Things I Wish I Knew About Applying to Doctoral Programs in Public Health

Applying to doctoral programs is an arduous and intimidating process — or at least it was for me. As a first-generation student from a “non-traditional” background, I felt like I was missing the secret knowledge that other applicants had. In discussions with other students and folks in my department, we recognized that many of us had similar experiences.

So, by interviewing a diverse set of students, faculty members, and even the Chair of the Environmental Health department at Boston University School of Public Health, we have compiled advice for applying to doctoral programs. This is a guide for prospective graduate students to provide bits of advice and tools many of us wish we had at our disposal during the process of applying. This is not an all-encompassing resource, but rather some important things to keep in mind and questions to ask. We have outlined below some pieces of advice, questions to pose in the early stages, and topics that you should know about going into discussions with different groups of people at the schools.

It is all about connection

First and foremost, reach out to professors and current students, ideally in the summer and fall of applications to make a connection and to ask about the program. Do not be afraid to “cold call” or email to set up times to talk to faculty you’re interested in working with early and often — you want to join a program in which the professors and faculty are responsive to prospective students. Even if you don’t get in the first year, having these connections could help when applying the following year.

Existing organizations such as doctoral student organizations, graduate school senates, and department-wide or school-wide executive boards are usually composed of students from multiple programs in all years. Contacting and speaking with students via these networks can give you a sense of the culture of prospective departments and other first-hand information that may be of interest to you.

Faculty, staff, and students at each school and in respective departments will all help in providing insight in different ways:

· Faculty may give more of a broad view of the research and scholarship in the department, with a focus on their specific interests. They will want to know more about you as they are trying to gauge your interests and current skillsets.

· Staff have important information about admissions, curriculum, grants process, and interactions with students in various supporting and guiding roles to help doctoral students reach milestones and achieve their goals.

· Current students are crucial people to talk to in this process as they are going through the program right now! They can provide inside information about the program, coursework, faculty, department culture, commute time, places to live, student dynamics, and more. If you have the opportunity to talk to students, hopefully, directed to them by faculty or staff, definitely take them up on it, even if it is over email or a quick phone call.

Useful questions to consider asking in your conversations with faculty, students or staff are:

● Faculty:

○ What are their main research interests and how do they involve students in their projects? (Note: make sure you do your homework and review faculty’s websites and recent publications to have an idea before asking)

○ Are they looking to work with any new students in the near future and is there funding available for coursework and/or research?

○ Is there anyone else in the department they think you should talk to (faculty or student) and could they put you in touch?

● Staff:

○ Does your department hold interviews? (Some schools do not hold interviews! This is something to ask either admission of the school or program coordinates before applying).

■ If schools do not hold interviews, work harder to make personal connections with faculty before/while applying and ask to be connected to some current graduate students in the program, or in the lab of the faculty you’re applying with.

○ Do credits from previous classes in undergraduate or other graduate studies transfer or fulfill course requirements in this program?

● Students:

○ What are the overall pros and cons of this program?

○ How are the classes? Did you have time to do research simultaneously?

○ Does the leadership include students in department-wide events and planning?

○ What are the dynamics of the faculty, staff, and students?

○ Are students happy here?

○ Do you feel supported by your advisor, the graduate program director, the chair, and others in the department to help you succeed?

○ What is the qualification exam process like, and did you feel you had the tools to succeed?

○ How tied to a professor’s funding are you and can you seek your own funding to do a project that might be more interesting to you?

Funding

Funding is a crucial part of graduate school yet is not always explained well throughout the application and interview process. Your doctoral training in public health will likely be funded through your department or a training grant. When considering programs, you will want to know their funding mechanisms (a.k.a. how your tuition and stipend will get paid). For example, you may be funded for the entirety of your program, partially funded (you are funded for some years, but will need to apply for your own funding), or contingent funding (e.g. on teaching fellowships). With all three of these options, there may be variations by the program (e.g. funding is available during the academic year and not in the summer).

It will be important to ask if the program provides a living stipend for a particular city. That is, each city will have a different cost of living and you should evaluate the program’s stipend to the living costs of that specific area. Similar to funding, many programs will provide access to health insurance. Many universities have student insurance, and many departments and schools will cover health insurance for their doctoral students, so it is a good idea to confirm this with the department staff. Each program will have different health insurance benefits and thus it will be useful to clarify details as listed in the suggested questions.

Important questions related to funding might include:

1. Will you need to find and apply for your own funding at any point? What are the common agencies students typically apply to, such as NIH or NSF?

2. Does the program guarantee funding for a certain number of years?

3. Are there training grants or fellowships available within the school? And do you need to think about applying for any of these fellowships before receiving the decision regarding admission from the school? (Examples of this may be the URBAN program at Boston University School of Public Health or Center for Livable Future at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health)

4. What health insurance and other benefits are available to students in selected programs?

a. What is included in the coverage?

b. Does your health insurance include coverage for spouses, partners, and/or children?

c. Do you have dental and/or eye insurance as well as typical medical health insurance?

Rotations vs. Direct Match with a Faculty

The structure of graduate programs can take many different forms. In general, programs either have a rotational structure or a direct match with a faculty, or a hybrid. In a rotational program, during your first year (or maybe two years) you may “rotate” between potential dissertation advisors and research projects, which is intended to lead you to select a research group (typically sometime in your second year). For some programs, you must be paired, upon entry, directly with a faculty advisor who will very likely (if not certainly) also advise your dissertation. In this case, it is extra important to identify faculty you would like to work with. In either approach or the hybrid case, you are paired with a faculty member that is most aligned with your interests (as determined through the interview process) This may change the approach to the application. It is helpful to get clarity from the program director regarding how the particular program is run. You may want to ask some of the following questions:

1. Are students matched with a faculty advisor prior to being accepted to the program? In other words, is your acceptance contingent on being able to be directly matched? (This might be also relevant to understanding the funding structure of your program)
2. If you find the research group you want to join in less than the expected number of rotations, do you still need to complete all rotations?
3. Can research rotations be outside of your department (or in some cases, outside the school)?
4. If for some reason the direct match does not work out, are there other options in the program? And has this situation occurred before? If yes, how did it go?

Mentoring vs. Advising

Support during graduate school will be critical to your progression in the program. Support, while found in many places such as friends and peers, is most important from your advisor. Depending on your program, your advisor may be the faculty member who you were directly matched with to work in their research group or a pre-dissertation advisor. A pre-dissertation advisor in many cases may end up being your direct advisor, but they may also serve to support you during the first years of your program before you find your official dissertation advisor. Each advisor has a different mentoring style, just as many students have different advisee styles. [There will be detailed suggestions on questions for potential advisors in the interview piece of this series]

The most important form of support will be the support that comes from your advisors. It is encouraged that you ask questions about potential advisors both during the application and interview periods. These may include:

● What is your mentoring style (e.g. are you more hands-off or hands-on in your approach)

● Have you mentored other students in the past? Have these students been successful in the program?

● How often do you meet with students (e.g. weekly, monthly, a mix?)

● How many students do you currently work with?

● How often do you meet with students individually or collectively in a group?

There is a difference between mentors and advisors. Your assigned advisor may become your primary mentor as well, but you can see mentorship from other individuals and in many different formats. Some advisors prefer to interact with their students in strictly academic and research settings, while others may provide more emotional support and consider your entire experience in graduate school. Recognizing that graduate school can be a difficult time with hurdles that you encounter along the way necessitates introspection on your part as an applicant and eventual student to make sure you are getting the support you need. Mentors can be other professors in your department or other departments, fellow students, contacts you make along the way at the university, at conferences, or at seminars hosted locally or online. Mentors may be individuals who serve another role in guiding you through graduate school and other parts of your professional career. They may help you in different ways than academic or dissertation advisors. We should also note that your advisor can definitely serve as a mentor but being aware of the differences will help you navigate all stages of your graduate school career.

While this is just the start of the things I had wish I knew when applying to graduate school, I hope that it will serve to answer some questions about the process. Your doctoral education, however, and whenever you get there is your journey, so embrace each part. Building an application is a reflective moment — when you get to see in all one place how much you have to offer, be proud of it and own it!

This piece was co-authored and edited by Catherine Connolly, Doctoral Candidate in the Environmental Health department at Boston University School of Public Health