4.0 Admissions

Admissions criteria for the public health major

Current Ohio State students

Current Ohio State students wanting to switch to the public health major or pre-major can schedule an appointment with an academic advisor in the college by calling 614-292-8350. Students interested in declaring the public health major must have a minimum cumulative 2.5 Ohio State University GPA, have completed a minimum of 12 credit hours earned from The Ohio State University and must successfully complete a prerequisite course, PUBHLTH 2010: Critical Issues in Global Public Health with a minimum grade of C. Students who do not meet these requirements but have a minimum cumulative 2.0 GPA will be admitted to the pre-major, and switched into the major when these requirements are met. 

New first-year students

Students admitted to Ohio State who meet Undergraduate Admissions criteria will be directly admitted to the BSPH major. 

Transfer students

Students interested in transferring to Ohio State to pursue the Bachelor of Science in Public Health (BSPH) major just first contact Undergraduate Admissions and apply to the university. A minimum of 30 credit hours credits (or equivalent) is required to transfer to Ohio State. 

Transfer students who have been admitted to the university and have a 2.5 GPA from their previous institution and have completed PUBHLTH 2010 with a grade of C or higher will be directly admitted to the major. Students whose GPA is below 2.5 (but at or above 2.0) or who have not completed PUBHLTH 2010 will be admitted as pre-majors.

Students attending regional campuses

Any Ohio State University student currently enrolled at a regional campus who is interested in switching to the Columbus campus into public health can schedule an appointment with a College of Public Health academic advisor by calling 614-292-8350. If after meeting with a College of Public Health undergraduate academic advisor, the student decides to switch to the Columbus campus to complete the public health major and they meet the requirements to switch to the Columbus campus (2.5 cumulative Ohio State University GPA or higher and completion of at least 30 Ohio State University credit hours) the student will need to work with their regional campus advisor to start the campus change process.

Students who campus change and have a 2.5 cumulative GPA and have completed PUBHLTH 2010 with a grade of C or higher will be directly admitted to the major. Students whose cumulative GPA is below 2.5 (but at or above 2.0) or who have not completed PUBHLTH 2010 will be admitted as pre-majors.

Degree completion time limitation

Students will have five years from admission to the major to complete their degree requirements. Students not graduating within five years must meet with an academic advisor and complete a petition to request to return to the program which should include a course plan for finishing their degree. The petition will be reviewed by the associate dean of undergraduate studies. If a student is on academic action (warning, probation) when they complete the petition, they must clearly identify actions they have taken or will take to assure their academic preparedness to return to the program and if approved, the student will remain on academic action with the corresponding conditions enforced.