<p>Johns Hopkins University SAIS, accepted Fall '07
MA International Economics / 2nd concentration undecided
-applying for the joint MA/MHS program with the Bloomberg School of Public Health</p>
<p>For the stats:</p>
<p>3.97 overall GPA
Double Degree Economics/International Affairs American/British University
3 years experience working for the World Bank
Trilingual
28 years old, obviously female :)</p>
<p>hi everyone-- it's been great to hear everyone else's grad school stories, now I need help with mine. I'm interested in working for the government or doing int'l aid in China, so I applied to MA programs in east asian studies and international relations.</p>
<p>Berkeley (#2) choice: accepted
Yale: accepted
Indiana: accepted
Michigan: denied--tough because I'm an alum
Harvard: denied
Columbia SIPA: waitlisted, then accepted
SAIS: accepted (top choice!)
UCLA: accepted
BU: denied? I never turned in a required letter of rec once I heard from everyone else</p>
<p>Up to last weekend, SAIS was the only school that offered me even the tiniest grant (plus loans, of course), so I accepted their offer and turned everyone else down. Then, the kicker: Berkeley called me on Monday to offer a FULL RIDE for next year, AFTER I HAD TURNED THEM DOWN. Apparently they didn't get the news. I asked for time to reconsider and emailed SAIS asking if there is 'anything they could do.'</p>
<p>Now I have to reconsider everything; I don't know what to do. SAIS has the edge on job contacts/networking because it's in DC, and it's coursework on China is amazing, but Berkeley's east asian dep't is outstanding and I wouldn't be hurting from loans while working in my not-so-lucrative career path. I need to consider everything; I've even checked both places out on Goggle maps (and I find it cruel that Berkeley CA has a street named Hopkins street).</p>
<p>Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Papaya.</p>
<p>I am going to get railed on for saying this, but if you are planning on working for the government, especially in the international arena, go to school where you will incur the least amount of debt. You don't want to see you hopes of working abroad aborted by the fact that you owe Hopkins $90,000. If you were enrolling in law school or an MBA program, I would give you different adivce.</p>
<p>papaya
I cant give you advice on the quality of the programs,but I can give you insight from my D's experience so far in a Musicology Phd (finishing 2nd year).She has incurred NO DEBT, as she accepted a program with full fellowship,in a location where she could afford to live on her stipend.She does some p/t work in the music library for a little extra cash,maybe 10 hrs a week or so. She does not have to worry about working summers to sock away $$ for the following year, and has been able to finish her language reqs during intensive summer sessions (German last summer, French this coming summer).The school also finds extra funding for summer research and travel to professional conferences.
One of her friends, just getting his PhD next month and accepting his first faculty position in another low cost academic midwest town,was approved for a mortgage,no problem,and one of the reasons cited was the lack of student loans in his fiscal profile.
It can be truly helpful to graduate debt free, but only you can analyze the program qualities ( if there is a big discrepancy)/</p>
<p>It does make your life easier not having debt hanging over your head.</p>
<p>papayasalad,</p>
<p>If you're interested in Asia and IR, why didn't you apply to IR/PS?</p>
<p>UCLAri,</p>
<p>I applied to the asian studies program at Berkeley--and most places, actually--because I have no academic experience in the subject; I only got interested in east Asia after spending two years in China after undergrad (where I majored in linguistics). IR seemed like a long shot when I was applying, and I applied to those IR programs that were personally recommended to me. SAIS was my top choice because of all the attention they focus on contemporary China, exemplified by their satellite campus in Nanjing.</p>
<p>papaya,</p>
<p>UCSD is pretty much where it's at as far as Pacific and Asian studies is concerned. For my money it's the best program in the nation in that regards, because unlike SAIS or others, its focus is Pacific and Asian studies.</p>
<p>Continuing the discussion though, cathymee speaks the absolute truth. In an area where big time post-gruadte money isn't assured (music, IR, most poltical science, ect...) I really believe that a key to a hppy future doing what you want is to limit your debt. I know many people who had to forfeit their dreams of working as a human rights lawyer, or a social worker, or an elementary school teacher, because they took out too much in student loeans and had to take a job with Big Pharma afterwards. Watch out for money, always.</p>
<p>Oh, I didn't know that about UCSD. I've been working ~45-50 hours a week while applying to grad schools, which has cut into my time in a number of ways--researching grad schools, for one. I asked my friends for advice...they're mostly East Coasters or Midwesterners like me, and the places I applied to reflect that skew. UCSD never came up, I'm sorry to say.</p>
<p>I applied to grad school for an MPH with a BA in Political Science and a 3.849 gpa</p>
<p>Tulane - Accepted
George Washington - Accepted
Emory - Waitlisted for Fall 07; Offered admission for Fall 08</p>
<p>lovenola, what school did you decide to attend? My D is considering an MPH so just curious...do you have any relevant work eperience in public health?
If so, what kind & for how long? Is previous relevant work experience necessary?
Thanks for any helpful advice.</p>
<p>kwoo...while i have accepted gw's offer i am considering emory's offer for fall 08 (i was only offered this option yesterday) and i chose gw over tulane based purely on location. i went to tulane for undergrad and new orleans is great and tulane's school of public health is awesome but im focusing on global health and felt that there would be more opportunities for internships and networking in d.c. as far as my work experience goes, i only just graduated from college this past december so i don't have much but while i was an undergrad i did a semester abroad in ghana where i was a public health intern at the university's hospital working to provide a child welfare clinic for low income women and their infants. it was about 3 months that i did that. from what i learned going through the admissions process and from speaking with others...emory especially likes relevant work experience. gw seems to cater more to younger people, mostly those straight out of college and doesn't stress work experience as much and also offers their classes at night so that students have the opportunity to have internships and jobs during the day. as for tulane, my old roommate went there and said her classes were a mix of older and younger people but most had some experience in their field (she did not). as for myself, i prefer emory's academic program to gw's. from speaking to people at both schools, it seems that gw (and i am speaking only of global health) has students focus regionally, offering classes on Africa, Eastern Europe, South America, etc. whereas emory allows students to focus more specifically within public health, if i go there i hope to follow the infectious diseases track (there's also reproductive health, community health, etc). tulane is closer to emory academically. well now that i've rambled on for a while, let me know if you have any other questions and i will try to answer them to the best of my ability!</p>
<p>lovenola, thank you for taking the time to respond. What you said was very helpful. My D will be attending UNC-Chapel Hill grad school for journalism in the fall, & plans to pursue their certificate in health communications, a joint program with their journalism school & school of public health. She worked in China for the last 4 years (nothing to do with public health, however) but 2 years with a magazine & has become interested in health communications. If she enjoys the public health courses she has to take, she may decide to also pursue an MPH. UNC has a Health Behavior/Health Education concentration she might be interested in. She has been awarded an awesome fellowship at UNC, so financially it is conceivable she could pursue another degree. Her masters thesis will also be in health communications so she hopes that with the public health courses & her thesis, & hopefully a summer internship in health communication, this would help in the School of Public Health admissions process. </p>
<p>Did you apply to or research other public health schools?
Thank you.</p>
<p>PCU - Accepted</p>
<p>"Derek Zoolander School for kids who can't read good and wanna learn to do other things good too" - Denied</p>
<p>I applied to the following schools for environmental science and management. I have an undergrad degree in Biology from a small, top-30 liberal arts college. A couple years of research, volunteer work, a couple leadership positions, good recs, and 10 graduate units under my belt.
GRE: V:72% Q:45% A: 5.5 (87%)
GPA (undergrad): 3.1 (overall), but last year 3.5 (see! you can get into some schools when you have some improvement!)
GPA (grad-10 units): 3.7 (note: if your undergrad GPA is lacking, make up for it by taking a couple of grad classes in your field of specialization to show potential schools that you can handle graduate level work)</p>
<p>Michigan (Ann Arbor)- M.S. Conservation Biology- Accepted
Duke - Ecosystem Science & Management- Accepted
UCSB- Environmental Science & Management- Accepted
UC Davis- M.S. Ecology-rejected (cited that I was qualified, but lacked an advisor match).
U at Buffalo -M.S. EEB-rejected (safety? opps)
Yale- M.S. Environmental Science- rejected (potential advisor didn't email me back. note to others who might apply: if you don't find an advisor connection, apply to the Master of Environmental Management program because you don't need an advisor to get in this way.. I wish I would have done that instead).</p>
<p>That's all. Glad the whole admissions process is over! Good luck to next years candidates!</p>
<p>P.S. I've already made my decision, but if it were up to you (just curious), which of these programs would you pick?? Thanks :)</p>
<p>I am a biology major applying this fall for Phd. Top choices- John Hopkins, Stanford, UC berkley and UCSF. GPA 4.00. GRE: verbal 570 math 780 writing 5.0 (should I give GRE again?>???)...research experience in 2 labs since 2 years and internship...no papers published though..What do you think are my chances of getting in??? How can I improve or do something to improve my chances. (I am an international student)...Please help.. thanks :)</p>
<p>MCBartist, I'm in the same situation as you are - international student applying for Phd programs in biology in the fall... My top choices are in California as well, :) I'm currently an undergrad in hopkins and according to the admission council for biology here, it is indeed harder for international students to get in simply because it's harder to secure funding for us :( but if you can get awesome recommendation letters, i heard it will increase your chances tremendously...</p>
<p>are you an undergrad here? because if you are, you stand a higher chance of getting an interview from these schools.</p>
<p>as for your GRE scores, they should be fine... admission officers don't consider GRE scores to be that big of a factor when reviewing your apps.. plus, you're international and a 570 is a really good score for a non-native English speaker..</p>
<p>I am going to be a junior undergraduate at Johns Hopkins University in the Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Department. I was wondering if anyone applied to PhD programs for ChemE/BioE or any other related major. And if so, what the stats were and if they were accepted or not. This would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Hey Duckster, JHU has such an awesome program too!! Are you considering applying here? Have you started with your apps? JHU is one of my top priorities too!! Have you taken the GRE subject test? Yes I am an undergrad at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign :) What are your other choices? I am really freaking out :(</p>
<p>Towson University - Health Science - Masters - Waiting reply</p>
<p>University of North Carolina Greensboro- Public Health Education- Masters of Public Health- Waiting for letters of rec and GREs</p>
<p>Indiana University- Masters of Public Health- Public Health Leadership concentration- Waiting for letters of rec</p>
<p>ETA: Towson doesn't have the program I want, but is there for a safety.</p>