Admissions
APPLICATION PROCEDURES
Admission to the doctoral program in Public Health Education is highly selective to ensure that all students accepted into the program have the potential to become effective applied researchers. We anticipate 3 to 5 openings for the coming academic year.
Applicants are encouraged to submit applications by December 1st to be considered for funding assistance although applications will be accepted after that date until the fall class is filled. A complete application submitted to the UNCG Graduate School includes:
- Graduate School Application. (International Application available on UNCG Graduate School Website)
- Undergraduate transcripts
- Graduate transcripts
- TOEFL/IELTS scores (if appropriate)
- A Statement of Purpose which should not exceed two single-spaced pages and includes: (1) Your research interests, how they developed (including how volunteer, work, and personal experiences led you to your interests), and who on our faculty you would be interested in working with and why, (2) Your career goals and (3) Why is UNCG a good fit for you, and you for UNCG?
- Three letters of recommendation
- Your reference providers are required to write a letter on your behalf in addition to filling out the required form. We also recommend that at least one of your letters of recommendation come from a professor/course instructor.
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
Admission into the program requires a master’s degree in health education, public health, a relevant social science, or an acceptable equivalent. Students should have master’s-level grade point averages that are acceptable as determined by the faculty. Students who have not completed the public health core as part of their master’s degree must do so by taking an approved course in each of the following areas: epidemiology, biostatistics, health services administration, and environmental health.
GENERAL REQUIREMENTS
Applicants with a first language other than English must also submit scores on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL); minimum required score is 79 as specified by the UNCG Graduate School Bulletin. As an alternative, students may submit scores from the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), minimum score 6.5.
Three letters of recommendation addressing the applicant’s potential for a research career and a statement of purpose written by the applicant are required in the application process. Students with deficiencies in one area can be admitted with extremely strong ratings in other areas.
Applications for admission into the PhD program will be reviewed by the department on a rolling basis for admission during the fall semester. In addition to a review of the applicant’s recommendations for successful graduate study, and previous academic training, the department strongly considers the compatibility of the student’s interest areas with those of the faculty and curriculum emphases.