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Public Health

With a degree in public health, you can join the effort to protect the environment, prevent the spread of disease, enhance health and well-being at home and abroad, and affect change in policy and law that ensures the rights of all citizens to a healthy world.

What to Expect

As a public health major, you will develop the specialized knowledge and skills needed to address current and emerging public health issues. You will learn to demonstrate proficient reasoning and critical-thinking skills, including the ability to analyze, synthesize and evaluate information to make sound decisions and solve problems as they apply to public health.

As a student in the only school of public health in the state of South Carolina, you will discover quality learning experiences both in and out of the classroom. You will have the opportunity to participate in undergraduate research led by well-trained, nationally known faculty and staff experts. In fact, the Arnold School of Public Health leads the university in extramural funding per tenure-track faculty members and is a major contributor to the university's recognition by the Carnegie Foundation as an institution of both "high community service activity" and "high research activity."

 

Undergraduate Degree

B B.A. and B.S. in Public Health

The Arnold School of Public Health offers both a bachelor of arts and a bachelor of science with a major in public health. Both degrees provide you with a strong foundation for careers in public health or other graduate programs. The B.S. program offers a broad-based natural-science curriculum that is valuable for students interested in graduate study in natural and environmental public health or students who want to enter medical school.

Typical courses for the major in public health include:

  • Introduction to Public Health
  • Elementary Statistics for the Biological and Life Sciences
  • Principles of Epidemiology
  • Environmental Pollution and Health
  • Personal and Community Health
  • Psychology of Physical Activity
  • Introduction to Health Promotion, Education and Behavior
  • Health Problems in a Changing Society
  • Community Health Problems
  • Introduction to Health Care Management and Organization
     

Apply for Undergraduate Admission

Our Office of Undergraduate Admissions provides the most current information on the application process so you can check the requirements based on your current status and find university scholarships.