PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The Certificate in Population Health is a 12-credit hour program that offers a secondary credential for graduate and professional students preparing to enter the healthcare, public policy, or community-based organization sectors, such as medicine, dentistry, nursing, social work, and public administration. The Certificate program is designed to broaden the student’s understanding of population health, population-level determinants of health, health disparities, and improving health disparities through public health research, intervention, and advocacy.
The Certificate in Population Health is designed for students who plan to work in careers outside of public health, but who wish to apply concepts of population health and promote health equity in their professional careers.
ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS
The following are required:
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Must be in good standing with the college or university where currently enrolled or last attended.
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Bachelor’s degree or entry-level first professional degree from an accredited institution.
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Grade point average of 3.0 or above using the upper-division coursework of the bachelor's degree.
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Career goal statement uploaded through
SOPHAS.
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Current CV/Resume uploaded through
SOPHAS.
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Three letters of academic or professional recommendation uploaded through
SOPHAS by the recommender. Applicants must list recommenders’ contact information on the application and then upon submission, SOPHAS will send instructions to each recommender on how to submit their letter electronically through the online portal.
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Transcripts:
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U.S. Applicants: SOPHAS requires a separate official transcript from every U.S. and Canadian institution attended be submitted by utilizing the instructions
here. Applicants will enter the information in coursework section of the application utilizing the data from their transcript(s). Do not enter foreign courses taken at Universities outside the U.S. or Canada into the coursework section of the application.
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International Applicants: Submit transcripts/mark sheets to the World Education Services (
www.wes.org) for a course-by-course evaluation. Applicants must designate SOPHAS to receive the evaluation; and
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International applicants are required to demonstrate
English proficiency by submitting
TOEFL (score of 88 or above) or
IELTS (score of 6.5 or above) that meet the
minimum required score. TOEFL scores must be submitted to SOPHAS using the designation code #5688.
APPLICATION DEADLINES
Hudson College of Public Health applications are reviewed on a rolling basis and applications will be reviewed as they are complete. All materials must be submitted by the deadlines listed below for full consideration.
Certificate in Population Health:
- Spring: December 15
- Fall: August 1
- Summer: May 1
APPLICATION PROCEDURE
CURRENT OU STUDENTS OR ALUMNI APPLICATION PROCESS
Application Instructions for Current OU Students and OU Alumni can be found here.
NON-OU STUDENTS OR ALUMNI APPLICATION PROCESS
STEP 1: SOPHAS APPLICATION
Submit a SOPHAS application (www.sophas.org) and required fee (click here to review information regarding SOPHAS fees and fee waivers). The documentation identified in the ‘Admission Requirements’ section must be submitted in SOPHAS.
STEP 2: SUPPLEMENTAL APPLICATION
Applicants to the OU Hudson College of Public Health are required to submit a supplemental application and fee. The supplemental application is available via the OU Health Sciences Center website at: https://apps.ouhsc.edu/admissions/. Applicants must select the same program(s) in the supplemental application as they did in the SOPHAS application.
PLEASE NOTE: Fee waivers are not available for the supplemental application.
Fee structure for the supplemental application is as follows:
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$100 for one or two professional programs (Certificate / MPH / MHA programs). One professional program = $100. Two professional programs = $100.
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$75 for one or two graduate program(s) (MS / PhD programs).
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$175 for one professional program AND one graduate program (i.e. applicant applies to both the MPH in Biostatistics and the MS in Biostatistics).
STEM DESIGNATION
The Certificate in Population Health is NOT considered a STEM-designated degree program.
A STEM-designated program is an academic program that falls under at least one of the approved categories from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). These categories are recognized by the government for their focus on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) topics. DHS's updated STEM-designated degree list can be found here: https://www.ice.gov/doclib/sevis/pdf/stemList2022.pdf.