PhD/DrPH (Public Health) Fall 2024 - The Grad Cafe Forums

[Mamitis]

On 2/14/2024 at 3:14 PM, Mamitis said:

 

Hey! I can't remember everyone who applied to Harvard DrPH, but please feel free to weigh in. 

Anyone heard back yet? I'm having trouble focusing. Anyone else experiencing this brain fog as a result of the waiting?

 

On 2/14/2024 at 4:37 PM, Public health grl said:

Totally! I hate being in limbo!! From past forums it seems like Feb 15th was a date people received decisions! I am hoping we find out soon!!

 

On 2/14/2024 at 6:46 PM, andrewsethna said:

Everyone who applied to the Harvard DrPH let's follow up on this thread. So i spoke to the admissions team today and they said this to me 

1. Admission decisions should be coming out starting now till mid march

2. Interviews are NOT a mandatory part of the process and that they reach out for interviews to get clarifications on applications.

 

So my question to everyone who got an interview from the Harvard DrPH, who interviewed you? were they faculty or the program admissions team and where the questions in-depth or surface level? I am not sure what the process it tbh.

Haha sorry, for all the questions, I only applied to this program and one program at UofT which i got an acceptance for, but i really do want to go to this school lol

 

On 2/14/2024 at 10:23 PM, xinki said:

I also interviewed with faculty members. I learned that they build your case for the deliberations with the broader admissions committee. However, they're not members of that committee.  

This is literally the first time I have ever participated in an online forum. It's a testament to how anxious I am lol. 😅

 

On 2/15/2024 at 8:53 AM, Public health grl said:

I just checked the portal and have the same glitch in the letterbox, so odd.

Looks like someone posted a DrPH acceptance in the Results section for Harvard. Congratulations to them and to those of you who have heard good news! 

[Public health grl]

6 minutes ago, Mamitis said:

 

 

 

 

Looks like someone posted a DrPH acceptance in the Results section for Harvard. Congratulations to them and to those of you who have heard good news! 

Seems like it was an international student accepted so far on the results page! Congrats to all who are accepted!! I wish they would send out everything at the same time! Still waiting! Good luck to everyone!!

Edited February 16 by Public health grl

[GH123]

2 hours ago, JustinDee said:

Did anyone who got accepted to UCLA get a funding letter or other notification? I only received the acceptance from the grad division letter in my portal. 

Which department? I interviewed at CHS but haven't heard back...

[EpiApp24]

6 hours ago, PhDEpi said:

They send offers in batches. Last one was in early February. Some offers in pharmacoepi, cancer and reproductive tracks were sent out. The main big batch of offers should be coming soon.

Do you know about how the admissions process works for Epi at UNC in general? Like how they choose the batches and when to expect the next one? It looks like previous years are pretty all over the place. Also do you have any idea if interviews mean it's more or less likely that you'll get in? I saw that some people are interviewed while others aren't. Their process seems really different compared to other schools and I can't find much online about it.

I wish for all of the schools there was more transparency about the process itself. 

[PHD24]

3 hours ago, JustinDee said:

Did anyone who got accepted to UCLA get a funding letter or other notification? I only received the acceptance from the grad division letter in my portal. 

I got my funding letter roughly a week after the acceptance letter. It definitely didn't come at the same time if that's helpful! This is for the EHS track. 

[PHD24]

Huge congrats to all the acceptances and waitlist coming out for everyone. 

Any chance anyone has heard news about Harvard PHS EH? I haven't seen anything about this specific track online since interviews. Really trying to keep my hopes up but it's hard to feel like the EH acceptances just haven't dropped on forums yet. I also feel like the Harvard PHS program is so systematic so I'd be surprised if EH dropped at a different time from EPI, SBS, etc. 

I'm rushed because another program says they'll have to offer my funding package to another student if I don't answer soon. Creating a lot of stress over here, especially as the weekend closes in! 

Big thanks to everyone on this forum for being so responsive and supportive. I've been so distracted the last few weeks and this has been such a helpful space! Good luck everyone  

 

 

 

[MimiNMe]

3 minutes ago, PHD24 said:

Huge congrats to all the acceptances and waitlist coming out for everyone. 

Any chance anyone has heard news about Harvard PHS EH? I haven't seen anything about this specific track online since interviews. Really trying to keep my hopes up but it's hard to feel like the EH acceptances just haven't dropped on forums yet. I also feel like the Harvard PHS program is so systematic so I'd be surprised if EH dropped at a different time from EPI, SBS, etc. 

I'm rushed because another program says they'll have to offer my funding package to another student if I don't answer soon. Creating a lot of stress over here, especially as the weekend closes in! 

Big thanks to everyone on this forum for being so responsive and supportive. I've been so distracted the last few weeks and this has been such a helpful space! Good luck everyone  

 

 

 

Take the program you have in hand. If you did get this you could reevaluate. But PHS is looking grim, I think. 

[PhDPursuit]

2 hours ago, quantPH said:

I had mine on 2/6. They said that they would forward my case to the PI I mentioned. I contacted the PI before and we share RI pretty well. Should hear back by the end of the next week. Good luck to you!

Did the PI ever reach out to you? I talked to 3 other people and 2 of them were directly interviewed by the PIs they wanted to work with, but these two people did not meet their PIs before the application. I met my PI before the application. 

One applicant was interviewed by the Interim Chair and an admission committee professor. Then this week her PI reached out and interviewed her directly. 

[quantPH]

46 minutes ago, PhDPursuit said:

Did the PI ever reach out to you? I talked to 3 other people and 2 of them were directly interviewed by the PIs they wanted to work with, but these two people did not meet their PIs before the application. I met my PI before the application. 

One applicant was interviewed by the Interim Chair and an admission committee professor. Then this week her PI reached out and interviewed her directly. 

I interviewed with the PI before the application as well. I wrote to the PI again after the 2/6 interview and got positive feedback. I think all the results should be out by the end of the next week.

[Atila]

4 hours ago, Public health grl said:

Seems like it was an international student accepted so far on the results page! Congrats to all who are accepted!! I wish they would send out everything at the same time! Still waiting! Good luck to everyone!!

May I know the link for this result page is. Sorry for being very naive 😀

[Public health grl]

3 minutes ago, Atila said:

May I know the link for this result page is. Sorry for being very naive 😀

No worries hah! This should take you there! https://www.thegradcafe.com/survey/
 

 

[Mamitis]

4 minutes ago, Atila said:

May I know the link for this result page is. Sorry for being very naive 😀

https://www.thegradcafe.com/survey/?per_page=20&q=drph&institution=&program=&degree=

 

Go all the way to the top of the page where we are posting. Then look for THE GRADCAFE. Underneath, there is a Results section. 

[PhDPursuit]

2 hours ago, quantPH said:

I interviewed with the PI before the application as well. I wrote to the PI again after the 2/6 interview and got positive feedback. I think all the results should be out by the end of the next week.

Who did you phrase it when you reached out to the PI after your interview? 

[DRPHNOTANYMORE]

8 hours ago, texaspublichealthgirl said:

Just got accepted to University of Texas DrPh program. 

Congratulations. That is amazing. You thoroughly deserve it. Is this the UT Health program based in Houston and Austin?

[texaspublichealthgirl]

35 minutes ago, Squashplayer000 said:

Congratulations. That is amazing. You thoroughly deserve it. Is this the UT Health program based in Houston and Austin?

Yes it is. I started this program in 2019 but dropped out because their schedule is in person classes during the work day. I couldn’t do that with my job at the time. Now it’s slightly more flexible (teacher dependent) post Covid but it still is unfriendly to full time working professionals. 

[DRPHNOTANYMORE]

9 minutes ago, texaspublichealthgirl said:

Yes it is. I started this program in 2019 but dropped out because their schedule is in person classes during the work day. I couldn’t do that with my job at the time. Now it’s slightly more flexible (teacher dependent) post Covid but it still is unfriendly to full time working professionals. 

As I recall, they have two specializations. Community Health Practice requires a GRE, which I didn't have time for, that is why I didn't apply to it. I am still thinking about applying to Health Education and Health Promotion, but still a bit confused.

[texaspublichealthgirl]

21 minutes ago, Squashplayer000 said:

As I recall, they have two specializations. Community Health Practice requires a GRE, which I didn't have time for, that is why I didn't apply to it. I am still thinking about applying to Health Education and Health Promotion, but still a bit confused.

Yes that’s the one I applied to. Happy to answer any questions you have that I may have answers to. I worked with one of the admissions professors on my application for this year since I applied last year and was rejected. 

[HPResearch]

Chapman's pharmaceutical econ program offered me a position in lab as a PhD student/researcher for anyone waiting to hear back from that school. Director of UCLA's HPM program reached out and said decisions will be made by next week at latest if others are waiting for that as well.

[DRPHNOTANYMORE]

34 minutes ago, texaspublichealthgirl said:

Yes that’s the one I applied to. Happy to answer any questions you have that I may have answers to. I worked with one of the admissions professors on my application for this year since I applied last year and was rejected. 

Thank you. I appreciate it. I am just confused as to what I should emphasize in my personal statement since my public health experience is primarily administration in a public health department. Anything specific that the professor recommended for a strong application?

[mindymar1985]

8 hours ago, Public health grl said:

Seems like it was an international student accepted so far on the results page! Congrats to all who are accepted!! I wish they would send out everything at the same time! Still waiting! Good luck to everyone!!

Agree!!! Can anyone tell me why the do this staged release of responses? Like why not just send out everything at the same time??

Edited February 17 by mindymar1985

[texaspublichealthgirl]

1 hour ago, Squashplayer000 said:

Thank you. I appreciate it. I am just confused as to what I should emphasize in my personal statement since my public health experience is primarily administration in a public health department. Anything specific that the professor recommended for a strong application?

He suggested being aspirational, what would I do with the degree. The year prior I included some interest in management which is why I was denied, I didn’t fit squarely in one dept. 

[DRPHNOTANYMORE]

1 hour ago, texaspublichealthgirl said:

He suggested being aspirational, what would I do with the degree. The year prior I included some interest in management which is why I was denied, I didn’t fit squarely in one dept. 

Thank you. That's a lot of help. That happened to me too. They told me to apply to Community Health Practice instead of Health Promotion and Education.

[Ikigai1896]

😭 my heart . 

[Mamitis]

11 hours ago, mindymar1985 said:

Agree!!! Can anyone tell me why the do this staged release of responses? Like why not just send out everything at the same time??

If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say it's such a small number of people they accept. So they release the ones they definitely want to make offers to, give those people time to consider and respond, then put out the next group of offers based on the acceptances. I'd guess they have a ranked list.

 

What I don't quite understand is why they don't just put out their rejections of people they know they won't admit first. Other programs do this. If it's just a 100% no for whatever reason, send the rejection, and put people out of their misery. 

If we have to suffer, at least we suffer together. 

[andrewsethna]

35 minutes ago, Mamitis said:

If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say it's such a small number of people they accept. So they release the ones they definitely want to make offers to, give those people time to consider and respond, then put out the next group of offers based on the acceptances. I'd guess they have a ranked list.

 

What I don't quite understand is why they don't just put out their rejections of people they know they won't admit first. Other programs do this. If it's just a 100% no for whatever reason, send the rejection, and put people out of their misery. 

If we have to suffer, at least we suffer together. 

not entirely sure if they sent out many admission decisions yet, i think they are gearing up to send out offers. since there's a lot of administrative paperwork that needs to be packaged for offers. i think we would have seen more acceptances on the results page if it were sent to all top priority candidates.  but yes agree with you on the fact why they don't send out the rejections first.