PhD / DrPh Fall 2022

[epi_queeen]

2 minutes ago, Photo Light said:

Congrats on your Vilcek interview, I hope it went well! And same, I applied to NYU's PhD, epi focus at the public health school and haven't heard anything. Hopefully we hear something soon! 

Thank you! Best of luck to you too?the waiting is terrible! Lol

[Ehphd]

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Edited February 4, 2022 by Ehphd

[sg99]

hi! has anyone received an interview or heard any updates from JHU's social and behavioral interventions program? 

[decolonizehealth]

Just got an interview offer for CUNY's Community Health and Health Policy PhD, to be done some time next week

[healthphd]

On 2/2/2022 at 8:27 AM, GenoTheCat said:

New member here, though I've been lurking for a bit. Congrats to those of you who got a UMN HSR acceptance. I didn't get anything sadly but still holding out hope. Just to throw it out there, this is where I'm at. Trying to not read too much into no interviews yet. 

Waiting: JHU, UMN, Drexel, Univ of Illinois Chicago (all HSR/health policy)

Accepted: UTHealth Health Econ/HSR

Hi, any funding information from UTHealth so far? It seems this school doesn't provide full funding for its incoming Ph.D students.

[publichealthPhD]

I was just offered admission to the University of Washington, Global Health PhD program (Implementation Science Track)! 

[DrPH Hopeful 2022]

Just wanted to congrats all who received acceptance this week! And keeping my fingers crossed for the rest of us to hear some good news next week . 

[HopefulPhDinEPI]

On 2/4/2022 at 12:04 AM, epi2022 said:

Hi! I applied to USC and UMass Amherst too! I was offered to admission by UMass on Jan 12 but I guess it was because I submitted in November and ahead of time. Were you invited to the campus visit by USC?

Hi do you mind sharing when your interview was for UMass Amherst? 

Thanks in advance

[Winniemp]

Just got an interview invite for Vanderbilt epi.

[0411]

Does anyone know if JHU is interviewing for Drph? I haven't heard anything from them...also, any idea when they announce the acceptances for Drph. The complete silence from them is kinda worrying me ?

[HopefulPhDinEPI]

This might be slightly off topic, I was wondering if anyone knows if there are any scholarships for Masters of Science in Epidemiology? 

I am starting to realize that my chances of getting in to PhD this year is grim so I am thinking of applying to MSc for next spring.

[InEquity]

3 hours ago, 0411 said:

Does anyone know if JHU is interviewing for Drph? I haven't heard anything from them...also, any idea when they announce the acceptances for Drph. The complete silence from them is kinda worrying me ?

I wouldn’t worry about not getting an interview. Not getting an interview isn’t an indication of anything. Per JHU’s website: https://publichealth.jhu.edu/academics/academic-programs/doctoral-degrees/doctor-of-public-health-drph/admissions

Review of applications: December through February; interviews are conducted on an ad hoc basis--not receiving a request for an interview is not indicative of an admissions decision and vice versa.

Communication of offers: Early March

[eecjbear]

15 hours ago, healthphd said:

Hi, any funding information from UTHealth so far? It seems this school doesn't provide full funding for its incoming Ph.D students.

Hey, I have been talking with the school. Looks like scholarships will be announced before april 15, other than that it depends on your advisor and if a PhD stipend is written into the research grant. They also keep telling me that I can do a TA/GRA ship for 20-40 hours a week, but I may consider just keeping my current job and scaling back to part time since it will be (much) better paid haha

[0411]

6 hours ago, InEquity said:

I wouldn’t worry about not getting an interview. Not getting an interview isn’t an indication of anything. Per JHU’s website: https://publichealth.jhu.edu/academics/academic-programs/doctoral-degrees/doctor-of-public-health-drph/admissions

Review of applications: December through February; interviews are conducted on an ad hoc basis--not receiving a request for an interview is not indicative of an admissions decision and vice versa.

Communication of offers: Early March

Thanks @InEquity that's very reassuring to know 

[healthphd]

4 hours ago, eecjbear said:

Hey, I have been talking with the school. Looks like scholarships will be announced before april 15, other than that it depends on your advisor and if a PhD stipend is written into the research grant. They also keep telling me that I can do a TA/GRA ship for 20-40 hours a week, but I may consider just keeping my current job and scaling back to part time since it will be (much) better paid haha

Hi, thanks for sharing. Yes, I've been in contact with the admission office as well and was told similar information. But I've still been specially notified they usually don't fully fund Ph.D students. It looks like their program is more friendly for students who could work on it for a part-time basis, but it's more ideal for domestic students other than international students. In this way, it looks like a perfect program for you, and congratulations on your admission! Wish we all have good luck for their scholarships.

[phd_2022]

Hi! New time poster here. I interviewed for NYU Vilcek Population Health PhD in early January. I saw that someone posted that they got an acceptance yesterday. Congratulations! I haven't received any email or update in my portal. Do you happen to know if all acceptances have gone out? Thanks!!

[XXXXXXphd2021]

1 hour ago, phd_2022 said:

Hi! New time poster here. I interviewed for NYU Vilcek Population Health PhD in early January. I saw that someone posted that they got an acceptance yesterday. Congratulations! I haven't received any email or update in my portal. Do you happen to know if all acceptances have gone out? Thanks!!

I'm in a same situation. I also heard that someone got accepted to the biostats track this past Thursday. Given how small their population health cohort has been, I am assuming I am out. 

[HOPEFULLPHD2022]

anyone applied to the Environmental Health Sciences PhD at NYU(GSAS application portal) and heard anything yet? Good luck everybody!!! 

[hsr21_]

Waitlisted for Emory PhD in Health Services Research and Health Policy.

This was my top pick...
 

[Ehphd]

Seeking for advice on the PhD no-funding offer from a UC school.

I did my interview with the PI and she said that there will be two projects with generous fundings from next year, so she asked if I can bring in an external package to survive for the 1st year. She said she could offer 20hr TA/RA jobs in the meantime (she was confident about next year's funding), but that wouldn't be enough to cover all my expenses in CA (international tuition fee+living). She said applying next year is also an option, but I am in the older range and would like to start my PhD as soon as possible.

I think this will be my only offer for this cycle, so I am swaying if it is worth loaning $40~50K and survive for the 1st year or if I should re-try next year. For now, I really don't want to go through this hellish application process again. I had problems with WES, home GRE, and paid a huge amount of application fee this cycle. 

Could somebody give advice about life in LA with a $40~50K loan, if it's worth it? (+ little attention from PI as she already has 12 students supervising: 3 post docs, 4 PhD students, 4 PhD candidates). I need to give her a response by Monday.

Edited February 5, 2022 by Ehphd

[XXXXXXphd2021]

8 minutes ago, Ehphd said:

Seeking for advice on the PhD no-funding offer from a UC school.

I did my interview with the PI and she said that there will be two projects with generous fundings from next year, so she asked if I can bring in a package to survive for the 1st year. She said she could offer 20hr TA/RA jobs in the meantime (she was confident about next year's funding), but that wouldn't be enough to cover all my expenses in CA (international tuition fee+living). She said applying next year is also an option, but I am in the older range and would like to start my PhD as soon as possible.

I think this will be my only offer for this cycle, so I am swaying if it is worth loaning $40~50K and survive for the 1st year or if I should re-try next year. For now, I really don't want to go through this hellish application process again. I had problems with WES, home GRE, and paid a huge amount of application fee this cycle. 

Could somebody give advice about life in LA with a $40~50K loan, if it's worth it? (+ little attention from PI as she already has 12 students supervising: 3 post docs, 4 PhD students, 4 PhD candidates).

Personally, I would try to find if other PIs could provide funding at that specific school/program to fund the tuition and stipend. If not, then I would not take on such an offer because no matter how certain or confident this PI is about next year's funding there is a lot of uncertainty. 

I have a friend who went to an unfunded anthropology program being told most students could take on funding 2nd or 3rd year, many anthropology programs are struggling with funding anyways so he went and guess who did not get any funding after years. He eventually transferred to a private uni and still hasn't graduated yet, it's been 10 years since he started the first phd. There is also another example of someone I knew who applied last season and got waitlisted, the PI reached out and offered a full-time RAship saying he would get in this year, and this year someone with close connections got the spot so this PI no longer has funding for him (yep after he quitted the old job and took on this RA with lower pay). Especially with that PI supervising so many people that would make me feel very uncomfortable.

It is eventually your life and your choice. For me hell no. (Also for WES, if you requested, some programs might waive it. I did not take the WES and got it waived for UCSF and NYU Global Health, but one of the reason is that I graduated a decade ago and WES still requires a physical copy from one of the institution which makes it inconvenient and complicated)

[Ehphd]

34 minutes ago, XXXXXXphd2021 said:

Personally, I would try to find if other PIs could provide funding at that specific school/program to fund the tuition and stipend. If not, then I would not take on such an offer because no matter how certain or confident this PI is about next year's funding there is a lot of uncertainty. 

I have a friend who went to an unfunded anthropology program being told most students could take on funding 2nd or 3rd year, many anthropology programs are struggling with funding anyways so he went and guess who did not get any funding after years. He eventually transferred to a private uni and still hasn't graduated yet, it's been 10 years since he started the first phd. There is also another example of someone I knew who applied last season and got waitlisted, the PI reached out and offered a full-time RAship saying he would get in this year, and this year someone with close connections got the spot so this PI no longer has funding for him (yep after he quitted the old job and took on this RA with lower pay). Especially with that PI supervising so many people that would make me feel very uncomfortable.

It is eventually your life and your choice. For me hell no. (Also for WES, if you requested, some programs might waive it. I did not take the WES and got it waived for UCSF and NYU Global Health, but one of the reason is that I graduated a decade ago and WES still requires a physical copy from one of the institution which makes it inconvenient and complicated)

I heard that one PI already made an offer to another student, and the other I heard is on Sabbatical (which was not on the website.) I appreciate your advice that I shouldn't rely on PI's words. I guess I am doing a wishful thinking here, cuz she said "two generous" projects..?

Actually I was curious how PhD transfer works, would they understand if they are running low in funding and not see it as a 'betrayal'?? I really learned a lot from this whole PhD application, that it is really about the fit with the PI and how much funding they are holding. 

About WES: they made a mistake on the evaluation of my transcript grading 3.5 instead of 3.7. Plus they were impossible to reach when I wanted to report the case. Actually, another UC school's Admin Office I applied to helped me out file a challenge by directly contacting them. Eventually, it took 3 months for them to evaluate, way beyond the application deadline, ONLY TO RECIEVE ANOTHER MISTAKE! (I gave up fixing the mistake after the first challenge - too much hassle, so my evaluation is still not accurate). Before the evaluation, they made 2 unreasonable rejections on the post mails my unis sent. I know it's unreasonable cuz the office sent me photo proofs and didn't change anything differently when requested to send it again. I honestly want to sue WES and feel like my $200 is stolen, but I don't think I got rejections cuz of 0.1 GPA. Still, it gave me a hell lot of stress.

Edited February 5, 2022 by Ehphd

[greenteaicesea]

1 hour ago, Ehphd said:

Seeking for advice on the PhD no-funding offer from a UC school.

I did my interview with the PI and she said that there will be two projects with generous fundings from next year, so she asked if I can bring in an external package to survive for the 1st year. She said she could offer 20hr TA/RA jobs in the meantime (she was confident about next year's funding), but that wouldn't be enough to cover all my expenses in CA (international tuition fee+living). She said applying next year is also an option, but I am in the older range and would like to start my PhD as soon as possible.

I think this will be my only offer for this cycle, so I am swaying if it is worth loaning $40~50K and survive for the 1st year or if I should re-try next year. For now, I really don't want to go through this hellish application process again. I had problems with WES, home GRE, and paid a huge amount of application fee this cycle. 

Could somebody give advice about life in LA with a $40~50K loan, if it's worth it? (+ little attention from PI as she already has 12 students supervising: 3 post docs, 4 PhD students, 4 PhD candidates). I need to give her a response by Monday.

Hiya, first of all, congratulations! I'm not much help in the details of living in CA, and if you should take out loans. To me, this seems like a really personal decision that is guided by your priorities are. If I had to pay for a PhD, it would only be in a case where it was worth the debt (this includes the long term perspective, because graduate loans usually accrue interest immediately). 

What I did want to touch on, however, are the two things that stuck out to me in your post. 1) Needing to respond by Monday and 2) this being your only acceptance. 

 

1) This seems a little suspicious to me. Why would you need to confirm if you're willing to accept such an offer in such a time period? To me, this signals something about the PI will [edit: you] would be working with if you were to accept this offer. People are the nicest when you first meet them and they are trying to make a good impression on you, so you would attend their program. To me, it sounds like it would only get worse. If that's not important to you, then that's fine but I do know that everyone I have spoken to has always said to prioritize your PI e.g. how you get along/if they seem like a good mentor. 

2) Quite frankly, it's only the beginning of February. If you have programs you still haven't heard from, I would not count yourself out yet from those programs. While we're waiting, it can seem like things are moving slowly and that denial of admission is a forgone conclusion. But that simply isn't true. Most placed have a timeline of communication of mid Feb to early March. And each program is different with timelines, especially given the increase in applicants over the past few years. If I were to give a suggestion here, I would suggest to the PI you interviewed with that you have more time to consider the offer. To seem generous, you could suggest that given the National Acceptance Deadline in April 15th, a fair timeline for an answer from you would be sometime the week of Feb 14th - perhaps the 18th. 

 

Overall, I hope this was a little helpful. I wish you all the luck in your endeavors. And congrats, again! 

Edited February 6, 2022 by greenteaicesea

[aca105]

2 hours ago, Ehphd said:

Seeking for advice on the PhD no-funding offer from a UC school.

I did my interview with the PI and she said that there will be two projects with generous fundings from next year, so she asked if I can bring in an external package to survive for the 1st year. She said she could offer 20hr TA/RA jobs in the meantime (she was confident about next year's funding), but that wouldn't be enough to cover all my expenses in CA (international tuition fee+living). She said applying next year is also an option, but I am in the older range and would like to start my PhD as soon as possible.

I think this will be my only offer for this cycle, so I am swaying if it is worth loaning $40~50K and survive for the 1st year or if I should re-try next year. For now, I really don't want to go through this hellish application process again. I had problems with WES, home GRE, and paid a huge amount of application fee this cycle. 

Could somebody give advice about life in LA with a $40~50K loan, if it's worth it? (+ little attention from PI as she already has 12 students supervising: 3 post docs, 4 PhD students, 4 PhD candidates). I need to give her a response by Monday.

There are so many risks to this approach that would make this an immensely risky/downright bad decision compared to just waiting for the rest of the cycle to pass and seeing what other schools get back to you/reapplying next year at worst (which would cost another ~1K USD if applying to 7-8 schools):

• In the best case scenario, you actually do get the funding next year from the PI, but then you're saddled with a 40-50k loan with four years of interest accrued to pay off immediately after you graduate. Given slim chances of anyone getting a tenure track position immediately after graduating, you're going to have to start making payments on your loan as a postdoc, reducing your already slim earnings at that point. 
• Filed under "horrible but realistic", we have a scenario where you do get the funding next year from the PI, but something happens to you and you're unable to finish the PhD. This means that you will have taken out 40-50k in debt to receive, at best, some skills training but no real credentials, which also limits you from various job opportunities. This is an immense burden on your future.
• In the worst case scenario, you start your PhD but your PI doesn't actually have funding to give you next year. This means that you either a) have to take out another loan of 40-50k or b) withdraw from the program because you just simply do not have the capacity to take on further risk. This is a tremendous drain on your future finances.

I don't really know what your current life status is, but saying yes to this opportunity is very much a shot in the dark hoping it all works out when there is a tremendous amount of harm that could occur to your future livelihood. It sucks to potentially have to go through another PhD cycle, but that level of pain is nowhere near as bad as the potential financial impact that going into an unfunded PhD in one of the most expensive cities in the country could have on your life.

[gipa]

Applicants of unc drph online program, has anyone received interview invite?