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Undergraduate BA, Certificate, and Minor Programs

Public Health BA Curriculum

For the Bachelor of Arts in Public Health Program

Course Requirements for the Public Health Major

(Does not include L&S or graduation requirements)

  • One (1) Lower Division Course
  • Five (5) Foundational Core Courses
  • One (1) Capstone Course
  • Ten (10) Elective Course Units (number of courses may vary)

All course work for the Public Health major is to be taken for a letter grade (with the exception of possible electives PB HLTH 116 and PB HLTH 104 A/B, which are Pass/No Pass only).

Due to accreditation changes instituted by the Council on Education in Public Health (CEPH), Berkeley Public Health undergraduate students graduating in 2017 and afterwards must abide by the new major completion requirements. Students with a graduation date set before Spring 2017 may continue to use the old requirements.

One Lower Division Course Requirement

Note: We only have one required lower division class for the Public Health major. Please view the undergraduate admissions and the admissions requirements section for the major Prerequisites that must be completed in order to apply to the major.

DATA C8:
Foundations of Data Science (4)
Fall, Summer, and Spring

  • Data C8 (also referred to as Data 8) has reserved seating for New First Year and New Transfer Students so it is strongly recommended to complete this requirement earlier, during your first two semesters at UC Berkeley.
  • The major will accept CA community college credit for this course requirement. See the list of equivalent DATA 8 courses that can be taken at a handful of community colleges in California. We will accept a course from the list to count toward the DATA 8 major requirement for public health.

Five Foundational Core Course Requirements

These core courses can be taken in any order with the exception of PB HLTH 142 and PB HLTH 150A.

PB HLTH 142:
Introduction to Probability and Statistics in Public Health (4)
Fall, Summer, and Spring

  • Note: We do not allow undergraduate students to take the online PH W142 through the Online MPH Program

PB HLTH 150A:
Introduction to Epidemiology (4)
Spring only

  • Students will have to complete PB HLTH 142 prior or concurrently with PB HLTH 150A. PB HLTH 250A/N250A will not be accepted in lieu of PB HLTH 150A.
  • If you are considering applying to the 4+1 MPH in Epi/Bio or MCAH program, or the Public Health Honors Thesis, you must complete PB HLTH 142 and PB HLTH 150A by the end of your junior year.

PB HLTH 150B/N150B:
Human Health and the Environment in a Changing World (3)
Fall and Summer

PB HLTH 150D:
Introduction to Health Policy & Management (3)
Fall and Summer

PB HLTH C150E:
Urban and Community Health (3)
Spring

Senior Capstone Requirement

The capstone requirement for the undergraduate Public Health major is designed to review, integrate, and apply concepts and methods presented in the core breadth courses.

  • The Capstone requirement must be taken for a letter grade and fulfilled in your senior year, the final two semesters at UC Berkeley.
  • Some capstone courses may require successfully completing certain breadth courses. Honors Thesis students will enroll in PB HLTH 155A for their capstone requirement.
  • Priority for enrollment is given to graduating students who need to satisfy the Public Health Capstone Requirement. If you have already completed a capstone course, you may not receive priority enrollment for another capstone course.

Capstone Course Options

The options listed in the Public Health Capstone List are for the current academic year and are subject to change. Only one course is required.

View the Public Health Capstone List

Capstone Honors Thesis

Go to the Undergraduate Honors Thesis page for information.

Ten Elective Course Units

Students must complete 10 elective course units in order to meet the requirements for the Public Health major, but the types of courses you take can come from many different disciplines. There are no concentrations offered under the Public Health undergraduate program, however, you can search our approved list below by theme or interest.

  • Any course offered under the Public Health department may count towards the elective units requirements for the major except for field study or internship units (PBHLTH 197), DeCal courses (PBHLTH 198), and independent research (PB HLTH 199)
  • Four of the ten elective units must be upper-division (courses numbered 100+)
  • Elective units must be taken for a letter grade (Exceptions: PB HLTH 116 is Pass/No Pass only)
  • PB HLTH 196s courses may count towards elective units as long as they are taken for a letter grade
  • Graduate courses (200+) within Berkeley Public Health may count towards the elective units requirement pending instructor approval and pre-requisite completion

Other courses not expressly listed below may be considered pending one-time approval and review by the Undergraduate Management Committee. Students must submit a Public Health Elective Petition for consideration (see Public Health Elective Petition Process below). Please discuss with an Academic Advisor.

Public Health Major Approved Elective Courses

Study Abroad Approved Electives List

When considering studying abroad as a Public Health major, you might want to take courses that you could use toward your Public Health electives requirements. The pre-approved major electives courses abroad are listed at the link below.

Please note that electives on this list expire five years after their approval date. If you wish to use something that has expired you are required to submit your own elective petition to renew the course.

Approved Elective Courses – Study Abroad Electives

For more information about studying abroad as a Public Health major, check out our PH Study Abroad website.

Public Health Elective Petition Process

If you would like to petition courses that are not currently on the approved list of electives that can found on Curriculum for the Bachelor of Arts in Public Health Program page, you will have to submit a petition via the Public Health Elective Petition Process Form.

You will have to provide a syllabus of the course you wish to petition and course(s) you find it similar to that are already approved electives. We recommend students reach out to the professors, advisors, or department of the class to obtain the syllabus. Your petition will be processed with a decision within 3-4 weeks. You may petition a class before, during, or after taking it. You must be a public health major to petition a class. Core and capstone classes cannot be petitioned; this function is for electives only. Electives being petitioned must be taken for a letter grade.

Undergraduate Public Health Sample Plans

Interested in Studying Abroad or how to fit in your Pre-Health requirements with the Public Health major? Review sample plans here:

Raising Your Unit Cap – Request Process

If you are a double major you will need permission from both departments for the unit raise. Please include/cc: your other departmental advising email(s) in your email to us.

Requests will generally be granted if you have successfully completed a semester at UC Berkeley with a similar workload in the past. For example, if you have completed 18–20 units before, your request to take over 20.5 units is more likely to be approved. Letter graded units vs PNP units will be taken into consideration and more information may be requested.

Requests will not be granted for “shopping” purposes (i.e. adding a class in case you don’t get into a different class).

Requests should be submitted during the second week of classes. Advisors are not able to raise the unit cap during Phase 1 or Phase 2.

To review your request to increase your maximum unit course load, please send the following information to sphug@berkeley.edu (the academic advisors):

  1. Student name and SID
  2. Current program and year
  3. Total number of units over the limit requested (20.5 is the unit limit for adjustment period) [For example: I was my unit cap to be raised to 25 units, so I would request “4.5 units over the limit”. ]
  4. Course[s] that will put you over limit
  5. Overall GPA
  6. Brief statement as to why you should be allowed to exceed the set maximum
  7. Unofficial transcript/screenshot of your CalCentral

Public Health Internship or Research Units (PH 197/198/199)

To obtain credit within the Public Health department for an internship or research, your first step is to identify a UC Berkeley Public Health faculty member to work with you. Once you find a faculty sponsor and are in agreement about the deliverables, you can email the academic advisors at sphug@berkeley.edu to get connected with the course scheduler who can set up the appropriate units if needed.

The meetings and assignments would be determined by your faculty member. Some questions you may want to go over with the faculty are:

  1. How many units to enroll in? 1 unit is 45 hours. Keep in mind any enrollment deadlines for the term.
  2. How often will you meet? Will you be checking in via Zoom or email?
  3. What will be the final deliverable of a summary of the experience? What will determine a P grade? Deadlines and length should be determined by the instructor and student. Confirm if there are any other materials or items that should be submitted in addition to the final deliverable.

If you feel your internship would align with another department, you may want to consider requesting academic credit from another department on campus. For more information, please see the Career Center’s guidelines for receiving internship academic credit.

Policy on Academic Dishonesty and Academic Misconduct

Please review the following document for our School of Public Health Undergraduate Program Policy on Academic Dishonesty and Academic Misconduct. As a school and program we take academic dishonesty and misconduct seriously.

Download the School of Public Health Undergraduate Program Policy on Academic Dishonesty and Academic Misconduct (.pdf).

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