Information on the admission process is available on the Office of Undergraduate Admissions website. Applications may be submitted via the Common Application.

Supporting documents not submitted online should be mailed to:

Office of Undergraduate Admissions
The George Washington University
800 21st Street NW, Suite 100
Washington, DC 20052

Contact for questions:
gwadm@gwu.edu or 202-994-6040

The following requirements must be fulfilled: 120 credits, including 22 to 23 credits to meet the University General Education requirement; 34 credits in core

Public health guided electives
12 credits selected from the approved elective courses listed below are required. No more than 9 of these credits can be taken through study abroad programs and/or at non-GW domestic institutions. For topics courses, only the specific topic indicated below can be counted toward this requirement. Students can petition the BS in public health program director for approval to use a GW course not listed here as elective.
AMST 3950Special Topics (Narrative Medicine in American History)
ANTH 3503Psychological Anthropology
ANTH 3504Illness, Healing, and Culture
ANTH 3513Anthropology of Human Rights
or ANTH 3513W Anthropology of Human Rights
BADM 1004The Age of Globalization
BADM 4101Business Ethics and the Legal Environment
or BADM 4101W Business Ethics and the Legal Environment
BIOC 3560Diet, Health, and Longevity
BISC 2450Organic Evolution
BISC 3450Evolutionary Medicine
or BISC 3450W Evolutionary Medicine
COMM 3179Sexual Communication
CSCI 1011Introduction to Programming with Java
CSCI 1012Introduction to Programming with Python
CSCI 1121Introduction to C Programming
ECON 2151Economic Development
EHS 2109Infectious Diseases and Bioterrorism
EHS 2160Disaster Response Planning and Management
EHS 3174Foundations of Emergency Health Services Systems
EHS 3175Community Risk Management and Safety in Emergency Health Services
EHS 4101Humanitarian Relief Operations
EXNS 1114Community Nutrition
EXNS 1199Topics in Exercise and Nutrition Sciences (International Nutrition)
EXNS 2116Exercise and Health Psychology
EXNS 2119Introduction to Nutrition Science
EXNS 2122Food Systems in Public Health
EXNS 2123Nutrition and Chronic Disease
EXNS 3995Undergraduate Research
GEOG 1003Society and Environment
GEOG 2104Introduction to Cartography and GIS
GEOG 2127Population Geography
GEOG 2137Environmental Hazards
GEOG 3105Techniques of Spatial Analysis
GEOG 3106Intermediate Geographic Information Systems
HIST 3363Race, Medicine, and Public Health
HLWL 1106Drug Awareness
HLWL 1109Human Sexuality
HONR 2047Self and Society Seminar (Pediatric Ethics)
or HONR 2047W Self and Society Seminar
HSCI 2050Foundations of Health Equity
HSCI 2101Psychosocial Aspects of Health and Illness (Residential Delivery)
HSCI 2105Current Issues in Bioethics (Residential Delivery)
or PUBH 3151W Current Issues in Bioethics
HSCI 2110Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Concepts
HSCI 2118Global Women's Health
HSCI 3100Applied Health Equity in Washington, DC
HSCI 4103Healthcare Law and Regulation (Residential Delivery)
or PUBH 3136 Health Law
ISTM 3119Introduction to Programming
ITAL 3300Italian Literature and Culture in Translation (Pandemics in Italian Literature and Film)
PHIL 2124Philosophies of Disability
or PHIL 2124W Philosophies of Disability
PHIL 2125Philosophy of Race and Gender
or PHIL 2125W Philosophy of Race and Gender
PHIL 2281Philosophy of the Environment
PSC 2240Poverty, Welfare, and Work
PSC 2367Human Rights
PSYC 3128Health Psychology
PSYC 3199Current Topics in Psychology (Substance Abuse and Addictions)
PUBH 1102History of Public Health
PUBH 2113Impact of Culture upon Health
PUBH 2114Environment, Health, and Development
PUBH 2117Service Learning in Public Health
PUBH 3115Global Health and Human Rights
PUBH 3116Global Health Systems Performance
PUBH 3136Health Law
or HSCI 4103 Healthcare Law and Regulation
PUBH 3150Sustainable Energy and Environmental Health
PUBH 3151WCurrent Issues in Bioethics
or HSCI 2105 Current Issues in Bioethics
PUBH 3199Topics in Public Health
PUBH 3201Introduction to Bioinformatics
PUBH 3202Introduction to Genomics
PUBH 3995Undergraduate Research
PUBH 4199Independent Study
PUBH 4201Practical Computing
PUBH 4202Bioinformatics Algorithms and Data Structures
SOC 2102Techniques of Data Analysis
SOC 2181Special Topics in Sociology (Demography and the Social World)
SOC 2189Special Topics in Criminal Justice (Rethinking DC Youth and Policing)
STAT 2118Regression Analysis
STAT 2183Intermediate Statistics Lab/Packages
or STAT 2183W Intermediate Statistical Laboratory: Statistical Computing Packages
SUST 1001Introduction to Sustainability
WGSS 3170Topics in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (Writing/Righting Black Girl's and Women's Health)
Elective courses offered online can only be taken in the summer term.

health courses; 12 credits in public health guided elective courses; and 51 to 52 credits in general elective courses.

Students must achieve a minimum grade of C- in all prerequisite, required, and guided elective coursework.

University General Education Requirement

  • One course in critical thinking in the humanities
  • Two courses in critical thinking, quantitative reasoning, or scientific reasoning in the social sciences1
  • One course that has an approved oral communication component2
  • One course in quantitative reasoning (must be in mathematics or statistics)3
  • One course in scientific reasoning (must be in natural and/or physical laboratory sciences)4 
  • UW 1020 University Writing (4 credits).
  • After successful completion of UW 1020, 6 credits distributed over at least two different Writing in the Disciplines (WID) courses taken in separate semesters (summer counts as one semester)5 

A list of qualifying courses can be found under University General Education Requirement.

Required for the major
PUBH 1010First-Year Experience in Public Health
PUBH 1101Introduction to Public Health and Health Services
PUBH 2110Public Health Biology
PUBH 2112Principles of Health Education and Health Promotion
PUBH 2140Foundations of Research Methods
PUBH 2142Introduction to Biostatistics for Public Health
PUBH 3130Health Services Management and Economics
PUBH 3131Epidemiology
PUBH 3132Health and Environment
PUBH 3133Global Health and Development
PUBH 3135WHealth Policy
PUBH 4140WSenior Seminar

Electives

63 or 64 credits in elective courses, including 12 credits in approved guided electives (below) and 51 or 52 credits in general electives.

Most courses offered by GW can be taken as general electives. Students are encouraged to meet with their advisor to help select these courses. No more than 3 credits in Lifestyle, Sport, and Physical Activity (LSPA) courses can be counted toward the 120 credits required for the bachelor's degree. LSPA courses count as general electives.

All students must comply with policies and procedures outlined in the University Regulations, GWSPH Regulations, and the BSPH program guide. Students should pay special attention to the SPH requirements for completing human subjects research training, eight hours of professional enhancement activities, and passing the SPH academic integrity quiz.

General Education footnotes:

1Critical thinking, quantitative reasoning or scientific reasoning in the social sciences—ECON 1011 applies to this requirement and is a prerequisite for PUBH 3130.

2Approved courses with an oral communications component—One course selected from the following is required:

AMST 2450History and Meaning of Higher Education in the United States
AMST 2620Human Mind and Artificial Intelligence
ANTH 1004Language in Culture and Society
ANTH 2502Anthropology of Science and Technology: Twenty-First Century Brave New Worlds
CHEM 2118WPracticing Science Communications
CHEM 2118WPracticing Science Communications
COMM 1040Public Communication
COMM 1041Interpersonal Communication
EAP 1010Oral Academic Communication for International Students
ECON 4198WProseminar in Economics
ENGL 1365Literature and the Environment
ENGL 3918Literature and Medicine
GTCH 2003Step 1 and 2 Hybrid: Inquiry Approaches to Teaching and Lesson Design
GTCH 3101Knowing and Learning in Mathematics and Science
HSSJ 4195Senior Capstone
ORSC 2000Sophomore Colloquium
PHIL 2124Philosophies of Disability
or PHIL 2124W Philosophies of Disability
PHIL 2134Philosophy of Human Rights
PSTD 1010Introduction to Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution
SLHS 1011Voice and Diction
SOC 4192Advanced Seminar in Criminal Justice
SOC 4195Senior Research Seminar
or SOC 4195W Senior Research Seminar
SPAN 3022Advanced Oral Proficiency: Environmental and Social Sustainability in Latin America
SUST 2004Introduction to Sustainability Communication
WLP 1020Writing, Literature, and Society

 3Approved courses in quantitative reasoning in mathematics or statistics—The following courses are not recommended for students in the BS in public health students: STAT 1051, STAT 1053, STAT 1111, and STAT 1127. Students who take one of these STAT courses after declaring the public health major are still required to take PUBH 2142, which is largely similar in content.

4Approved courses in scientific reasoning in natural and/or physical laboratory sciences—One course selected from the following is required:

BISC 1005The Biology of Nutrition and Health
BISC 1006The Ecology and Evolution of Organisms
BISC 1007Food, Nutrition, and Service
BISC 1008Understanding Organisms through Service Learning
BISC 1111Introductory Biology: Cells and Molecules
BISC 1112Introductory Biology: The Biology of Organisms
HONR 1033Honors Seminar: Scientific Reasoning and Discovery (Biology Topic Only)

5Writing in the Disciplines course requirement—Public health majors satisfy this requirement with PUBH 3135W and PUBH 4140W.

Combined programs