PhD in Public Health

[epidemiwhat]

Question-

How much contact have you have had with faculty at schools you applied to? Did you have a connection with a professor/faculty member at every school? Or were there any schools that you applied without any connections? Just curious what people's experiences have been like, or what your opinion is on that issue.

 

Good luck to all!

[mpheels]

Question-

How much contact have you have had with faculty at schools you applied to? Did you have a connection with a professor/faculty member at every school? Or were there any schools that you applied without any connections? Just curious what people's experiences have been like, or what your opinion is on that issue.

 

Good luck to all!

 

I only applied to three schools - UNC, JHSPH, and South Carolina. I did not make any contact with South Carolina before applying, and have been accepted. I spoke with the JHSPH health services research program director at APHA last fall, but nothing formal and I doubt she remembers me. I've been waitlisted at JHSPH (mostly due to funding, I think). I work for UNC, have worked with several health policy faculty members, and have taken health policy classes here. I asked an HPM professor to write a letter for me (she politely declined b/c she didn't rate me in the top 10% in the class, even though I ultimately received the UNC graduate equivalent of an A+). I did not speak with anyone else about my application. I haven't heard anything official from UNC, but I'm pretty sure I did not get in.

[Panache]

I spoke with individual faculty members who agreed to research with me at about half of the schools I applied to.

[carryon08]

Question-

How much contact have you have had with faculty at schools you applied to? Did you have a connection with a professor/faculty member at every school? Or were there any schools that you applied without any connections? Just curious what people's experiences have been like, or what your opinion is on that issue.

 

Good luck to all!

 

I applied to 6 schools total and reached out to faculty members at all 6. Some faculty were more responsive than others - some responded saying they don't talk with students until they are accecepted, while others were very helpful and encouraging. I had phone conversations with 1-2 faculty members at all but one school, and met with a couple of others if it was convenient. Unfortunately, many of the faculty whom I met with do not serve on the actual admissions committee, so it's hard to say how much it will help the admissions process - I just reached out to faculty with similar research interests. In retrospect, if I had more time, I would have visited more schools while applying to meet in person.

 

I didn't apply to the school where I received my MPH, nor do I currently work at a university, so I don't feel like I have any strong connections to faculty members at my schools.

 

Thus far, I've been waitlisted at Hopkins, had interviews with 2 others schools (have yet to hear back), didn't receive an interview at Harvard (assumed rejection), and the other two schools (NYU Wagner, GWU Trachtenberg) don't conduct interviews.

Edited February 19, 2013 by carryon08

[acdelco]

Yea I contacted faculty at all of the schools I applied to (about 7) and spoke with 1-2 faculty at all but 2 schools. Same as carryon08 I didn't apply to the school where I got my MPH so I didn't have significant ties to any school but I called around mainly to see if I was a good fit and get some more information about what they look for in students. If a faculty person I spoke to wasn't on the admissions committee they would often give me the contact information of someone who was--which is helpful if you have some admissions questions and they tend to be pretty honest about how the application process works. 

[mmajum01]

Question-

How much contact have you have had with faculty at schools you applied to? Did you have a connection with a professor/faculty member at every school? Or were there any schools that you applied without any connections? Just curious what people's experiences have been like, or what your opinion is on that issue.

 

Good luck to all!

Like many on this forum, I contacted at least one tenure-track or tenured faculty at every program. (Essentially, I only contacted individuals who had the money and professional incentive to fully-fund a doctoral student.) I got in touch with POIs as early as a year ago. I emailed 4-5 faculty with similar research interests at each program, and typically 1-2 would be excited about collaborating and taking me on as a doctoral student. I had extensive phone and in-person conversations with 4 faculty from 4 of my 6 programs and email conversations only with the remaining 2. Of the 4, one of them is my to-be advisor at Columbia.

 

I may be the kind of person who "over-prepares", but I think this sort of personal communication - when done effectively - really helps a student get his or her foot in the door. I knew I had a very strong application, but I didn't want to take the risk of getting lost in the shuffle. Just one person's opinion though!

[VBD]

If there's other EHE applicants to JHSPH, they plan to have decisions posted on applyyourself hopefully within the end of this week. Thanks to everyone who gave me advice on contacting programs. The other programs I'm waiting for emails/calls back, JHU was just the first to respond (wow, super fast, and extremely nice!). Interviews were held in early Feb though, so I won't hold my breath since I didn't get invited then. *laughs* My anxiety just shot straight up now though >.< Be still you stupid heart..

 

Epidemiwhat, to answer your question. I sent an email to around one or two or most of the time a third faculty member at each of the schools I applied. If I could not even come up with a second faculty of interest, I did not apply for the program. Most of them were three, except for the two schools I presumed rejected me (invites for interviews already sent out, etc.) and for good reason, I probably wasn't a good fit. At four schools, I engaged in a phone chat with a faculty member (one school had two faculty members double-team call me) of interest (usually at their suggestion too), for one school I exchanged about 4-5 emails back and forth discussing potential projects with a POI (Side note: this particular application ended in a rejection, but the POI gave me best wishes, so I assume he "went to bat for me" as best he could ). My alma mater has no PhD program in the area I want, so I did not apply there. I had no specific tie to any of the schools I applied to, so each contact was what they call a "cold call/email." Also I have to note that I think you should always contact if you are truly interested in the program. You're gonna spend a good chunk of your life in the program, so you better make sure you get all your questions answered, have a likeable enough potential advisor, etc.

 

Then you pray to the grad school gods.

Edited February 19, 2013 by VBD

[mmajum01]

If there's other EHE applicants to JHSPH, they plan to have decisions posted on applyyourself hopefully within the end of this week. Thanks to everyone who gave me advice on contacting programs. The other programs I'm waiting for emails/calls back, JHU was just the first to respond (wow, super fast, and extremely nice!). Interviews were held in early Feb though, so I won't hold my breath since I didn't get invited then. *laughs* My anxiety just shot straight up now though >.< Be still you stupid heart..

 

Epidemiwhat, to answer your question. I sent an email to around one or two or most of the time a third faculty member at each of the schools I applied. If I could not even come up with a second faculty of interest, I did not apply for the program. Most of them were three, except for the two schools I presumed rejected me (invites for interviews already sent out, etc.) and for good reason, I probably wasn't a good fit. At four schools, I engaged in a phone chat with a faculty member (one school had two faculty members double-team call me) of interest (usually at their suggestion too), for one school I exchanged about 4-5 emails back and forth discussing potential projects with a POI (Side note: this particular application ended in a rejection, but the POI gave me best wishes, so I assume he "went to bat for me" as best he could ). My alma mater has no PhD program in the area I want, so I did not apply there. I had no specific tie to any of the schools I applied to, so each contact was what they call a "cold call/email." Also I have to note that I think you should always contact if you are truly interested in the program. You're gonna spend a good chunk of your life in the program, so you better make sure you get all your questions answered, have a likeable enough potential advisor, etc.

 

Then you pray to the grad school gods.

Don't worry too much about JHSPH EHE, VBD!!! At least you have one acceptance, right?

[jordanhina]

Question-

How much contact have you have had with faculty at schools you applied to? Did you have a connection with a professor/faculty member at every school? Or were there any schools that you applied without any connections? Just curious what people's experiences have been like, or what your opinion is on that issue.

 

Good luck to all!

 

I talked with one professor at Michigan, briefly. Harvard I was only applying to the MS, so I emailed back and forth with a few people and asked my boss, a grad of the program, to speak with her contacts there on my behalf. I lucked out in that at Wisconsin, a dean within Pop Health is an family friend who has known me for a long time, and worked with me in a professional setting as well - I emailed a bit with him and the program coordinator when I was applying. For Minnesota, I spoke with two professors, one of whom is the head of the department I was interested in. I also stayed in touch with them via email - dropping them a quick note to say I had finalized my application and was looking forward to the decision, or that I had noticed an article published in their area of interest, or read a recent publication of their own. I also attended multiple virtual forums hosted by the school, interacting with the program coordinator and admissions people from my program quite frequently. No big shocker - I've been accepted to Wisconsin and Minnesota, and am still waiting on the others!

[Panache]

Ugh, This waiting game sucks!

 

Has anyone heard anything from Johns Hopkins HBS program yet? Or how about Columbia?

[aapril]

Ugh, This waiting game sucks!

 

Has anyone heard anything from Johns Hopkins HBS program yet? Or how about Columbia?

 

I second that waiting stinks!

For Columbia, I think we'll hear by early March.

[mpheels]

I had an aha moment this morning while watching the news... We're all mostly relying on federal research and/or training grants to pay for our tuition and stipends. Most of that funding is currently on the chopping block with the sequestration. Next Friday is the deadline for sorting out the federal budget. I have a feeling some programs are trying to delay some decisions until they have a better sense of funding (which is pretty much what JHSPH told me about my spot on the waitlist).

 

I really don't know why my brain is just now processing that. We've been on edge about grant funding in my research group for months, and have been worried about the sequestration.

[VBD]

artfully displayed here (credit to PhD comics): 

So if NIH and NSF and FDA, etc. loses money, gone is also the money for external funding/fellowship/traineeships, etc. for grad students? Lovely. The fact that this is in the control of uncaring and (for some) uneducated congress(wo)men in DC, just peachy.

(note:sarcasm)

Also, mmajum, thanks for the reminder, sometimes that one acceptance seems unreal.  XD

Edited February 20, 2013 by VBD

[Panache]

I imagine some of that is true regarding funding from coffers that may be cut off by the sequestration. However, I am pretty sure that some schools such as Hopkins HBS makes admissions decisions separate from funding decisions.

 

It will be pretty crappy either way though if many of these schools lose funding.

[mpheels]

Yeah, it really depends on the school if they tie admissions to funding. I know UNC does not tie the two. They admit you and might offer a scholarship or fellowship. Students are more or less on their own when it comes to finding a research assistantship (which by definition covers tuition at UNC). On the other hand. JHSPH made it pretty clear that they only admit as many people as they can fund.

 

We just received the second year of funding for an R01, and it was cut by 10% (on top of the 17% cut at the time of the funding decision). We also only received the first 6 months of funds because the NIH can't be sure they'll have the money for the second half of the year. That grant does pay tuiton/fees, health insurance, and a stipend for a graduate student. If we don't get the second 6 months of funding, her assistantship won't exist anymore.

 

So I'm pretty sure the sequestration is behind some of the delays in admission decisions, and also may lead some schools to admit fewer students this year. Sigh.

[mmajum01]

With all this talk of funding cuts, I'm starting to feel even more blessed to have a fully-funded offer... Yikes.

[acdelco]

has anyone heard from UCLA's CHS PhD program I saw an acceptance for the DrPH program and thought maybe the dept would be rolling out decisions

[juliajulia1020]

has anyone heard from UCLA's CHS PhD program I saw an acceptance for the DrPH program and thought maybe the dept would be rolling out decisions

I had an interview with them. The result will come out either this week or the next one. 

[acdelco]

thanks juliajulia hopefully its this week (and good news!)

[Panache]

Let's get this show on the road! 

[loganartemis]

With all this talk of funding cuts, I'm starting to feel even more blessed to have a fully-funded offer... Yikes.

mmajum01- I noticed you up-voted your own post in order to balance the down-votes of myself and Burkis. I think that action speaks for itself so I won't get into the ethics of it, but I do want to let you know why I down-voted it in the first place since it clearly bothered you. It is evident from your posts that you believe you are a very qualified individual. Seeing that others in this forum have been posting for weeks how much anxiety they are having about getting an acceptance and recent posts about funding cuts due to sequestration magnified this tension, I found it vainglorious and insensitive that you felt the need to publicly remind us that you have a fully-funded offer from your top choice, if I recall correctly. 

[mpheels]

So I finally broke down and emailed UNC to ask about my application. That tiny sliver of hope was driving me nuts, and I really just needed to move on and make plans to visit South Carolina (and hopefully Hopkins) in the next 4-6 weeks. The admissions coordinator replied within 5 minutes and I now officially know that I did not get in to UNC.

[juliajulia1020]

Why so many people get their admission results from checking websites. Which websites are we supposed to check about the result? I have no idea.

[mpheels]

Why so many people get their admission results from checking websites. Which websites are we supposed to check about the result? I have no idea.

I assume they are checking the application website. That's how I initially found out about my JHSPH waitlist status. I randomly checked the applyyourself page, and the notificaiton was there.

[loganartemis]

Why so many people get their admission results from checking websites. Which websites are we supposed to check about the result? I have no idea.

Yeah it's odd how certain programs have websites that allow you to check your application status while others do not. Among my schools, the ones that used SOPHAS did not have anything that I could check, while the others did.