decide to ask that, I would let them know that you are really interested not heir program, and that is why you are asking. 

[teabunny]

20 minutes ago, niram said:

Great point! Which track were you accepted for in IH? 

Human Nutrition!

[jonpalisoc]

Sorry to lean on everyone here and be a pain, but would anyone be willing to share a bit more about how they asked programs for constructive feedback if they were rejected? I'm really nervous about asking and want to make sure I ask in a way that will maximize chance of response and not sound wierd ?

[PHPhDApplicant]

59 minutes ago, teabunny said:

Adding my two cents:

The funding situation within the IH department at Hopkins is much more precarious than the Epi/Health Policy departments (at least that's what I gathered from chats with current students) since they don't guarantee stipends. For Human Nutrition within IH, they have made nice-ish strides to implement a TA requirement that pays a small (tiny) stipend at the start of year 1 and year 2. You do have to TA 4 classes through that requirement before you can TA for full pay, though... There are other opportunities to get larger awards, but they're crazy competitive so most students cobble together RA hours. 

I ended up declining my offer because of this. Many students I talked to said that funding was the number one stressor they had, especially during the first year when they were swamped with coursework (so unless you had someone else supporting you to cover living expenses, be prepared to squeeze in 20 hrs/wk of RA work). The Center for a Livable Future, which I was hoping to be a funding mechanism during years 2-4, unfortunately has frozen its funds to new fellow applicants. Only one cohort has been eligible for re-funding for the past 3 years, and it's still unclear if they can re-open applications to new students even in 2022. 

At the end of the day, students agreed that they had awesome research opportunities and it was worth the burden. Personally for me, I didn't want to burn out in year 1 in addition to the dissertation years. Plus with better financial support at other schools with equally compelling research landscapes, I felt that the overall PhD experience would be better elsewhere if I at least had peace of mind about funding. It's a little sad, since I definitely went into this cycle expecting to accept an offer from Hopkins if I got one. But my interests and values don't quite align as well as I thought they did, so here we are ?

 

This is great insight. And I got some of the same tinglings from talking with folks in other tracks of the department before applying. 

[Bakhasd]

On 3/17/2021 at 3:07 PM, nash7 said:

I’m still waiting, I have a friend who got accepted and I noticed 2 here mentioned that ! 
By the way, Are you an International applicant? I would like to connect with some int. students 

International here! Waiting for results! 

[Bakhasd]

5 hours ago, ♀HealthMatters said:

Y'all, it finally happened. I got accepted. I'm going to get a PhD in epi! UMass may not be ranked t10, but it's a great school and in three years I'll have the degree. Anyone else going to accepted student day tomorrow? 

Congratulations! 

[Boat0417]

Has anyone heard from UIC?  

[DrPH21]

11 hours ago, Boat0417 said:

Has anyone heard from UIC?  

Which program? I interviewed with UIC DrPH this past Monday. Interviews are scheduled through the 25th. 

On Monday, the Director said decisions will be rolling (about 1 week from each interview).

[Tannhaus]

15 hours ago, jonpalisoc said:

Sorry to lean on everyone here and be a pain, but would anyone be willing to share a bit more about how they asked programs for constructive feedback if they were rejected? I'm really nervous about asking and want to make sure I ask in a way that will maximize chance of response and not sound wierd ?

I'd specify your goal/objectives for the inquiry. If they gave you a feedback, would this mean you will try again next year for the same program? If so, then express that to the ad com. I'd also suggest that you can reach out to ad coordinator first, but you're more likely to receive a non-answer/boilerplate response. Then, you can reach out to POI/interviewer for feedback. You can say that you enjoyed learning about the program and you believed you're a good fit for the program for XYZ reasons. Then, ask for feedback on areas of improvement for next cycle. I did this for only one program because I truly believed that I was a good fit after being interviewed. 

Not to be a total creep, but I remember you having great options for PhD programs. Are you going to reject those offers on the table and try again next year? I obviously don't know your whole portfolio of experiences and publications, but it would be likely that you didn't get into these other programs because of variables that are outside of your control (i.e. internal faculty/department funding, grants, changes in research directions). I doubt that the reasons for your rejections were because of your lack of credentials—since you got into few of the peer, competitive programs. 

Have you had a chance to connect with your POI at accepted programs? I actually found that to be more helpful in understanding this application cycle and where I stood. When I spoke to my POI after I was accepted, they were willing to share with me why I was a great fit for the program. For me, it was the research fit with certain faculty (and the direction of the program towards certain areas of research) and also my professional experiences that aligned with the department's vision/goal for interdisciplinary research. That was really illuminating because the rejections from other programs actually made a lot of sense. Hope that helps, and good luck! 

[XXXXXXphd2021]

20 hours ago, niram said:

For those of you who are waitlisted, have you tried asking the program what your position is on the waitlist? I would really love to know what my chances are but I dunno how to ask. 

it would not hurt to ask about your position on the waitlist. I didn't ask for the 'position' for mine, as my target program is small, every student's funding mechanism is different, so I doubt that they have a strict waitlist ranking tbh. But every program is different, if I were waitlisted by some other programs, I might reach out to program director/administrator and ask about positions and how many ppl were taken off from waitlist on average. 

(I also think info. from gradcafe might be even more helpful as programs usually approach it in a formal way.)

 

Edited March 19, 2021 by XXXXXXphd2021

[CommunityHealth21]

20 hours ago, Boat0417 said:

Has anyone heard from UIC?  

For what program? I got accepted to UIC MCH PhD on February 23rd. 

[Publichealth321]

Hi everyone! Has anybody heard anything from Arizona’s Health Behavior Health Promotion program or UCSD/SDSU’s Health Behavior program?

[MCH_Hopeful_2021]

24 minutes ago, Publichealth321 said:

Hi everyone! Has anybody heard anything from Arizona’s Health Behavior Health Promotion program or UCSD/SDSU’s Health Behavior program?

Nothing on Arizona! 

[Boat0417]

11 hours ago, DrPH21 said:

Which program? I interviewed with UIC DrPH this past Monday. Interviews are scheduled through the 25th. 

On Monday, the Director said decisions will be rolling (about 1 week from each interview).

Thanks for the update!  I haven't been contacted for an interview yet.  Hopefully I'll hear soon.  

 

Good luck!

[Boat0417]

2 hours ago, CommunityHealth21 said:

For what program? I got accepted to UIC MCH PhD on February 23rd. 

This is for the DrPH program.  Someone just provided an update on that program. 

Congrats on your acceptance.  Thanks!  

[PublicHealthPhD2021]

1 hour ago, Publichealth321 said:

Hi everyone! Has anybody heard anything from Arizona’s Health Behavior Health Promotion program or UCSD/SDSU’s Health Behavior program?

Haven't heard back from UCSD/SDSU's Health Behavior program either - heard decisions were supposed to come out this month. Hopefully soon. 

[PublicHealthPhD2021]

Has anyone heard back from UCLA's PhD in Community Health Sciences program? I know someone had gotten accepted a few weeks ago, but was wondering if anyone else has heard anything from them! Same goes for UCI's PhD in Public Health program - anyone hear back from them? Thanks!