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
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| 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 3950 | Special Topics (Narrative Medicine in American History) | |
| ANTH 3503 | Psychological Anthropology | |
| ANTH 3504 | Illness, Healing, and Culture | |
| ANTH 3513 | Anthropology of Human Rights | |
| or ANTH 3513W | Anthropology of Human Rights | |
| BADM 1004 | The Age of Globalization | |
| BADM 4101 | Business Ethics and the Legal Environment | |
| or BADM 4101W | Business Ethics and the Legal Environment | |
| BIOC 3560 | Diet, Health, and Longevity | |
| BISC 2450 | Organic Evolution | |
| BISC 3450 | Evolutionary Medicine | |
| or BISC 3450W | Evolutionary Medicine | |
| COMM 3179 | Sexual Communication | |
| CSCI 1011 | Introduction to Programming with Java | |
| CSCI 1012 | Introduction to Programming with Python | |
| CSCI 1121 | Introduction to C Programming | |
| ECON 2151 | Economic Development | |
| EHS 2109 | Infectious Diseases and Bioterrorism | |
| EHS 2160 | Disaster Response Planning and Management | |
| EHS 3174 | Foundations of Emergency Health Services Systems | |
| EHS 3175 | Community Risk Management and Safety in Emergency Health Services | |
| EHS 4101 | Humanitarian Relief Operations | |
| EXNS 1114 | Community Nutrition | |
| EXNS 1199 | Topics in Exercise and Nutrition Sciences (International Nutrition) | |
| EXNS 2116 | Exercise and Health Psychology | |
| EXNS 2119 | Introduction to Nutrition Science | |
| EXNS 2122 | Food Systems in Public Health | |
| EXNS 2123 | Nutrition and Chronic Disease | |
| EXNS 3995 | Undergraduate Research | |
| GEOG 1003 | Society and Environment | |
| GEOG 2104 | Introduction to Cartography and GIS | |
| GEOG 2127 | Population Geography | |
| GEOG 2137 | Environmental Hazards | |
| GEOG 3105 | Techniques of Spatial Analysis | |
| GEOG 3106 | Intermediate Geographic Information Systems | |
| HIST 3363 | Race, Medicine, and Public Health | |
| HLWL 1106 | Drug Awareness | |
| HLWL 1109 | Human Sexuality | |
| HONR 2047 | Self and Society Seminar (Pediatric Ethics) | |
| or HONR 2047W | Self and Society Seminar | |
| HSCI 2050 | Foundations of Health Equity | |
| HSCI 2101 | Psychosocial Aspects of Health and Illness (Residential Delivery) | |
| HSCI 2105 | Current Issues in Bioethics (Residential Delivery) | |
| or PUBH 3151W | Current Issues in Bioethics | |
| HSCI 2110 | Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Concepts | |
| HSCI 2118 | Global Women's Health | |
| HSCI 3100 | Applied Health Equity in Washington, DC | |
| HSCI 4103 | Healthcare Law and Regulation (Residential Delivery) | |
| or PUBH 3136 | Health Law | |
| ISTM 3119 | Introduction to Programming | |
| ITAL 3300 | Italian Literature and Culture in Translation (Pandemics in Italian Literature and Film) | |
| PHIL 2124 | Philosophies of Disability | |
| or PHIL 2124W | Philosophies of Disability | |
| PHIL 2125 | Philosophy of Race and Gender | |
| or PHIL 2125W | Philosophy of Race and Gender | |
| PHIL 2281 | Philosophy of the Environment | |
| PSC 2240 | Poverty, Welfare, and Work | |
| PSC 2367 | Human Rights | |
| PSYC 3128 | Health Psychology | |
| PSYC 3199 | Current Topics in Psychology (Substance Abuse and Addictions) | |
| PUBH 1102 | History of Public Health | |
| PUBH 2113 | Impact of Culture upon Health | |
| PUBH 2114 | Environment, Health, and Development | |
| PUBH 2117 | Service Learning in Public Health | |
| PUBH 3115 | Global Health and Human Rights | |
| PUBH 3116 | Global Health Systems Performance | |
| PUBH 3136 | Health Law | |
| or HSCI 4103 | Healthcare Law and Regulation | |
| PUBH 3150 | Sustainable Energy and Environmental Health | |
| PUBH 3151W | Current Issues in Bioethics | |
| or HSCI 2105 | Current Issues in Bioethics | |
| PUBH 3199 | Topics in Public Health | |
| PUBH 3201 | Introduction to Bioinformatics | |
| PUBH 3202 | Introduction to Genomics | |
| PUBH 3995 | Undergraduate Research | |
| PUBH 4199 | Independent Study | |
| PUBH 4201 | Practical Computing | |
| PUBH 4202 | Bioinformatics Algorithms and Data Structures | |
| SOC 2102 | Techniques of Data Analysis | |
| SOC 2181 | Special Topics in Sociology (Demography and the Social World) | |
| SOC 2189 | Special Topics in Criminal Justice (Rethinking DC Youth and Policing) | |
| STAT 2118 | Regression Analysis | |
| STAT 2183 | Intermediate Statistics Lab/Packages | |
| or STAT 2183W | Intermediate Statistical Laboratory: Statistical Computing Packages | |
| SUST 1001 | Introduction to Sustainability | |
| WGSS 3170 | Topics 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.
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Required for the major | ||
| PUBH 1010 | First-Year Experience in Public Health | |
| PUBH 1101 | Introduction to Public Health and Health Services | |
| PUBH 2110 | Public Health Biology | |
| PUBH 2112 | Principles of Health Education and Health Promotion | |
| PUBH 2140 | Foundations of Research Methods | |
| PUBH 2142 | Introduction to Biostatistics for Public Health | |
| PUBH 3130 | Health Services Management and Economics | |
| PUBH 3131 | Epidemiology | |
| PUBH 3132 | Health and Environment | |
| PUBH 3133 | Global Health and Development | |
| PUBH 3135W | Health Policy | |
| PUBH 4140W | Senior 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:
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| AMST 2450 | History and Meaning of Higher Education in the United States | |
| AMST 2620 | Human Mind and Artificial Intelligence | |
| ANTH 1004 | Language in Culture and Society | |
| ANTH 2502 | Anthropology of Science and Technology: Twenty-First Century Brave New Worlds | |
| CHEM 2118W | Practicing Science Communications | |
| CHEM 2118W | Practicing Science Communications | |
| COMM 1040 | Public Communication | |
| COMM 1041 | Interpersonal Communication | |
| EAP 1010 | Oral Academic Communication for International Students | |
| ECON 4198W | Proseminar in Economics | |
| ENGL 1365 | Literature and the Environment | |
| ENGL 3918 | Literature and Medicine | |
| GTCH 2003 | Step 1 and 2 Hybrid: Inquiry Approaches to Teaching and Lesson Design | |
| GTCH 3101 | Knowing and Learning in Mathematics and Science | |
| HSSJ 4195 | Senior Capstone | |
| ORSC 2000 | Sophomore Colloquium | |
| PHIL 2124 | Philosophies of Disability | |
| or PHIL 2124W | Philosophies of Disability | |
| PHIL 2134 | Philosophy of Human Rights | |
| PSTD 1010 | Introduction to Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution | |
| SLHS 1011 | Voice and Diction | |
| SOC 4192 | Advanced Seminar in Criminal Justice | |
| SOC 4195 | Senior Research Seminar | |
| or SOC 4195W | Senior Research Seminar | |
| SPAN 3022 | Advanced Oral Proficiency: Environmental and Social Sustainability in Latin America | |
| SUST 2004 | Introduction to Sustainability Communication | |
| WLP 1020 | Writing, 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:
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| BISC 1005 | The Biology of Nutrition and Health | |
| BISC 1006 | The Ecology and Evolution of Organisms | |
| BISC 1007 | Food, Nutrition, and Service | |
| BISC 1008 | Understanding Organisms through Service Learning | |
| BISC 1111 | Introductory Biology: Cells and Molecules | |
| BISC 1112 | Introductory Biology: The Biology of Organisms | |
| HONR 1033 | Honors 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.