Master of Public Health

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Program Overview

The Chicago School’s 21st Century curriculum embraces the evolving U.S. healthcare landscape, which has seen dramatic change following the implementation of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act while developing a global mindset to respond to the challenges of a highly interconnected world. The rigorous, interdisciplinary curriculum integrates theory, scientific research, professional practice and innovation - all framed by career-focused community engagement - offering the knowledge and skills required by a changing healthcare marketplace.

The Chicago School’s Master of Public Health (MPH) consists of 42-credit hours including 27 credits of core courses, 9 credits in a chosen concentration, and 6 credits of applied practice experience culminating in a capstone project. All students participate in a required international field experience, for an average of 7-10 days, which typically will not exceed 12 days, including travel time, allowing them to examine the unique and common health challenges of a diverse, yet interconnected world.

Program Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this program students will be able to:

Professional Practice

• Compare and contrast the structure, function, and organization of public health and healthcare systems in the United States and globally; and apply systems thinking tools to understand public health issues.
• Identify public health needs, design and execute interventions to promote, preserve and protect the communities’ health. 
• Assess the impact of public health programs, ensuring community partnerships are built and sustained in the process.
• Apply principles and practices of ethics, leadership, and management to empower stakeholders as they collaborate throughout the process of evidence based decision making to improve health behaviors and outcomes.

Diversity

• Drawing from the literature on the social determinants of health, students will create culturally competent solutions for public health concerns keeping in mind the cultural norms, values and practices of diverse populations, as well as the inequities experienced by those groups.     
• Advocate for policies, and programs whose goals include improving health outcomes and health equity among diverse communities.

Professional Behavior

• Determine appropriate communication strategies and modalities to communicate public health content based on need of the audience and environment.      
• Public health professionals will engage ethically and professionally with the communities they serve and on interprofessional teams.

Scholarship

• Apply epidemiological methods that use both quantitative and qualitative research methods to examine public health challenges and utilize tools and techniques of biostatistics, informatics, computer programming to interpret findings that inform further research, policy and practice.      
• Evaluate the public health impact of policy and understand the process associated with policy-making.

Admission Requirements

For information on where The Chicago School is currently authorized, licensed, registered, exempt or not subject to approval, please visit https://www.thechicagoschool.edu/why-us/state-authorization/

Application to the MPH Program is open to any person who has earned a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited institution and who meets other entrance requirements.

 Factors that are considered in admission to the MPH Program are:

• Generally, an undergraduate GPA of a 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale is required for admission. Applicants must submit official transcripts from all schools where a degree was earned.
• Application fee: $50
• Resume or Curriculum Vitae
• Interview with Program Chair of Faculty Designee (by phone or GTM)
• Two-page personal statement/essay answering the following questions:

1. How will your personal and professional accomplishments, academic background, and experience contribute to your success in the MPH Program?
2. How will the successful completion of the MPH Program  support your professional career goals?

Applicant Notification

The Chicago School reviews applications on a rolling basis. Once review begins, complete applications will be considered by the Admission Committee and applicants will be notified regarding the admission decision. The Chicago School of does not share information or provide any feedback regarding admission decisions.

If a student is offered admission and in order to secure a place in the incoming class, a non-refundable tuition deposit of $250 will be required by the deposit deadline indicated in the offer of admission. The non-refundable deposit will be applied in full toward the student’s tuition upon enrollment.

Degree Completion Requirements

• Successful completion of 42 credit hours of coursework
• Successful completion of 75 hours of applied practice experience over an 8-week semester

On average, a student who progresses successfully through the academic program should expect to complete the Master of Public Health degree in 27 months. A student must complete all degree requirements within 39 months.

Policies

The following policies are located under Academic Policies and Procedures : Academic Calendar, Admissions Requirements, Attendance, Satisfactory Academic Progress, Service Learning, and Transfer Credit/Course Waiver. Click the link above for detailed information.

Articulation Agreements

The Chicago School has established agreements between the Master of Public Health program and the B.A. Psychology program to allow qualified students to students to enroll in master’s level courses while completing their bachelors degree that will then count toward the master’s degree. Click on this link  for details.

Applied Practice Experience Requirements

MPH students complete a minimum of 75 hours of fieldwork over an 8-week semester. Through supervised applied practice experience, students apply public health principles to real-world challenges. Students registered in this program incur a one-time $195 Experiential Learning Technology Fee.