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Does anyone have experience applying here or know of anyone?
I'm wondering what my chances are. The dean of my department says it's extremely hard to get into and he wouldn't give me any odds or chance or anything, he said best to just apply.
But here's me in a nutshell:
3.5+ GPA while working full time in my field
3.5 years direct job experience
and I plan on doing a long, part-time route while working in my field during it.
Does anyone have experience applying here or know of anyone?
I'm wondering what my chances are. The dean of my department says it's extremely hard to get into and he wouldn't give me any odds or chance or anything, he said best to just apply.
But here's me in a nutshell:
3.5+ GPA while working full time in my field
3.5 years direct job experience
and I plan on doing a long, part-time route while working in my field during it.
Sounds good to me. What's your 3.5 in and where did you go to school? You don't have to answer that, but you should be honest with yourself about the rigor of your undergraduate major and your undergraduate school.
If you can get into U of M for a grad program, by all means GO.
Grad school admissions are really flukey even for students with good grades, test scores, work experience, etc. When I applied to Ph.D. programs I got into the #1 and #3 schools in my field and rejected by everyone else (including one program that was ranked something like #20). I went to #3 (Michigan, which is why I'm writing this!) and loved it.
There's no harm in applying -- all you lose is the application fee and a little bit of time if you don't get in.
Does the M.P.H. program offer a part-time option? (I know that the Ph.D. programs at Michigan don't, or at least they didn't when I was there.)
I think U. of M. is a GREAT place for grad school (although I would have hated going there for undergrad -- it's way too big). Best of luck to you!
Grad school admissions are really flukey even for students with good grades, test scores, work experience, etc.
Flukey AND flaky! Even at some great schools. One thing I've seen is that the U of M and the UVa admit students into good grad programs from the West more readily than would Berkeley or UCLA, presumably for the demographic diversity value. I'd rather go to U of M or UVa, anyway.
Robertpolyglot, that's a good point, especially because the OP is in Michigan. You might think that state schools would give priority to in-state students, but that's not always the case for grad programs. OP, you might want to take a visit to Ann Arbor to talk directly to some faculty (and current students for that matter) if you haven't already.
I went to Michigan from Berkeley. Berkeley was one of those schools that rejected me for the Ph.D. even though I already had a terminal master's degree from there (in a different field). The department I was applying to cared a LOT about where you went to undergrad, and I went to a very non-prestigious state school. Michigan didn't care at ALL about that -- they were most concerned with GRE scores the year I applied. As I wrote, flukey! (And of course most of this you don't know about when you're applying -- you just find out afterward when/if you go. The year AFTER I started at Michigan, they were way more concerned with prestigious undergrad schools. I would not have gotten in that year, and most people who did would not have gotten in the year I applied!)
Affirmative action is actually illegal in California colleges, so it's probably something else.
Sure, like the UCs wanted 3.7s for locals, and U of M/UVa would admit them with a 3.6. Or a slight difference in their graduate test scores. I imagine it would be of the hairline variety.
Robertpolyglot, that's a good point, especially because the OP is in Michigan. You might think that state schools would give priority to in-state students, but that's not always the case for grad programs. OP, you might want to take a visit to Ann Arbor to talk directly to some faculty (and current students for that matter) if you haven't already.
Currently, both U of M and UVa are pitching heavily to out-of-staters even for undergrad, presumably for the tuition differential they bring. Of these 2 schools, UVa has some kind of "legacy" preference, I THINK. Overall, though, good grad schools in the West (UCLA, UCB and UW) are saturated with applications, with people who want to utilize the schools both for their good educational opportunities and as a vehicle to move to those areas.
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