Prospective students must submit the University of West Florida (UWF) Application for Admission to Graduate School and a nonrefundable fee (approximately $30) to the Office of Admissions by the appropriate deadline. Applications for Admission may be obtained from the Office of Admissions and can be completed online.

It is the responsibility of the applicant to have submitted to the Office of Admissions two official transcripts directly from each college or university attended. Official test results from the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) are required to be sent for all applicants directly to the Office of Admissions from the Educational Testing Service. First-time graduate students or students transferring from another graduate program must:

1. Have a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university.
   
2. Take the Graduate Record Exam within five years preceding application to the UWF MPH program (see below for exceptions).
   • Applicants with terminal degrees (PhD or EdD) or advanced professional degrees (MD, DDS, DVM, JD, DO) from accredited programs and licensed in the United States may request to waive the GRE requirement.
3. Meet the following criteria:
   1. shall have earned a “B” average or better in all work taken while registered as an upper division student working toward a baccalaureate degree or
      
   2. shall have a total Verbal and Quantitative GRE General Test Score of 1000 or higher or a GMAT score of 465 or higher, or an MCAT score of 25 or higher. Students currently enrolled in medical school must have earned an average MCAT score of 7 based on the three sections of the exam.
      
   3. If a student is an international applicant whose native language is not English, or the student is from a country in which the primary language is not English, they must take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) before applying for admission. Applicants to the University of West Florida are considered international students if they are not U.S. Citizens, dual citizens, or permanent residents. All such students should refer to the current UWF Catalog for information pertaining to international applicants, including requirements for completion of, and scores on the TOEFL.
   4. Other criteria may apply.
      
4. Three letters of recommendation are required for each applicant.
   
5. Two personal writing samples are required for each applicant (e.g., written reports completed by the applicant or other representative samples of professional writing skills). Students with writing deficiencies may be admitted conditionally pending completion of the online course ENC3250 Professional Writing with a grade of "C" or better. Student must complete the course within one year of the date of conditional admission.
   
6. Basic computer competency is expected.
   
7. Upon acceptance into the program, each student must read, sign, and submit the MPH Honor Code Form and adhere to the principles in this code while a student.
8. Applicants with insufficient training in public health or other health and biological sciences will be required to take two foundational proficiency courses: HSC5506 Epidemiology and HSC5552 Communicable and Degenerative Diseases. These courses will NOT count toward the degree requirements.


9. Applicants with insufficient training in statistics or those that have taken a statistics course more than seven years ago may be admitted conditionally pending demonstration of proficiency in statistics within the first year in the program in one of the following two ways:
   • Take and pass STA 2023 Elements of Statistics with a grade of "C" or better, followed by STA 5176 Biostatistics with a grade of "C" or better. This option is highly advised for students with limited or no background in statistics (e.g. a student who has never taken a course in statistics or has taken a statistics course more than seven years ago).
   • Take and pass STA 5176 Biostatistics with a grade of "C" or better. This option is advised for students who feel they can successfully complete Biostatistics.
10. Students must earn a grade of “C” or better in all courses in the MPH program in order to remain in good standing within the program and maintain an overall grade average of "B" in order to remain in good standing within the program and in order to graduate from the program.
    
11. As indicated in the program description, all students are required to satisfactorily complete (with a grade of “C” or better) a supervised internship experience (6 sh total) that includes documentation of:
    • practice skills - planned, supervised, and evaluated by an approved preceptor, documenting application of the knowledge, skills, and academic objectives of the MPH degree program. Residents in preventive medicine, occupational medicine, aerospace medicine, and public health and general preventive medicine completing their academic year in the program may count their practicum year, accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, as the required practice skills for the MPH program.
    • culminating experience - demonstrating synthesis and integration of knowledge and documented with a written report and defense on research conducted during practice skills training. Depending on the geographic location of the student, the defense may be completed in person at UWF or via Web conferencing using a Webcam. Webcam fees are the responsibility of the student. Software to engage is Web conferencing is available free of charge, and inexpensive Webcams (~$30) can be utilized with this service.
12. Prior to graduation, all students must also pass with a grade of "C" or better a written comprehensive exam. Students within UWF's geographic area must complete the exam requirements at UWF.
13. Core courses in the MPH program and some elective courses may require exams to be taken under the supervision of an approved proctor within the geographic location of the student, or require Web conferencing using a Webcam. Proctor and Webcam fees are the responsibility of the student. Software to engage is Web conferencing is available free of charge, and inexpensive Webcams (~$30) can be utilized with this service.

Students from the Navy and Army Medical Residency Programs entering the MPH will substitute Aerospace Medicine and Toxicology (taught by adjuncts from the military) for six semester hours of electives.

No more than 49% of the program requirements for the degree may be taken in traditional business subjects.

Students qualified to enroll in graduate studies but who do not have the required documents by the application deadline date, or those who do not intend to work toward a graduate degree, can complete up to 12 hours as non-degree seeking students.

Justice Mbizo, Dr.PH, MPH Academic Advisor
(850) 474-2650
jmbizo@uwf.edu