General Requirements
MPH degree graduates will be trained in all core areas of public health. They will have a rich background in epidemiology, biostatistics, health behavior, environmental health, and health policy and administration.
A completed MPH degree requires an overall 42 credit hours, including:
- Core Curricula: 30 credits
- Internship: 3 credits
- Electives: 9 credits
The average completion time depends on the student’s track and the number of credits taken each semester.
For the full-time track, which entails students taking nine (9) credit hours per fall and spring semester and six (6) in the summer semester, students typically graduate within two (2) years.
For the part-time* track, which entails students taking six (6) credit hours per semester, students typically graduate within three (3) to four (4) years.
*The MPH program is a classroom-based program with limited distance-learning options. However, the program offers most of our core classes after 5:00 PM Monday – Thursday to accommodate students who work full-time. The program cannot promise classes to be offered outside of traditional work hours. The student’s sole responsibility is to work with their place of employment.
Required MPH Core courses (33 CORE credits)
1st Year Required Courses
| Course Number | Credit | Class Name |
| PHC 5945 | 3 | Health Services Organization & Policy
(required in 1st semester) |
| PHC 5300 | 3 | Environmental Health |
| PHC 5475 or URP 5525 | 3 | Health Behavior |
| PHC 5001 or URP 5521 | 3 | Public Health Epidemiology |
| ECP 5538* | 3 | Health Policy Statistics
(required in 1st year) |
2nd Year Required Courses
| Course Number | Credit | Class Name |
| PHC 5945 | 3 | Internship
(Prerequisite(s): PHC 5155, PHC 5001/URP 5525, ECP 5538) |
| PHC 6110 | 3 | Comparative Health |
| PAD 5216 | 3 | Healthcare Finance |
| PAD 5884 | 3 | Healthcare Management |
| PHC 5797 | 3 | Adv. Social Statistics and Data Analysis |
| PHC 5151* | 3 | Health Politics and Policy Analysis (Capstone) |
Applied Practice Experience (APE) – PHC 5945
The goal of the APE is to expose students to day-to-day public health work experience. Positions can include international, national, state, or local health-related organizations for a required minimum 50-hour working experience and 2 work products. We are unable to accept waiver requests.
Those in the part-time track can split the internship hours between two or more semesters, with approval from the Internship Coordinator, Dr. Alan Rowan (arowan@fsu.edu).
For more information, please click here
Electives (9-12 Credits)
Students are encouraged to tailor their electives towards their individual needs and interests, such as epidemiology, business, economics, administration, sociology, statistics, and other fields. The public health program regularly offers electives in the following areas: PHC 5936 Selected Topics in Public Health [Leadership in Public Health, Maternal and Child Health; Program Evaluation; College Health]. Additionally, courses taken in pursuit of the Graduate Certificate in Public Health Epidemiology will count towards the MPH electives requirement.