Dr. Beth A. Lanning and Mrs. Margo Shanks, Co-Directors

The BSPH/MPH in Public Health joint program is a 5-year program of study. This joint degree program enables qualified students to obtain a Bachelor of Science in Public Health and a Master of Public Health in Community Health in a minimum of five years of full-time study. All requirements for the BSPH and MPH must be met, and the degrees are awarded concurrently.

Admission

Applicants must be BSPH majors and have a GPA of 3.2 or higher in the major prior to applying for the program. During their junior year (year 3) of the BSPH program, applicants must discuss with the BSPH program director the possibility of being considered for entry into the BSPH/MPH accelerated degree program. (The GRE is not required for this accelerated degree program. However, other requirements for MPH program applicants will be required for the accelerated degree program.) 

Application and admission to the program is a 2-step process.

1. During their junior year, with permission from the BSPH director, the student submits a provisional application to the graduate school. If accepted, they are awarded provisional status in the accelerated program.
2. During their senior year, with permission from both directors (BSPH and MPH in Community Health Science), the student submits a formal application in SOPHAS for full admission into the MPH program.

The BSPH degree will be awarded with the MPH upon completion of all degree requirements. Students who decide to withdraw or who do not maintain a 3.2 will be allowed to finish the BSPH but will have admission to the graduate MPH degree program canceled, and any graduate work completed will appear on the undergraduate transcript and will count on the bachelor’s degree. These students will not be allowed to re-enter the accelerated degree program at a later date.

Undergraduate vs Graduate Student Designations

Students in this accelerated degree program are categorized in the Baylor system as undergraduate students during their senior year (year 4) regardless of any combination of BSPH- and MPH-level courses completed that year. These students are designated as graduate students in year 5 (final year of program) after being accepted into the graduate school for that final year.

These distinctions (undergraduate student versus graduate student) will be linked to financial aid and scholarship eligibility for each level. In year 4, these accelerated degree students are eligible for any financial aid or scholarships for which they qualify as an undergraduate student. When these students become graduate students in year 5, though they lose their eligibility for undergraduate-level support, they are eligible to apply for graduate-level scholarships and financial aid.

Requirements

A maximum of 15 credits of course work (MPH-level courses) will count toward both degrees.  These 15 credit hours include the following MPH courses, which are already embedded in the 42-credit hour MPH degree (see graduate catalog).

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
PUBH 5337	Public Health Concepts in Epidemiology	3
PUBH 5350	Assessment and Planning in Public and Community Health	3
PUBH 5360	Evaluation in Public and Community Health	3
PUBH 5699	Community Health Capstone	6

In their BSPH senior year (year 4) these accelerated degree students must complete all 1^st-year requirements of the 2-year MPH program and any remaining requirements at the BSPH level. (Note that 15 hours of BSPH degree requires are replaced with MPH-level requirements.) In year 5 of the accelerated degree program, students complete the final year of the MPH program.

Accelerated degree students are strongly encouraged to complete as many undergraduate courses as possible prior to beginning MPH courses and to take no more than one undergraduate course per semester while taking MPH courses. Students are encouraged to contact appropriate advisors in each program for further details.