PhD applicants: Fall 2018

[Chengjianning]

6 hours ago, FrozenFreshMeat said:

Thank you!! Called them yesterday and confirmed that there is a funding package.

I am now more towards Harvard ????

 

OMG 2days left!!

Congratulations! Guo ran hai shi hui qu ha fu a!

[pkv]

Just officially declined Hopkins' offer (HBS).

Best of luck for people on the waitlist!

 

[epiepiepi]

I just turned down NYU CGPH's offer.

Good luck to people on the waitlist!

[hpm2018_1]

2 hours ago, pkv said:

Just officially declined Hopkins' offer (HBS).

Best of luck for people on the waitlist!

 

Congrats on making a decision

where are you joining?

[pkv]

24 minutes ago, hpm2018_1 said:

Congrats on making a decision

where are you joining?

Brown.

[FrozenFreshMeat]

11 hours ago, Chengjianning said:

Congratulations! Guo ran hai shi hui qu ha fu a!

Hahaha yes finally decided to attend Harvard???

Declined offer from USC. I went to their visiting day and really like the program (decision was hard). If you have any question, PM me ;p

[hpm2018]

Last day: UNC vs. Minnesota for Health Policy PhD?

[storm_jonas]

Just a general note for future readers: After talking with my mentor at UNC Epidemiology we were able to secure a full funding package for the first year. This was what I was led to expect from current students at UNC. Once you accept, the faculty work with you to get a full package together. It's piece-meal and you'll have to figure it out every year, but it does seem like they're able to figure it all out.

[gallimimus]

I was just accepted into Pitt's EOH PhD program. It was one of my top 2-3 choices going into the application season, but obviously since it is after April 15th, I had already accepted another offer. My question is: how seriously should I consider this offer? 

[eek_]

12 hours ago, gallimimus said:

I was just accepted into Pitt's EOH PhD program. It was one of my top 2-3 choices going into the application season, but obviously since it is after April 15th, I had already accepted another offer. My question is: how seriously should I consider this offer? 

Where are you going to grow the most and be happiest in the next 4 or so years? if the answer is UPitt, go. You are allowed to choose what is the best option for you-even after April 15th. 

[hccgrl]

Has anyone heard nothing from programs they've applied to?

[MarylandGirl]

2 hours ago, hccgrl said:

Has anyone heard nothing from programs they've applied to?

I responded to you over PM, but thought I'd respond here for others reading. I just got invited to interview today after dead silence for over 4 months. I'm guessing I was unofficially waitlisted? (Unofficially in the sense that they didn't tell me.) I'm guessing that could be the case for other schools, too--If someone didn't give their decision till 4/15, then slots might now be open.

[hpm2018_1]

People waitlisted by NYU CGPH - has anyone heard back?

Edited April 18, 2018 by hpm2018_1

[epi_phd2018]

Saw a UGA applicant on the survey/results page asking about a decision because they haven't heard. I reached out (much earlier on) to the grad school and was told I am essentially waitlisted. My application has not been updated since I submitted it and still says "decision pending." I have accepted another offer to a better school, but I wish you luck!!

To be honest, the lack of communication with UGA has been really disheartening. You should tell your applicants if they are waitlisted! Plus, when I reached out earlier and they told me I was "on the list of qualified applicants" or whatever, they also told me I shouldn't be pressured by other schools to accept scholarships or because it is not what an accredited, upstanding school would do. Meanwhile...they haven't told me anything.

Anyway, best of luck to you!!! If UGA is what you want, I really really hope you get it!!!

[xoxo123]

Has anyone gotten off the waitlist at Hopkins Intl Health or otherwise?

[ghint]

On 4/22/2018 at 3:16 PM, xoxo123 said:

Has anyone gotten off the waitlist at Hopkins Intl Health or otherwise?

I applied to Intl Health-Health Systems track and got rejected a few weeks back. They have updated the status on the portal. You might want to check that!

[ghint]

I am an international student and got an offer from UCSD-SDSU joint doctoral program- with a non-residential tuition waiver. Anyone has any idea if this is separate from the basic tuition fees? Or does it cover everything? Thank you!

[PhMe]

On 4/22/2018 at 3:16 PM, xoxo123 said:

Has anyone gotten off the waitlist at Hopkins Intl Health or otherwise?

Yup, was offered admission about 3 weeks ago, and declined the offer about 2 weeks ago. The funding wasnt great.

[epi_2018]

Congrats to everyone accepted this year! As someone applying for next year, do you guys have any general recommendations to prepare my application? How many people identify and communicated with professors before applying? Thanks!

[ianmleavitt]

3 hours ago, epi_2018 said:

Congrats to everyone accepted this year! As someone applying for next year, do you guys have any general recommendations to prepare my application? How many people identify and communicated with professors before applying? Thanks!

I think it's vitally important to contact professors before applying; they can provide information on if they are taking on new students, have suggestions for other professors at the university you may want to work with based on your research interests that you might have overlooked, and be able to provide general information on the program that could help you choose whether to apply or not.

In preparing your application, spend plenty of time on your statement of purpose. Write it, rewrite it. Get plenty of sets of eyes on it; I had both people within the field and friends not very familiar with public health research take a look at what I wrote and suggest edits. 

[gallimimus]

13 hours ago, ianmleavitt said:

In preparing your application, spend plenty of time on your statement of purpose. Write it, rewrite it

I second this! I agonized over mine for months and it was totally worth it when several people I met with on the interview day for the school I eventually chose commented on how much they liked my SOP and how well written it was. Your grades, your CV, and to some extent your GRE scores are things you can't really change, but the SOP is the only part of the application you have complete control over. A PhD is such a significant undertaking as opposed to a master's and the admissions committee really needs to get the sense that you're passionate and driven enough to handle it. I know some people pay for professional editing, which may be worth it in some cases (especially if English is not a strong language for you) but I didn't feel like that was necessary and I didn't want my voice to get drowned out. Definitely get several people to take a look at it, and take their considerations seriously, but keep in mind what angle they're coming from. I had a friend of mine who recently successfully applied to PhD programs in clinical psych read mine and she was really helpful in assessing the structure and the voice, but obviously couldn't really speak to my research area. My current boss read it and has experience in admissions on the master's level in my field which was great, and I didn't apply to this university so there was no conflict of interest or anything there. And then finally, my mom read it and thought it was perfect (not helpful, but a great mood booster in the middle of a stressful time).

[Epi_2019]

23 hours ago, epi_2018 said:

Congrats to everyone accepted this year! As someone applying for next year, do you guys have any general recommendations to prepare my application? How many people identify and communicated with professors before applying? Thanks!

Same here! 

[pkv]

On 4/25/2018 at 4:10 PM, epi_2018 said:

Congrats to everyone accepted this year! As someone applying for next year, do you guys have any general recommendations to prepare my application? How many people identify and communicated with professors before applying? Thanks!

I also think it is important to identify professors who work with methods/populations/questions you'd like to research and talk to them. I think it's important to learn about the projects they're currently working on and about the work of other faculty members at the school. This will help you see you're a good fit for the program.

These talks also helped me a lot with my statement of purpose. Not only can you tailor it to the specific program you're applying to/professor you're citing in your essay, they also helped me figure out the best way to frame my research interests and how my CV relates to all that. So while it is good to start writing your statement soon in the process, I would also recommend keeping your mind open and not being afraid to change your statement (maybe substantially) during the application process. 

One thing I would say about talking to professors, though, is that quality is more important than quantity.

I talked to a lot of people, and some of these talks didn't help me at all. One or two might have even decreased my chances of getting accepted, actually (lol). So spend some time looking up the professors you'll get in touch with. Don't contact people just for the sake of talking to someone at the school you're applying to. If you're not ready to have a meaningful conversation about how their research interests relates to yours and don't have any other good reason to contact these people, look them up first. My successful conversations were with people whose work I knew well or people whom had been recommended by professors I know well.

[epi_2018]

Thanks so much - this is really helpful. How specific did you all go into the research you wanted to do? I know it's important to have a clear vision, but also don't want to get overly specific to avoid becoming too narrow to match with faculty. 

On 4/25/2018 at 8:06 PM, ianmleavitt said:

I think it's vitally important to contact professors before applying; they can provide information on if they are taking on new students, have suggestions for other professors at the university you may want to work with based on your research interests that you might have overlooked, and be able to provide general information on the program that could help you choose whether to apply or not.

In preparing your application, spend plenty of time on your statement of purpose. Write it, rewrite it. Get plenty of sets of eyes on it; I had both people within the field and friends not very familiar with public health research take a look at what I wrote and suggest edits. 

 

[FrozenFreshMeat]

12 hours ago, epi_2018 said:

Thanks so much - this is really helpful. How specific did you all go into the research you wanted to do? I know it's important to have a clear vision, but also don't want to get overly specific to avoid becoming too narrow to match with faculty. 

 

This is interesting. I asked a professor in my masters program and he suggested that he would not prefer PhD applicants to have a very specific idea. (It was a program with rotation in the first 2 yrs). The reason is that he found that those came in with specific things always changed their focus. Also he is willing to work with students who are more flexible with their research plans.

However, when I consulted my resommenders this year, they suggested me to narrow it down on my SOP. So I did it and got good attentions from POIs - really good conversations during interviews with them (even research plans). Despite that, I didn't get in to ANY of those programs ???

The two programs who offered me admission at the end: one actually didn't emphasis "matchness" at all,  the other is the one that I submitted a SOP with a board idea (I wrote individualized SOPs).

That's why I feel it interesting: at the end after all the preparations, we just need a bit of luck…