Accelerated Graduate Pathway to Master of Public Health

Print Degree Planner (opens a new window) |

USM’s Accelerated Graduate Pathway (AGP) to the Public Health Master’s program allows students to take graduate level courses while an undergraduate. These courses will satisfy requirements in both the undergraduate and graduate programs, allowing undergraduate students to complete up to 21 graduate-level credits.

Program Requirements

In order to participate in the Accelerated Graduate Pathway to the Master of Public Health, students must complete the following.

Declare any major. The accelerated MPH program accepts students from all majors and does not have any pre-requisite course requirements.
Select the accelerated pathway at any point during their undergraduate degree. The ideal is between 54 and 84 credits, and entering students can elect the pathway when applying for admission.
Be assigned a secondary faculty advisor from the MPH program who can help them plan for their MPH courses. If the student is a BSPH major, their current advisor will remain their accelerated degree advisor.
Have an earned undergraduate GPA of 3.2 or higher at the time of enrollment in graduate courses. The USM MPH does not accept grades lower than B- toward completion of the graduate degree.
Enroll in specific 500-level graduate MPH courses, provided good academic standing. The following courses are open to students in the accelerated pathway:
- MPH 525 American Health Systems (Core)
- MPH 535 Epidemiology (Core)
- MPH 545 Biostatistics (Core)
- MPH 539 Topics in Public Health – topics vary each semester; students may repeat this course for credit with different topics – (elective)
- MPH 555 Environmental Health (Core)
- MPH 565 Social and Behavioral Health (Core)

Up to 21 MPH credits (7 courses) may be counted towards a student’s undergraduate degree and transferred into the MPH degree upon acceptance. Students should consult their undergraduate faculty advisor to determine whether MPH courses may fulfill any undergraduate course requirements or whether they will count as general undergraduate electives.

Enrollment in the accelerated program does NOT guarantee admission to the MPH program. Accelerated students will need to complete the standard MPH application process and are encouraged to seek a letter of recommendation from a Public Health faculty member.