ec86 Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Out of curiosity, any of you lurking here apply to PhD in Public Health for Fall 2009? (epidemiology sub-field in particular?) I'm getting very nervous waiting to hear back. I applied to 5 reach schools (no match and no safety), not sure if this was such a great idea now. :/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ridgey Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 I'm public health too, but health policy (ish), not epi. I'm not sure there are non-reach schools in the field - there are, what, 30 accredited schools in total? Still, I think our odds are better than the English or History folk. Going by the results page from last year, mid-Feb is when things start to happen. Only 4 weeks to go... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angrawa Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Hi Public Health People, I'm applying for Phds in Epi, Health Behavior and Health Services depending on the program and who I connected with during visits or calls. I did the whole applications thing last year too and it was mid Feb until mid April that I heard back from all my schools. SO, sit tight (siiigh). Do you think the field of Public Health is going to be impacted by the economy (as in will there be more people returning to school that have tons of experience etc?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ec86 Posted January 15, 2009 Author Share Posted January 15, 2009 Hello! Yep, there's only 40 schools of public health in USA. In terms of admission rates, the "top schools" go from 5 to 30%. I guess that's not too bad, considering, but what bothers me is that I have no idea what the playing field is like. There's hardly any resources out there for this type of program (mostly MPH stuff). I don't think there will be significant job losses in this sector, but there may be hiring freezes (esp. government), so perhaps more MPH applicants this year applying for backup in case they don't find jobs? PhD is a big investment and I doubt the applicant numbers will jump much. No evidence to back that up though; it's all uninformed speculation by me lol. From the results page, it looks like JHU and Yale notify pretty early. Late Jan.? At least nowadays the notifications come by email rather than mail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diana Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 I'm very glad to see this post! I've also applied for PhD epidemiology programs, and I've been a nervous wreck wondering when I should expect to start hearing! For those who have done this before, is there anything else I can be doing now to improve my chances? I don't do wait patiently well. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rutabaga Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Health Policy PhD here. Also very nervous!! I feel like I should be applying to all these fellowship programs just in case I don't get in... also checking my JHU app twice a day isn't helping my stress level! I applied to 5 schools so here's to hoping! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaw17 Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 I was a 2008 health policy PhD applicant (now at Penn's health economics program). What are you policy folks interested in, and did any of you apply to Wharton? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ridgey Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 I was a 2008 health policy PhD applicant (now at Penn's health economics program). What are you policy folks interested in, and did any of you apply to Wharton? I won't go into my interests or schools because it's easy enough as it is to match the info I've put up here with my applications. I'm sure the adcomms have better uses of their time than checking how prospective applicants conduct themselves in anonymous internet forums, but I have a decent bout of application stress and paranoia right now. No application to Wharton from me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ridgey Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Aaargh! The first public health results are on the board! Ok, they're MPH not PhD, and not at a school I've applied to, but I feel like its officially started now, even though I don't expect to hear anything for another month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlle Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 . . . perhaps more MPH applicants this year applying for backup in case they don't find jobs? PhD is a big investment and I doubt the applicant numbers will jump much. No evidence to back that up though; it's all uninformed speculation by me lol. Oh, God, that has been my one big fear. I'm one of the MPH applicants and am scared shitless there will be more competition applying up against the experienced folks b/c of the economy. There's already enough competition to begin with since the MPH pool tends to draw mid-career ppl with more credentials. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rutabaga Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 First JHU result on the board!! I wonder if the PHD results are going out at the same time as the MPH ones? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ec86 Posted January 23, 2009 Author Share Posted January 23, 2009 I thought JHU notifies online? But yeah, entirely possible the first round admissions for PhD are made this week. Past notices came around this time as well! I'm nervous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dreams Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 I thought JHU notifies online? But yeah, entirely possible the first round admissions for PhD are made this week. Past notices came around this time as well! I'm nervous. Makes me a bit nervous in anticipation of it all too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ridgey Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 I thought JHU notifies online? But yeah, entirely possible the first round admissions for PhD are made this week. Past notices came around this time as well! I'm nervous. Really? I had decided that none of my notifications were likely to come before mid-Feb, based on past patterns. Maybe it varies by department? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rutabaga Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 bah, no update on my online status at least. I think JHU was Feb last cycle, but was Jan the one before that based on the posted results, so who knows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ridgey Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 bah, no update on my online status at least. Dumb question: is it just in ApplyYourself? There's not a separate website I should be checking? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rutabaga Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 yeah there is a status field on the actual application status page. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ec86 Posted January 27, 2009 Author Share Posted January 27, 2009 Any word from JHU? I have this gut feeling that acceptances will be mailed out this week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ridgey Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Any word from JHU? I have this gut feeling that acceptances will be mailed out this week. In the past they've been mid feb, at least my programme. Probably varies by department. I can't decide whether I hope you're wrong or right. I've concluded that JHU is probably my top choice because of a particular faculty member. I go back and forth hourly between certainty I'll be admitted and certainty I'll be rejected. There's some famous physicist or philosopher or something who used a dead cat in a box as a thought experiment. Though the cat probably died hours/days ago, it's not until the box is opened and the dead cat is revealed that the cat is truly dead. Or something like that, I'm butchering it horribly. My point is that it's quite likely our fate has already been decided. On an unrelated note, does anyone know anything about UMass Amherst? I know it's not ranked by US News, but I'm not fussy about rankings. Applications are due this weekend, and their website has minimal information about the programme - it's like they don't want applicants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonights Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Ah, you're talking about Schr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ridgey Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 Oooooh, the first result for a public health PhD of the year is on the board. I've noticed that all the public health results reported so far - that one plus the couple of MPHs - have been acceptances. I choose to extrapolate that into a prediction of 100% admission for users of the grad cafe applying to public health. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ec86 Posted January 28, 2009 Author Share Posted January 28, 2009 Last night I had a dream that I received my first rejection and it was from Emory. It was so real and I was really depressed... but then I woke up and realized I didn't even apply to Emory. It must've been their ridiculous 5 spots and over 100 applicants blurb I read from the results page that triggered that dream. If you guys are applying to MPH, there's a good forum where people are posting results already: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=597283 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ridgey Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 Last night I had a dream that I received my first rejection and it was from Emory. It was so real and I was really depressed... but then I woke up and realized I didn't even apply to Emory. It must've been their ridiculous 5 spots and over 100 applicants blurb I read from the results page that triggered that dream. If you guys are applying to MPH, there's a good forum where people are posting results already: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=597283 No equivalent for PhD? Apart from here, of course... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ec86 Posted January 28, 2009 Author Share Posted January 28, 2009 Nah, I couldn't find anything about PhD public health programs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rutabaga Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 It looks like there are some PhD applicants on that board you linked to if you look in the main fall 09 applicant thread. Not really many admissions yet though for PhD's, and nothing that made me excited at least. I'm torn between JHU and UNC-CH as my top choice. Both because of one particular professor at the school I want to study with. Seriously though, I'm pretty sure that wherever I get in will pretty rapidly become my top choice just by way of rationalization. I'm really hoping to hear from JHU soon! I mean a good number of the MPH results are going out, so PhD can't be far behind! right?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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