PhD applicants: Fall 2018

[hccgrl]

Has anyone here applied to a program 2+ times? How did you go about contacting faculty for the second or third round?  Did you reach out to different ones? 

[FrozenFreshMeat]

26 minutes ago, hccgrl said:

Has anyone here applied to a program 2+ times? How did you go about contacting faculty for the second or third round?  Did you reach out to different ones? 

I was wait-listed by a professor at the 1st round and then rejected. I wrote an email afterwards indicating that I will apply again, and got a nice reply from him.

Then I contacted him in August inquiring about potential opportunity (basically money and whether he will accept new student), and learned in September that he didn't have funding. He suggested me to contact again in May.

I changed my field? So the rest is history. But I feel that it is a positive experience. I would recommend to keep contact with your POI if you've established good conversations. I feel professors tend to develop a preference for those who they are familiar with, which may greatly increase your chance of getting in. 

[gallimimus]

2 hours ago, hccgrl said:

Has anyone here applied to a program 2+ times? How did you go about contacting faculty for the second or third round?  Did you reach out to different ones? 

I haven't personally, but keep in mind that a lot of times, your POI(s) may not have been on the admissions committee, so they could still be open to having you as their student even if you were rejected. I think it would be worth it to reach out to the same POIs but broaden your scope a little in case what you hear back is negative. If you get a lukewarm response from the POIs you had previously been in touch with, I would think about considering entirely new POIs for your second application.

[2018HopesDwindling]

Anyone struggling to make a final decision? Anyone make a decision? Another form of anxiety, ugh

[hpm2018_1]

This is weird. I just got an email from NYU college of professional studies asking me to apply to their masters program in global affairs based on my test scores and applications.

i am still waiting to hear back on my doctoral application after this interview day, but this email seems like an implicit rejection

why make a sales pitch instead of directly rejecting. Anyone else in the same boat?

[pbcup]

5 hours ago, 2018HopesDwindling said:

Anyone struggling to make a final decision? Anyone make a decision? Another form of anxiety, ugh

I just made a spreadsheet with weights to help me figure out my decision 

Edited March 15, 2018 by pbcup

[ianmleavitt]

8 hours ago, 2018HopesDwindling said:

Anyone struggling to make a final decision? Anyone make a decision? Another form of anxiety, ugh

I have a spreadsheet with cost of living information for the two cities I could potentially live in, comparisons of classwork, financial packages, POIs, the whole works. But really, I'm just trusting my gut. Heart over head, which might be considered a bit strange for a scientist...

I've got an admitted students event at Harvard next week, and then I expect to make a decision within the following week. It's a different type of stress, I feel. There was the stress of getting applications in, then the stress of hearing back...now, it's just the decision. But it's positive stress, don't get me wrong!

[superlefty2]

17 hours ago, 2018HopesDwindling said:

Anyone struggling to make a final decision? Anyone make a decision? Another form of anxiety, ugh

Ugh yes.  I'm waiting to accept an offer at Tulane until they announce their funding awardees.  It would make things a lot less stressful if they just gave out the scholarships/funding with the acceptance letters.

 

How are you deciding?

[pkv]

Finally heard back from NYU (epi track): waitlisted after interviewing with them last month.

Congratulations to those who got in!

 

 

Edited March 15, 2018 by pkv

[hpm2018_1]

15 minutes ago, pkv said:

Finally heard back from NYU (epi track): waitlisted after interviewing with them last month.

Congratulations to those who got it!

 

 

Spoke to someone from the department. They basically haven’t rejected anyone. Made 6 offers and rest everyone interviewed is on the waitlist. They said it may go up to May, sometimes even June so it’s recommended that you don’t keep waiting.

[FrozenFreshMeat]

Still waiting to hear back from:

Michigan Epi, BU EH, Columbia EHS and Drexel Epi

Anyone on the same boat? Even a rejection will be a relief…and I'm prepared for rejections

[gallimimus]

20 minutes ago, FrozenFreshMeat said:

Still waiting to hear back from:

Michigan Epi, BU EH, Columbia EHS and Drexel Epi

Anyone on the same boat? Even a rejection will be a relief…and I'm prepared for rejections

I didn't apply to Columbia EHS but I actually work there! Basically, they have sent acceptances and are waiting to hear back from the applicants. I would say that if you haven't heard back, you are on the "unofficial wait list" i.e. the list of applicants they will admit as they hear back from students.

[pbcup]

50 minutes ago, pkv said:

Finally heard back from NYU (epi track): waitlisted after interviewing with them last month.

Congratulations to those who got in!

 

 

Did you get an email, or did they call?

[epi_phd2018]

30 minutes ago, FrozenFreshMeat said:

Still waiting to hear back from:

Michigan Epi, BU EH, Columbia EHS and Drexel Epi

Anyone on the same boat? Even a rejection will be a relief…and I'm prepared for rejections

I can't speak for the other programs, but I think Drexel's accepted students have received offers. Have you interviewed or did you attend the doctoral day? If not, you are either on the waitlist or rejected - although I don't know if people have received Drexel rejections and I think I may have saw some on the results page. I would try contacting the department (I think Mary is the name of the grad coordinator) and they might be able to give you more specific information. Good luck!!

[Guest]

34 minutes ago, FrozenFreshMeat said:

Still waiting to hear back from:

Michigan Epi, BU EH, Columbia EHS and Drexel Epi

Anyone on the same boat? Even a rejection will be a relief…and I'm prepared for rejections

Still waiting on Michigan HSOP  I feel your pain. Any idea when Michigan will officially notify every one of rejections and waitlists?

[FrozenFreshMeat]

12 minutes ago, epi_phd2018 said:

I can't speak for the other programs, but I think Drexel's accepted students have received offers. Have you interviewed or did you attend the doctoral day? If not, you are either on the waitlist or rejected - although I don't know if people have received Drexel rejections and I think I may have saw some on the results page. I would try contacting the department (I think Mary is the name of the grad coordinator) and they might be able to give you more specific information. Good luck!!

Thank you! I didn't attend their doctoral day but did interviewed with my POI. I guess I may follow up with my POI to see what's going on. Thank you!

 

26 minutes ago, gallimimus said:

I didn't apply to Columbia EHS but I actually work there! Basically, they have sent acceptances and are waiting to hear back from the applicants. I would say that if you haven't heard back, you are on the "unofficial wait list" i.e. the list of applicants they will admit as they hear back from students.

This is super helpful! Thank you!

[FrozenFreshMeat]

13 minutes ago, rosemary__ said:

Still waiting on Michigan HSOP  I feel your pain. Any idea when Michigan will officially notify every one of rejections and waitlists?

They said early March…and obviously they didn't ???

[KBA83]

6 hours ago, hpm2018_1 said:

Spoke to someone from the department. They basically haven’t rejected anyone. Made 6 offers and rest everyone interviewed is on the waitlist. They said it may go up to May, sometimes even June so it’s recommended that you don’t keep waiting.

Thanks for sharing the info. I haven't been accepted (with funding) anywhere yet, just hanging out in wait list purgatory til someone let's me in  Sounds like the wait list for NYU is pretty long, but you never know.  Maybe some of us will get lucky! 

[epiepiepi]

35 minutes ago, KBA83 said:

Thanks for sharing the info. I haven't been accepted (with funding) anywhere yet, just hanging out in wait list purgatory til someone let's me in  Sounds like the wait list for NYU is pretty long, but you never know.  Maybe some of us will get lucky! 

Hi! May I ask how you heard back (email, portal, phone call)? I interviewed but haven't heard back. 

[KBA83]

9 minutes ago, epiepiepi said:

Hi! May I ask how you heard back (email, portal, phone call)? I interviewed but haven't heard back. 

Hi! I received an email today. I applied to the health policy and management concentration. I'm not sure if they contact everyone at the same time, so it might be worth contacting them if you don't hear something in another day or two. I know the waiting is awful!

[hccgrl]

On 3/14/2018 at 12:55 PM, FrozenFreshMeat said:

I was wait-listed by a professor at the 1st round and then rejected. I wrote an email afterwards indicating that I will apply again, and got a nice reply from him.

Then I contacted him in August inquiring about potential opportunity (basically money and whether he will accept new student), and learned in September that he didn't have funding. He suggested me to contact again in May.

I changed my field? So the rest is history. But I feel that it is a positive experience. I would recommend to keep contact with your POI if you've established good conversations. I feel professors tend to develop a preference for those who they are familiar with, which may greatly increase your chance of getting in. 

Thanks for the insight! If I don't get accepted this cycle, I'll most likely apply to the same school but a different department.  There are a few faculty I'm in contact with currently, so I have options. 

 

On 3/14/2018 at 3:09 PM, gallimimus said:

I haven't personally, but keep in mind that a lot of times, your POI(s) may not have been on the admissions committee, so they could still be open to having you as their student even if you were rejected. I think it would be worth it to reach out to the same POIs but broaden your scope a little in case what you hear back is negative. If you get a lukewarm response from the POIs you had previously been in touch with, I would think about considering entirely new POIs for your second application.

Good point. And yea, ive realize that I need to broaden my scope a bit for next cycle (if that's the case). 

[epiepiepi]

 

10 minutes ago, KBA83 said:

Hi! I received an email today. I applied to the health policy and management concentration. I'm not sure if they contact everyone at the same time, so it might be worth contacting them if you don't hear something in another day or two. I know the waiting is awful!

Thank you! Yep, it's like a month away from April 15th and I haven't heard back yet from some. It's crazy! 

[hpm2018_1]

24 minutes ago, epiepiepi said:

Hi! May I ask how you heard back (email, portal, phone call)? I interviewed but haven't heard back. 

This may mean you’re accepted and they’re creating your funding package!

After this admissions cycle I have decided to be positive, until told otherwise! 

[pkv]

39 minutes ago, epiepiepi said:

Hi! May I ask how you heard back (email, portal, phone call)? I interviewed but haven't heard back. 

 

7 hours ago, pbcup said:

Did you get an email, or did they call?

 

I also got an email this morning (which at first glance looked personalized - then I noticed the "donotreply@..." email address). lol

 

I think students admitted last year got a call before receiving the official acceptance letter, so keep an eye on your phone.

[CatDog1122]

Is anyone considering a PhD without funding?