BSPH/MPH in Community Health Education Joint Degree
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
Undergraduate students in the BSPH program can apply for the BSPH/MPH joint program at the end of their junior year. Applicants must be BSPH majors and have a GPA of 3.2 or higher prior to applying for the program. The applicants must obtain approval of the undergraduate BSPH advisor and program director, and the MPH program director and must be admitted under provisional status until they have completed at least one semester of graduate work. Students will also be required to take the GRE before being admitted into the program and meet all requirements for entry into the Baylor Graduate School as an MPH student. 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 GPA will be allowed to finish the BSPH but will have admission to the graduate MPH program cancelled, 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 joint degree program at a later date.
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).
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 5V94 | Public Health Practicum (permission required) | 3 |
PUBH 5V90 | Public Health Internship (permission required) | 6 |
Though other students in the MPH program have the option of completing a thesis instead of the final 400-hour internship, students in the joint program must complete the 400-hour internship to satisfy contact hour requirements from the national accrediting body for the undergraduate portion of the joint degree. Joint degree students are strongly encourage 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.