Become a public health leader, innovator and advocate

The Master of Public Health (MPH) program provides a collaborative, applied approach to public health education, focusing on health promotion and disease prevention to vulnerable populations. Gain the knowledge and practical skills to become an effective public health leader and solve problems to reduce health disparities. Choose from one of two concentrations:

• Community health practice: Assess a community’s health needs and design, implement and evaluate interventions that address those needs.
• Social epidemiology: Use biostatistics and epidemiology to inform research, policy and intervention efforts aimed at eliminating health inequalities.

Courses are offered on weekday evenings at DePaul’s Loop Campus. This program can be completed in two years.

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Diverse opportunities for field experience

You’ll get real-world experience by doing a nine-month practicum in the public health field. Chicago has a number of government agencies, community organizations and health care systems that serve as practicum sites.

Application Deadlines

The fall 2022 application is open now in SOPHAS with a priority deadline of March 1, 2022.  Applications will continue to be reviewed on a rolling basis after the priority deadline until the ?cohort is filled.

Admission Requirements

Submit an online application, official transcripts, résumé/CV, a personal statement and two letters of recommendation.

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Required Courses

You’ll take seven core courses, seven concentration-specific courses and two electives.

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92%

of MPH graduates were employed, continuing their education or pursuing other goals within six months of graduation.

Get your MPH Degree with faculty who make an impact

You’ll study with passionate and driven faculty like Assistant Professor Suzanne Carlberg-Racich, who has spent over 16 years volunteering at Chicago Recovery Alliance, where she currently serves as the Director of Research. Her teaching practices utilize the Chicago area as an extension of the classroom. She enrolls her students in real-world experience due to her two decades of public health practice.

“This program gave me the tools I needed to approach any given public health challenge with curiosity, hope and confidence that I could impact positive change. One of the key functions of my position is to lead Lurie Children’s community health needs assessment and implementation strategy process. My training with DePaul has prepared me to lead these efforts, including stakeholder engagement, primary data collection, secondary data analysis, dissemination and iterative evaluation and monitoring.”

Kelli (MPH ’17)

Director of Operations, Healthy Communities, Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago 

Alumni Network

Join a diverse community of Master of Public Health alumni working in the public, private and nonprofit sectors locally and around the world. You’ll find our graduates at companies and organizations like Howard Brown Health, Rush University Medical Center, Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Scholarships & Aid

Graduate school is an investment in your future. Learn more about the financial aid and scholarship opportunities available to you.

Admission Requirements

??The DePaul MPH Program admits students once per year in the fall quarter using SOPHAS.  SOPHAS is the online, centralized application service for public health graduate programs nationwide.  We are currently reviewing applications to start the MPH program in fall 2023. The priority application deadline is March 1, 2023.  Visit the SOPHAS Applicant Help Center for detailed application instructions.  There is no supplemental application through DePaul's website- you will only apply via SOPHAS.*?

The following are required for students applying to the program:

• A bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited institution is required for admission.
• A completed online application. For the MPH, we will only accept applications via SOPHAS.
• Official transcripts from all previous college coursework. A GPA of 3.0 or above (on a 4.0 scale) is recommended, but not required, for admission.
• If your cumulative undergraduate GPA is below a 3.0, please provide a brief, 250-word statement describing any circumstances which may have led to your GPA and how you plan to be successful in an academically rigorous graduate-level program.  You will find this in the questions section in the SOPHAS application.
• Responses to the following questions:
  • What previous experiences have led to your interest in public health? (250 words)
  • Your reasons for seeking an MPH degree from DePaul University. (150 words)
  • Your reasons for seeking an MPH degree in community health practice or social epidemiology. (250 words)
  • Describe how this degree will help your career/professional goals. (250 words) 
  • Public health professionals work with a wide variety of people from all different backgrounds. Share what diversity, equity, and inclusion mean to you and why they are important. (250 words)
• Two letters of recommendation: one from a person who can speak to the applicant’s academic performance and one who can speak to the applicant’s ability to work with diverse communities and hold a commitment to social justice.  Note: SOPHAS requires you to request a minimum of 3 references but we only require two to review an application.
• Current résumé or curriculum vitae.
• Applicants may be asked to provide additional supplemental materials or to interview should the admissions committee require it.

International applicants?

?International student applicants must submit proof of English language proficiency in order to be reviewed for admission. The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences accepts scores from the TOEFL, the IELTS and the Duolingo English Test (DET) as proof of English proficiency. Students who have previously earned an undergraduate or graduate degree in a country where the official native language is recognized as English may be exempt from the English language proficiency requirement- please contact the Office of Graduate Admission with questions about this exemption (graddepaul@depaul.edu).

To be considered English language proficient, the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences requires a score of at least 80 on the iBT TOEFL with a minimum score of 17 on each section, or at least 6.5 on the IELTS or at least 110 on the DET.  

While applicants who meet the college minimum will be reviewed, the MPH admission committee prefers the following preferred scores: TOEFL (96), IELTS (7.5), and DET (125).
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How to Apply

For the MPH: Social Epidemiology and MPH: Community Health Practice, online applications must be submitted via SOPHAS.

 

*Combined degree applicants (current DePaul undergraduate students) can apply here. Applicants for the dual MBA/MPH can apply here.

Application Deadline

The MPH program admits for the fall quarter only.  The preferred application deadline is March 1 annually. It is recommended that applicants submit via SOPHAS 3-4 week?s ahead of the preferred deadline to allow time for verification. Only applications verified in SOPHAS will be reviewed. After March 1, applications will be reviewed until the cohort is filled.  The final deadline for international applicants is May 1 annually?.

For More Information

• Visit Our admission events site
• Email: graddepaul@depaul.edu
• Phone: (773) 325-7315

Admission events include Graduate School Open Houses and MPH Program Information Sessions. At these events, prospective students can learn about admissions requirements and program content. Faculty, staff, and students are also available to answer questions at these session. You can view the schedule of upcoming events here; we look forward to seeing you there!

Learn more about Graduate Admission.

Degree Requirements

Students must complete a total of 58 quarter hours consisting of 7 required core courses, 7 required concentration specific courses, and two elective courses.

All MPH courses are offered during the evening. The program uses a cohort-based model in that students are admitted once per academic year and move through courses together as a single group. Students can complete their degree in two, three, or four years. Students complete the practicum field experience and capstone course sequence in their last year.

Course Requirements

Required Core Courses (7 Courses, 22 Credit Hours)

Course	Title	Quarter Hours
MPH 501	INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC HEALTH	4
MPH 502	INTRODUCTION TO EPIDEMIOLOGY	4
MPH 503	INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH	4
MPH 511	HEALTH AND BEHAVIOR THEORY	4
MPH 541	BIOSTATISTICS	4
MPH 600	PREPARATION FOR PUBLIC HEALTH PRACTICE	1
MPH 699	PUBLIC HEALTH PRACTICUM	1

Concentration Courses (7 Courses, 28 Credit Hours)

The list of courses required for each concentration can be found under "Concentration Requirements."

Elective Courses (2 Courses, 8 Credit Hours)?

Two elective courses, comprising eight credit hours, are required. Students are encouraged to select elective courses that align with their public health interests and career objectives. In addition to the MPH elective courses listed below, students should consider other graduate-level courses at DePaul. A student who chooses to take a course outside of MPH for elective credit must produce a brief rationale for the choice, discussing its relevance to the field of public health and the student’s course of study. Students must receive approval from the Program Director before enrolling in elective courses outside the MPH program.

Course	Title	Quarter Hours
MPH 515	PUBLIC HEALTH ETHICS AND POLICY
MPH 551	GLOBAL HEALTH INEQUITIES
MPH 552	MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH
MPH 553	PUBLIC HEALTH AND FORCED MIGRATION
MPH 554	GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH PRACTICE
MPH 556	WOMEN'S HEALTH
MPH 558	QUALITATIVE METHODS IN PUBLIC HEALTH
MPH 559	VIOLENCE AND PUBLIC HEALTH
MPH 595	SPECIAL TOPICS IN PUBLIC HEALTH
MPH 599	INDEPENDENT STUDY IN PUBLIC HEALTH

Practicum Requirements

Students complete their practicum field experience during their last year in the program. Students are required to commit to 8-10 hours per week to their practicum site, for a minimum of 250 hours over the course of the nine-month placement. Students are required to be physically onsite at the agency for the majority of these hours providing students with a structured and integrated application of their coursework.

Capstone Thesis

During the practicum, students work on a project that address a need or fills a gap at their practicum site. The project serves as the foundation for the capstone thesis, which is developed over a three-course sequence that runs concurrently with the practicum.?? Students must receive a passing grade on their capstone thesis in order to complete the program and obtain their MPH degree.

Content displayed from this DePaul University catalog page.

???Examples of previous capstone projects are available in our Master of Public Health Graduate Forum Abstracts Booklet??.????