Public Health

School of Public Health

Public Health is a school-wide liberal arts major, leading to a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science, which uses public health questions, concepts, and tools to help students develop competencies in assessment and measurement, communication, environment, ethics and social justice, natural science, population health, policy and politics, and social science with particular emphasis on collaboration and critical thinking across these domains. Graduates move on to a range of career and educational options in business, economics, education, health sciences, law, public health, and social and behavioral sciences.

Major category: Capacity-constrained

Curricular options: B.A., B.S., Global Health

Topic: Health

website   Degree requirements

Applicant type

Freshman

Freshmen can apply to the UW to begin autumn quarter or winter quarter (U.S. applicants only)

Read more about applying to the UW as a freshman, including details for programs that provide high school students with college credit (like Running Start).


Transfer

Quarters of general admission to UW: autumn / winter (U.S. applicants only) / spring

Preparation for the major is a factor in transfer admission.

  • Use the information below to help you prepare for this degree
  • Visit MyPlan to run a degree audit.
  • Use the UW Equivalency Guide to find out how courses taken at a Washington state community or technical college will transfer to the UW.
  • UW college and school graduation requirements

Department admission information

  • Departmental application deadline: First Friday of spring quarter for AUT; third Friday of autumn quarter for WIN
  • Please contact the department for details about the application process.
This major is capacity-constrained. Completion of prerequisites does not guarantee admission.

Admission eligibility:

  • Minimum 60 college credits
  • Minimum 2.5 cumulative GPA
  • Minimum of 2.0 in one 5-credit course of English composition
  • Minimum 2.5 grade in one introductory public health course from the following list: ENV H 111, EPI 201,G H 101, HSERV 100, NUTR 200, PHG 200 or one 5-credit course from ANTH, GEOG, POL S, PSYCH or SOC areas
  • For Bachelor of Arts (BA) students, minimum 2.5 grade in one introductory science from the following list: BIOL 118, BIOL 180, CHEM 120, CHEM 142, CHEM 145, MICROM 301/302
  • For Bachelor of Science (BS) students, minimum grades of 2.5 in at least two courses of a single year-long sequence of intro science with labs or mathematics chosen from biology, chemistry, organic chemistry, physics or calculus

Students admitted for autumn or winter quarter. Application deadlines are the first Friday of the spring for autumn and the third Friday of autumn quarter for winter quarters. Obtain more information about admission on the department website.

Read more about applying to the UW as a transfer student.

Courses required for the major:

  • One introductory course in public health, anthropology, geography, political science, psychology or sociology
  • English Composition
  • Introductory Chemistry
  • Introductory Biology

Entering transfer information:

Total undergraduates: 512
Total from Washington community colleges: 46

Entering transfer GPA (from WA community colleges):

3.75 – 4.00: 11
3.50 – 3.74: 10
3.25 – 3.49: 12
3.00 – 3.24: 9
2.75 – 2.99: 2
2.50 – 2.74: 1
2.49 and below: 1


Career outcomes