Health Sciences, Accelerated 4+1 BS/MPH

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Jodi DeMarco, Chair, Department of Health Sciences and Human Performance
Don Allensworth-Davies, Program Director

The 5-year B.S. + M.P.H. in Public Health is an accelerated degree completion program designed for high-performing undergraduates in the General Interest or Associate Degree Completion (2+2) tracks of the Health Sciences major. This program is designed to respond to the growing job opportunities in public health settings by shortening the time for completion of a Master’s degree. Students can jump-start their careers as public health professionals by accelerating the completion of the two degrees.

Admission to Program

To be eligible for admission to the program, the student must:

Have a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher
Have completed 90 credit hours of the Bachelor of Science and BSHS program requirements
Two letters of recommendation from individuals familiar with your academic or professional background, preferably someone from a previous or current academic program or current place of employment. An individual who has been involved in an academic institution for two years or more may submit letters of recommendation by supervisors from his/her place of employment. The letters should include an assessment of your current work quality and ability to successfully complete graduate training.
Submit a personal statement describing why they wish to pursue a MPH

Undergraduate students must submit an application form:

Accelerated 4+1 Master’s program application submitted to the graduate program director of the Master of Public Health program no later than spring semester of junior year (junior year standing).

Program Requirements

The 4+1 program consists of the following courses/requirements:

Overview of Procedures

Students admitted to the joint five-year Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences/Master of Public Health program retain undergraduate status until they meet the requirements for the bachelor’s degree, at which point they will receive the BSHS degree.

Students must apply to the MPH Program during Spring semester of Junior year. Once admitted to the combined program, students may complete up to 12 credit hours of graduate courses while enrolled in the undergraduate program. These 12 credit-hours count towards BOTH the undergraduate degree and the graduate degree requirements.

Upon receipt of the Bachelor’s degree, students who have been accepted into the combined program and who have a 3.0 or better average in their graduate courses will AUTOMATICALLY be admitted to the Graduate Program. They will have up to 12 hours of graduate coursework (and grades) placed on their graduate transcripts.

NOTE: STUDENTS MUST ATTEND THE NEXT REGULAR SEMESTER AFTER RECEIVING THE UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE AS A GRADUATE STUDENT TO CONTINUE IN THE PROGRAM. Graduate students must maintain a GPA of at least 3.0 to remain in the program.

Undergraduate-Level

Core (13 Credits)

HSC 200 Introduction to Health Professions (Waived for 2+2 students) (3)
HSC 203 Medical Terminology (1)
HSC 305 Culture and Health Care (3)
STA 347 Applied Statistics (3) OR PSY 317 Behavioral Science Statistics Inference (3)
PHL 240 Health Care Ethics (3) OR PHL 340 Foundations of Bioethics (3)

Required (12 Credits)

COM 362 Health Communication (3)
HSC 341 Environmental Health (3)
HSC 442 Health Disparities (3)
COM 341 Group Process and Decision Making (3)

Electives (36 Credits)

24 credit hours of approved undergraduate electives
*12 credit hours of graduate coursework as outlined below

Capstone (3 Credits)

HSC 487 Community-Based Participatory Research and Health (3) OR HSC 484 - Advanced Research and Writing in Health Sciences

Graduate-Level

*Courses to be completed during the Undergraduate portion of the program:

*To be completed during the undergraduate portion of the 4+1. Must earn a “B” or higher. Course applies to both the BSHS and the MPH programs.

Courses to be completed during the graduate portion of the program:

Core Courses (6 Credits)

Generalist Track Courses (9 Credits)

Capstone Project Courses (6 credits)

Electives (9 Credits)

Graduate electives must be public health related courses approved by the MPH Curriculum Committee but may be taken at any of the consortium universities. A listing of approved graduate electives may be found on the CEOMPH website at: http://mph.neomed.edu/academics/electives