PhD applicants: Fall 2018

[pusheen323]

Hello, I’m new here. I’ve been admitted to the MSPH/PHD in Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I have a question regarding their funding procedures. I’ve spoken to the program manager and my assigned advisor and they have both independently said that the concrete funding details and guarantees of funding don’t usually happen until after the enrollment deposit deadline and potentially even until the summer. They both said that, historically, the funding has almost always come through and people who want funding get it and that, at minimum, I should get an RA or TA (even though my assigned advisor doesn’t have any available spots for one in the Fall) and that one may also get a training grant or fellowship. However, I am still hesitant to accept my admissions offer without having anything “on paper”. I just don’t want to get screwed once I get there. Does anyone else have any insight into this or any advice? Thanks!

[hpm2018_1]

15 hours ago, Pennk said:

I'm out at NYU (whatever the general public health thread was).  That's my application cycle done-zo!  I'm in at 3 out of the 8 schools I applied for.  One with guaranteed funding and two with funding I am waiting to hear back about!

1. U of Memphis - full funding for 3 years

2. U of Wisconsin-Milwaukee - interviewed for funding for first year

3. UT Health - I applied for a fellowship that would cover 4 years

Congratulations on the acceptances! Memphis is a good school and a musical city so yay!

Did you post the rejection for NYU on the portal? Did you interview with them?

[00ber]

9 hours ago, pusheen323 said:

Hello, I’m new here. I’ve been admitted to the MSPH/PHD in Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I have a question regarding their funding procedures. I’ve spoken to the program manager and my assigned advisor and they have both independently said that the concrete funding details and guarantees of funding don’t usually happen until after the enrollment deposit deadline and potentially even until the summer. They both said that, historically, the funding has almost always come through and people who want funding get it and that, at minimum, I should get an RA or TA (even though my assigned advisor doesn’t have any available spots for one in the Fall) and that one may also get a training grant or fellowship. However, I am still hesitant to accept my admissions offer without having anything “on paper”. I just don’t want to get screwed once I get there. Does anyone else have any insight into this or any advice? Thanks!

I'm also in at UNC Chapel Hill for PhD and I have some of the same apprehensions as you. I have spoken to current/former students and they have assured me exactly what your advisor has told you. So my sense is that they really do make it work to provide everyone with some sort of funding. Are you an international student? I've heard it can be a little more tricky for international students because there are certain fellowships/training grants that they can't apply for. 

[00ber]

18 hours ago, gallimimus said:

I contacted the schools I am no longer considering to let them know I wouldn't be attending. I got an email from one of the department chairs basically asking why I chose the program I did and what their program could have done to be more attractive.

Has anyone else received an email like this? Any advice on responding? I don't want to sound rude, but essentially this program was one of my safeties. It's near where my parents live so I also considered it a sort of "geographical" safety, as in I could live at home for cheap/free if funding wasn't great.

I haven't experienced this, but I think you should just be honest. They are asking because they want to improve their recruitment the next time around. It's not personal, they'd just like to learn more about prospective students' decision processes.

[Pennk]

5 hours ago, hpm2018_1 said:

Congratulations on the acceptances! Memphis is a good school and a musical city so yay!

Did you post the rejection for NYU on the portal? Did you interview with them?

Yep, I posted the rejection on the results page.  And no I did not interview with them.

[storm_jonas]

1 hour ago, 00ber said:

I'm also in at UNC Chapel Hill for PhD and I have some of the same apprehensions as you. I have spoken to current/former students and they have assured me exactly what your advisor has told you. So my sense is that they really do make it work to provide everyone with some sort of funding. Are you an international student? I've heard it can be a little more tricky for international students because there are certain fellowships/training grants that they can't apply for. 

Looking through the Fall PhD threads for the past two years, it seems like "things will work out" is a theme with UNC. UNC is my top choice so after I get a chance to visit and talk to some students I'll probably go ahead and accept and hope that the funding works out. I'll update the thread on how that goes for future forum viewers.

[pusheen323]

2 hours ago, 00ber said:

I'm also in at UNC Chapel Hill for PhD and I have some of the same apprehensions as you. I have spoken to current/former students and they have assured me exactly what your advisor has told you. So my sense is that they really do make it work to provide everyone with some sort of funding. Are you an international student? I've heard it can be a little more tricky for international students because there are certain fellowships/training grants that they can't apply for. 

Thanks for the reply! No, I am not an international student, but I am out-of-state. Do you trust them that we would get funding?

[pusheen323]

22 minutes ago, storm_jonas said:

Looking through the Fall PhD threads for the past two years, it seems like "things will work out" is a theme with UNC. UNC is my top choice so after I get a chance to visit and talk to some students I'll probably go ahead and accept and hope that the funding works out. I'll update the thread on how that goes for future forum viewers.

But doesn’t it seem odd that the funding wouldn’t be figured out or gauranteed before the enrollment deposit deadline? Like how would people be able to compare admissions offers without knowing their funding situation? Or what if someone was completely dependent on getting funding and without it they would be screwed? I am still planning on accepting my admissions offer from them, but I just think that these funding procedures are odd and kind of unjust. 

[FrozenFreshMeat]

Still radio scilence from four programs…but confirmed that all their acceptances have been sent out. Should I go ahead and commit to the program that admitted me, or wait until 11:59pm April 15th? My anxiety is about to explode?

[pbcup]

3 hours ago, pusheen323 said:

But doesn’t it seem odd that the funding wouldn’t be figured out or gauranteed before the enrollment deposit deadline? Like how would people be able to compare admissions offers without knowing their funding situation? Or what if someone was completely dependent on getting funding and without it they would be screwed? I am still planning on accepting my admissions offer from them, but I just think that these funding procedures are odd and kind of unjust. 

I also got into UNC, and just by looking at the number of professors/how large the school is - I think you'll be able to get an RA/TAship somewhere for your 4 years there. But yeah, UNC is too good of a school not to guaranteed any funding... Getting training grants would be substantially better though, because the stipend for RA/TAs are so tiny (7.8k per semester). I'm sure Chapel-Hill is cheap, but isn't that too tight for any place? :/

[pusheen323]

37 minutes ago, pbcup said:

I also got into UNC, and just by looking at the number of professors/how large the school is - I think you'll be able to get an RA/TAship somewhere for your 4 years there. But yeah, UNC is too good of a school not to guaranteed any funding... Getting training grants would be substantially better though, because the stipend for RA/TAs are so tiny (7.8k per semester). I'm sure Chapel-Hill is cheap, but isn't that too tight for any place? :/

Yeah, the program manager and my advisor both said that almost everyone who wants funding gets it, but that is still only a verbal, ungauranteed promise. UNC is such a great university with a wonderful Epi Ph.D. program, so I don’t get it either. I applied for the training grant and I really really want it, but I believe only about 4 slots are selected for each one and you are competing against all the students who have already been there for a while. And, yes, the stipend for the RA/TA would not be enough to cover my housing, living expenses, fees, books, etc. I’m still very dead-set on UNC since it’s the only doctorate program I was admitted to (the rest were Master’s) and I really like the faculty research work there and the living area. Also, ill keep trying to secure an RA/TA position, but I just think their procedure/situation is ridiculous. 

Edited March 20, 2018 by pusheen323

[Guest]

2 hours ago, pusheen323 said:

Yeah, the program manager and my advisor both said that almost everyone who wants funding gets it, but that is still only a verbal, ungauranteed promise. UNC is such a great university with a wonderful Epi Ph.D. program, so I don’t get it either. I applied for the training grant and I really really want it, but I believe only about 4 slots are selected for each one and you are competing against all the students who have already been there for a while. And, yes, the stipend for the RA/TA would not be enough to cover my housing, living expenses, fees, books, etc. I’m still very dead-set on UNC since it’s the only doctorate program I was admitted to (the rest were Master’s) and I really like the faculty research work there and the living area. Also, ill keep trying to secure an RA/TA position, but I just think their procedure/situation is ridiculous. 

This is how I feel about UW... except they told me outright that I need to talk my way into an RA/TA ship with someone who has funding.

[pusheen323]

28 minutes ago, rosemary__ said:

This is how I feel about UW... except they told me outright that I need to talk my way into an RA/TA ship with someone who has funding.

I honestly think it’s going to be the same for me at UNC. Are you just going to start contacting people saying you want to RA/TA for them and send them your CV? I emailed 4 professors today and got zero replies. 

[CatDog1122]

People who were accepted at Drexel - when did you receive your funding information?

[epi_phd2018]

7 minutes ago, CatDog1122 said:

People who were accepted at Drexel - when did you receive your funding information?

I got my funding and acceptance the same time - maybe a week after the doctoral day?

Also, anybody feeling overwhelmed? I'm so grateful to have options but I feel a bit like at the end of the day they're all the same. What factors are going into your decisions?

[CatDog1122]

14 minutes ago, epi_phd2018 said:

I got my funding and acceptance the same time - maybe a week after the doctoral day?

Also, anybody feeling overwhelmed? I'm so grateful to have options but I feel a bit like at the end of the day they're all the same. What factors are going into your decisions?

Was it in the portal under the financial aid tab, or did it come in the letter?

[epi_phd2018]

44 minutes ago, CatDog1122 said:

Was it in the portal under the financial aid tab, or did it come in the letter?

In an email - I got my portal acceptance after my email one. I don't know that there was funding information on the portal either...hope that helps!

[Guest]

21 hours ago, pusheen323 said:

I honestly think it’s going to be the same for me at UNC. Are you just going to start contacting people saying you want to RA/TA for them and send them your CV? I emailed 4 professors today and got zero replies. 

I emailed 7 about 3 weeks ago and got 1 reply...and she didnt follow up after that. Contacted another 2 today

If i dont find funding ill go elsewhere...but I dont want to be in that position

[pusheen323]

8 hours ago, rosemary__ said:

I emailed 7 about 3 weeks ago and got 1 reply...and she didnt follow up after that. Contacted another 2 today

If i dont find funding ill go elsewhere...but I dont want to be in that position

Maybe it’s too early or they don’t want to waste their time since we haven’t even accepted our offers of admission yet. I’m probably going to accept, trust what everyone says about almost everyone getting funding, and then start emailing again over the summer. 

[storm_jonas]

For those going to UNC's accepted student's day tomorrow: have fun!

I won't be able to make it - so if anyone learns anything noteworthy feel free to share

[hccgrl]

Had my interview with Maryland this morning and I feel more nervous now than I did before the interview.  I think I did pretty darn good.  Definitely wasn't a horrible interview and they seemed to be impressed by the questions I asked.  They also mentioned in the beginning that they were aware of the number of faculty I met at apha and that they all really liked me and we're excited about how enthusiastic I was about the program.  They really liked that about me. Hearing that put me somewhat at ease.  

There was a confusing moment at the end when one of the faculty mentioned that when I get an email tomorrow i can ask more questions in regards to the program etc... Then another faculty jumped in and said that they will meet Monday (schools on spring break at the moment) with the rest of faulty and that they will go over our interview (seemed as though they weren't or haven't done any other phone interviews) and that they will get back to me next week. I didn't know what to think of that. 

Did you guys send thank you emails the same day or the next day? 

[pusheen323]

Anyone who went to UNC’s Admit Day, please post any info! I wasn’t able to make it, so any insight would be greatly appreciated 

[Pennk]

21 hours ago, hccgrl said:

Did you guys send thank you emails the same day or the next day? 

 

I sent out thank you emails within an hour of the end of my interviews.  I figure no need to be shy or calculated.  Just thank them for the awesome opportunity when it was still fresh in all our minds.  Granted, I felt fairly confident that my interviews were successful (they were!) so I didn't feel any awkwardness that I might have felt if I thought it went badly.

[hccgrl]

12 minutes ago, Pennk said:

I sent out thank you emails within an hour of the end of my interviews.  I figure no need to be shy or calculated.  Just thank them for the awesome opportunity when it was still fresh in all our minds.  Granted, I felt fairly confident that my interviews were successful (they were!) so I didn't feel any awkwardness that I might have felt if I thought it went badly.

Thanks for the feedback. I sent them this morning (3 of them!). Hope to hear back soon. 

[tbb_2018]

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! 

 

Edited March 23, 2018 by tbb_2018