Applicants must hold a bachelor's or advanced degree. A specific major is not required for admission, in fact, our students come from a wide variety of backgrounds.

Prerequisite Courses

Applicants to all the MPH and MS programs are expected to have satisfactorily completed an introductory statistics course.

In addition, applicants to the MPH Environmental Health concentration and MS Environmental Health concentration are expected to have completed General Biology, General Chemistry, and Organic Chemistry. Students who do not have the prerequisites at the time of application can be admitted but should take the courses by the end of their first year.

Grade Point Average

An undergraduate GPA of at least 2.85 (overall, or on the last 60 semester or 90 quarter units) is required for admission to SDSU (international students must have a GPA of at least 3.0). The average GPA for students enrolling in the SPH is 3.3.

Test Scores

GRE scores (general test only) must be submitted by all applicants except for Health Management and Policy applicants, who may submit either GRE or GMAT scores. The minimum acceptable GMAT score is 550.

Average GRE scores for students enrolling in the SPH master's programs are 150 on the verbal section and 150 on the quantitative section. We do not have a minimum acceptable score on the analytical section.

Applicants holding an advanced degree (master's degree or higher) from a college or university that is a member of the Council of Graduate Schools may be exempt from the GRE requirement. If you have received an advanced degree, contact Brenda Fass-Holmes at (619) 594-4492 to see if you qualify for an exemption of the GRE requirement. The exemption does not apply to graduates of foreign institutions. All applicants who are graduates of foreign institutions are required to submit GRE scores.

International applicants must submit one of the following as proof of English proficiency:

TOEFL minimum score of 80 iBT/ 550 PBT: Score can be sent electronically from Educational Testing Service (ETS) using the SDSU institution code: 4682. Test score must be from within the past two years.
IELTS overall score of 6.5 or higher: Score report must be submitted directly to the SDSU Graduate Admissions Office. Test score must be from within the past two years.
Duolingo English Test score of 105 or higher: Score can be sent electronically from Duolingo, to the SDSU Graduate Admissions Office. Test score must be from within the past two years.
PTE minimum score of 58 or higher: Score report must be submitted directly to the SDSU Graduate Admissions Office. Test score must be from within the past two years.
Transcripts indicating English as the principle language of instruction.
TOEFL iBT: 80
TOEFL PBT: 550
IELTS: 6.5