Prospective Graduate Student FAQs
The department of Public Health Education offers two graduate degrees:
MPH program: For best consideration, please submit your application by March 1. If you would like to be considered for a graduate assistantship or university fellowships, please submit your application by February 1. We will continue to review applications on a rolling basis until the incoming class is filled.PhD program: For best consideration, please submit your application by December 1. We will continue to review applications on a rolling basis until the incoming class is filled.
We will continue to review applications for both programs on a rolling basis until the incoming class is filled. Please contact the department
The Department attempts to provide support for all eligible PhD students and as many MPH students as possible. Typically, departmental financial support is guaranteed for only 2 years; however, doctoral students frequently are funded beyond their second year in other ways (e.g., teaching for the department; research assistantships on faculty grants). The support is intended to (a) assist you in meeting the expenses of graduate study without having to find employment outside of the University, and (b) provide assistance to faculty in meeting their research and teaching responsibilities.Departmental Assistantships. All doctoral applicants will be considered for assistantships. We will send assistantship applications to the best qualified MPH applicants. If you are not offered support before you enroll in the MPH program, you may be offered support later, as it becomes available.
Tuition waivers. We try to offer tuition waivers to students with assistantships, but tuition waivers are in limited supply so some students with assistantships may not receive a tuition waiver. Tuition waivers do not cover fees; therefore, students are typically responsible for paying fees.
Out-of-state students may be granted an out-of-state tuition waiver which pays the out-of-state portion of tuition costs only. When possible, out-of-state students may also be granted an in-state tuition waiver, which covers the additional cost of in-state tuition, in addition to out-of-state tuition. Please note that if you are granted an out-of-state tuition waiver ONLY, you will still be responsible for paying in-state tuition. If you are NOT already a North Carolina resident, we urge you to seek residency as soon as possible so as to reduce the demand on the limited number of tuition waivers available
Fellowships and Scholarships: In addition to Departmental assistantships (which have a service requirement), UNCG has non-service fellowships and scholarships that are awarded by the Graduate School to exceptionally qualified students who meet the particular requirements of the award.
All of our MPH courses are offered at night (from 6-9 pm). Therefore, it is possible for students to work full time while enrolled in the MPH program. However, we strongly recommend that students who are working full time enroll in the MPH program part time (taking 2 courses per semester plus some courses in the summer, and finishing in three years).Most doctoral students pursue the PhD program full time and hold graduate assistantships. Therefore, most doctoral students do not work full time. However, we have had doctoral students who have attended the program part time.
We encourage any students who wish to work full time to discuss your plans with your faculty advisor or the director of graduate study once you are admitted to the program.
No, we no longer require the GRE as part of our application process for either the MPH and PhD programs. Our holistic review of applications looks into relevant work and volunteer experience, strong letters of recommendation and academic performance overall. Our admissions philosophy is one of accepting the whole person rather than individual assessments that are often inaccessible to all groups equally.
The Graduate School requires a minimum 3.0 undergraduate GPA for full admission into UNCG graduate programs. This requirement can sometimes be waived when exceptional achievement is demonstrated in other areas. Students who are provisionally admitted are not eligible for graduate assistantships until after their provisions have been met (typically after the first semester in the program). If your undergraduate GPA is below 3.0, it will be important to provide information in your application about work and volunteer experience in related areas. We want to know that you can handle the rigors of graduate training, and have a passion for the work of community health education.
Our MPH students come from diverse backgrounds, so an undergraduate degree in public health is not required.
Our PhD students come from diverse backgrounds, so a graduate degree in public health is not required. However, students who do not have an MPH will need to take core MPH courses in addition to their doctoral courses. In general, doctoral students without an MPH should plan on spending an additional year to complete this extra coursework (public health core + health education core). Doctoral students who have an MPH degree in a field other than community health education are required to take three additional courses (health education core). See the degree requirements in the graduate bulletin for additional details.
No. We only consider PhD applicants who already have a Masters degree (although that Masters degree can be in any discipline, see above). We have had many successful students who have applied to our PhD program after completing our MPH program and some of our MPH students have pursued doctoral degrees at other institutions.Note, however, that the focus of the two programs is very different. Our MPH program is a professional preparation program for students interested in careers that involve the development and management of population-based health promotion and disease prevention activities within communities. Our PhD program prepares students to conduct and disseminate rigorous research and to teach in academic settings
If you have been accepted to our MPH program and are interested in the doctoral program, we encourage you to discuss your plans with your faculty advisor once you enroll. We also encourage you to talk to our doctoral students who have transitioned from the MPH program to the doctoral program about their experiences. You can apply for the doctoral program during your second year of the MPH program or after you graduate.
Our MPH and PhD programs are designed for traditional delivery with students meeting face-to-face with a professor on UNCG’s Greensboro campus. Our core MPH courses meet in the evenings (Monday – Thursday nights, from 6-9pm). The availability of core doctoral courses varies by course. Sometimes our students complete elective courses in other departments that are online, especially during the summer or while they are completing their internship, but the number of online elective courses is limited.
There are several options for you to consider as you try to decide whether a degree in PHE at UNCG is the right choice for you.
- You can review information about our faculty to determine if there is a fit between their interests and your interests. This is a critical step for applicants to the PhD program, but also a great suggestion for MPH applicants. Feel free to contact our faculty to discuss their research, community engaged scholarship, and projects.
- You can review information about our current MPH/PhD students and contact them to learn more about their experiences here.
- You can apply to the UNCG Visions Program, which allows students to take a few graduate classes without being admitted to a particular program of study. Credits earned at UNCG through Visions are recorded in the University Registrar’s Office on an official transcript. Taking courses through Visions allows you to get introduced to our department and the field of public health and the courses can still count toward your degree. We recommend that students in the Visions program take either HEA 601 and / HEA 604 in the fall and then either HEA 602 and / or HEA 645 in the spring. You can count 3 courses taken through Visions toward your MPH degree. Note that this won’t allow you to graduate any sooner. Instead, it would just lessen your course load each semester during your time here.
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This online site offers some great advice about how to decide if you should go to graduate school, preparing for graduate school, applying to grad school, and financing your graduate education.
The Graduate School has put together an excellent resource guide with information for incoming students. Access it here for information on housing, parking, and other information about living in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Dr. Mike Perko, Director of Graduate Study by email at mike.perko@uncg.edu.