PhD applicants: Fall 2018

[ianmleavitt]

11 hours ago, tbb_2018 said:

Hi,

I understand Harvard's admitted students' day is today(?). Would anyone attending be willing to share her/his impressions? Am interested in their PHS (Global Health / Health Systems track). Would be much appreciated. Thanks! 

 

Hey there! It was actually a two day event, both yesterday and today. My overall impression was quite positive; one of the best pieces was seeing how the different concentrations all mesh with each other and build off of one another's ideas. This was even evident in the admitted students! I'm in the SBS concentration, but I was finding plenty of research similarities with other students in Nutrition and Epidemiology especially. It's definitely valuable to know that I could jive well with both the current and admitted students.

As for the faculty and staff, they were nothing short of wonderful. Obviously, this is an event where they are putting on their best show, but you could still tell that the underlying vibe was genuine. They were very open in fully explaining curriculum during the first semester (being that it is pretty much set in stone aside from one class), the financial package, life in Boston, and everything else that people had questions on.

The biggest thing they drove home was the notion of impostor syndrome; that some of us might feel as if we don't belong because it is Harvard. And you know, they were very good about not only making us feel welcome, but also showing that each and every one of us did belong.

Let me know if you have further questions!

[tbb_2018]

11 hours ago, ianmleavitt said:

Hey there! It was actually a two day event, both yesterday and today. My overall impression was quite positive; one of the best pieces was seeing how the different concentrations all mesh with each other and build off of one another's ideas. This was even evident in the admitted students! I'm in the SBS concentration, but I was finding plenty of research similarities with other students in Nutrition and Epidemiology especially. It's definitely valuable to know that I could jive well with both the current and admitted students.

As for the faculty and staff, they were nothing short of wonderful. Obviously, this is an event where they are putting on their best show, but you could still tell that the underlying vibe was genuine. They were very open in fully explaining curriculum during the first semester (being that it is pretty much set in stone aside from one class), the financial package, life in Boston, and everything else that people had questions on.

The biggest thing they drove home was the notion of impostor syndrome; that some of us might feel as if we don't belong because it is Harvard. And you know, they were very good about not only making us feel welcome, but also showing that each and every one of us did belong.

Let me know if you have further questions!

Thank you so much! This is really helpful. I would also be quite keen to know about their award package (~34k?), advising from second/third year on wards (for e.g., the extent to which professors are available throughout the year for one-to-one advising, is there an institutionalized set up for regular check in? or its entirely dependent on the advisees? etc.) . Thanks, again, and congratulations! 

[eek_]

I just got an offer of admission to Johns Hopkins!

[storm_jonas]

34 minutes ago, eek_ said:

I just got an offer of admission to Johns Hopkins!

Congrats! Glad to see some movement and decisions being made.

[light10491]

3 hours ago, eek_ said:

I just got an offer of admission to Johns Hopkins!

For Epi?

[xoxo123]

 

9 hours ago, eek_ said:

I just got an offer of admission to Johns Hopkins!

Congratulations! Were you initially waitlisted? What track did you apply to? 

[eek_]

12 hours ago, light10491 said:

For Epi?

No EHS

[eek_]

7 hours ago, xoxo123 said:

 

Congratulations! Were you initially waitlisted? What track did you apply to? 

Nope. Not waitlisted. EHS.

[epi_aspire]

Did anyone attend Columbia Epi's accepted Student's Day last Friday? I wasn't able to make it but would love to hear your thoughts on the program and your experience. Thanks!

[FrozenFreshMeat]

16 hours ago, eek_ said:

I just got an offer of admission to Johns Hopkins!

So happy for you!! You rock!

[light10491]

52 minutes ago, hpm2018_1 said:

I got in too! I was waitlisted earlier But no word on funding. Did you hear anything about funding?

Was this for Health Services Research?

[eek_]

3 hours ago, hpm2018_1 said:

I got in too! I was waitlisted earlier But no word on funding. Did you hear anything about funding?

Yes-full funding. Are you HPM though? Might be different department by department?

[HopefulHPM2018]

17 hours ago, eek_ said:

Yes-full funding. Are you HPM though? Might be different department by department?

May I ask if the stipend includes summer or is only 10 months? I’m trying to get an idea of what is typical for phd stipends in public health. I have one stipend that is more but is over the whole year and another that is only 10 months but would be more if I included working a summer internship or whatnot. 

[hccgrl]

It's been a week now since my interview and I have heard aboslutely nothing from them. Going nuts over here! 

[seixas_ph]

Hi guys,  I am new here.

Got acceptance at UCLA for the PhD in Health Policy and Management and at UBC for Public Health with concentration in health economics. 

Has anyone applied for Health Policy at UC Berkeley? Radio silence from them so far...  

I am certainly moving to the US, but depending on Berkeley response to figure out my actual university. 

Thanks! 

[light10491]

22 minutes ago, seixas_ph said:

Hi guys,  I am new here.

Got acceptance at UCLA for the PhD in Health Policy and Management and at UBC for Public Health with concentration in health economics. 

Has anyone applied for Health Policy at UC Berkeley? Radio silence from them so far...  

I am certainly moving to the US, but depending on Berkeley response to figure out my actual university. 

Thanks! 

Got rejected from UC Berkeley. You should check in with them in case you haven't heard back yet. Heard they had huge funding issues this year like Michigan. But think UC Berkeley was a lot smarter than Michigan, and waited to admit people based on funding. Michigan accepted a bunch of people and then told them "actually nevermind we don't want you" because funding was only enough for a few. Michigan didn't get their AHRQ grant renewed, so they're going to have very low funding available to their PhD students for the upcoming 4 years, which was upsetting to hear. Good luck!

Edited March 29, 2018 by light10491

[seixas_ph]

Yeah, things are really weird in the US. 

I was accepted at UBC in Vancouver with full tuition covered and $30K for four years, without the need of RAship or TAship, which can obviously occur as a plus.
On the other hand, UCLA offered a very modest financial package, with some stipend for the first two years and only a promise of RA and TA for the third and fourth years. 
People here in Canada do not believe that a university as big as UCLA cannot offer a better financial package for their PhD students. 

But, regarding UC Berkeley, did you apply for Health Policy? 
When did they send you an email? 
I called them on Monday and they said they would be releasing the admission results this week. Apparently this week is over, tomorrow is a statutory holiday, so  
It is the only department that hasn't contacted me yet at all. This is really frustrating.
The deadline for making a decision is coming soon...

Thanks! And good luck on your applications. 

[eek_]

12 hours ago, HopefulHPM2018 said:

May I ask if the stipend includes summer or is only 10 months? I’m trying to get an idea of what is typical for phd stipends in public health. I have one stipend that is more but is over the whole year and another that is only 10 months but would be more if I included working a summer internship or whatnot. 

I think PhD stipends in general for public health are going to fall somewhere between high teens to 40K depending on where the school is located. I.E. Columbia offers at 39K stipend. I doubt the University of Iowa would give you much more than 20K given the cost of living is so low (but just a guess!). At Hopkins the stipend was offered as an annual amount I believe.

 

Edited March 30, 2018 by eek_

[light10491]

On 3/29/2018 at 10:12 PM, eek_ said:

I think PhD stipends in general for public health are going to fall somewhere between high teens to 40K depending on where the school is located. I.E. Columbia offers at 39K stipend. I doubt the University of Iowa would give you much more than 20K given the cost of living is so low (but just a guess!). At Hopkins the stipend was offered as an annual amount I believe.

 

Make sure they hard guarantee the funding too. Michigan has had funding issues this year, which culminated in their withdrawing offers to some accepted students. Their AHRQ grant renewal value was lower than expected because their grading relative to their peers dropped a good amount. It is possible that those who have a first year package there may end up with underfunding or funding problems in the later years. Try to get the details to avoid any surprises that they may not be directly telling you.

Edited April 1, 2018 by light10491

[pusheen323]

17 hours ago, light10491 said:

Make sure they hard guarantee the funding too. Michigan has had funding issues this year, which culminated in their withdrawing offers to some accepted students. Their AHRQ grant renewal value was lower than expected because their grading relative to their peers dropped a good amount. It is possible that those who have a first year package there may end up with underfunding or funding problems in the later years. Try to get the details to avoid any surprises that they may not be directly telling you.

I tried to get the details from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and they just keep saying that they’re not sure and there’s no concrete gauranteed funding and that it’s the student’s responsibility to find funding as a TA/RA every semester. I think that this is insane for a PhD program at a top American institution, but I am starting to get the feeling that this is what happens with PhDs in public health fields...it sucks. 

[eek_]

On 3/31/2018 at 9:39 PM, light10491 said:

Make sure they hard guarantee the funding too. Michigan has had funding issues this year, which culminated in their withdrawing offers to some accepted students. Their AHRQ grant renewal value was lower than expected because their grading relative to their peers dropped a good amount. It is possible that those who have a first year package there may end up with underfunding or funding problems in the later years. Try to get the details to avoid any surprises that they may not be directly telling you.

Thanks! Sorry I should have specified that the funding is guaranteed for the extent of my studies, up to 5 years. I think they do annual amounts based on cost of living adjustments.

[ianmleavitt]

Has anyone else committed yet? I committed to Harvard on Friday and it felt so good to sign off on the paperwork!

[storm_jonas]

I’m going to commit to UNC!

[eek_]

Hopkins

[eeeeerin89]

I committed to UW’s global health metrics program. So pumped. Now to get ready to move across the country...