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Undergraduate BA, Certificate, and Minor Programs

Undergraduate Public Health Major Declaration Requirements and Instructions

Major Maps

Interested in Public Health as a major? Check out the Public Health Major Map! You can explore more major maps by going to UC Berkeley My Major Map.

The Public Health Major Declaration link is located at the bottom of this page. The Public Health declarations are open December 17 – January 1 and May 17 – June 1.

Students must apply to the major by the end of their 5th semester at UC Berkeley or 1st semester as transfer students.

Public health seeks to improve human health through the development and application of knowledge that prevents disease, protects the public from harm, and promotes health throughout the state, the nation, and the world.

Under the Public Health major, undergraduates will develop and apply knowledge from multiple disciplines for the promotion and protection of the health of the human population, giving due consideration to principles of human rights and cultural perspectives that abound in our multicultural country and world.

The undergraduate major in Public Health is a Bachelor of Arts degree offered through the College of Letters and Science.

Undergraduate Admissions Requirements

Students without a reserved seat in the Public Health major will have to apply to the Public Health major by the end of their 5th semester. After completing the prerequisite coursework, they can submit a declaration form for the major.

  • L&S First-Year Applied HD Public Health Students

    First year students who selected Public Health as their major when applying to UC Berkeley will have Applied HD Public Health listed on CalCentral per L&S High-Demand Majors for First-Year Students policies.

    Applied HD Public Health students are guaranteed a seat in the major as long as the following criteria has been met by the end of the 5th semester.

    Please do not declare another major prior to declaring Public Health as this will remove “Applied HD Public Health” from CalCentral.

    1. Earn a 2.0 GPA in major prerequisite courses with at least a letter grade of a C- or higher in each course; note that a C− in all the courses would be a 1.70 GPA and a C in all the courses is a 2.0 GPA
    2. Earn a 2.0 GPA for the semester in which you are declaring the major
    3. Earn a 2.0 cumulative GPA
    4. Submit the Declaration Form before the end of your 5th semester, December 17 – January 1 or May 17 – June 1
  • Intended Public Health Majors (Not Applied HD)

    To be eligible to declare the major, Transfer students and first-year students who are not Applied HD Public Health students will need to meet the following criteria by the end of the 5th semester. The Declaration Form is open at the end of the Fall and Spring semesters.

    1. Earn a 2.0 GPA in major prerequisite courses with at least a letter grade of a C- or higher in each course; note that a C− in all the courses would be a 1.70 GPA and a C in all the courses is a 2.0 GPA
    2. Earn a 2.0 GPA for the semester in which you are declaring to the major
    3. Earn a 2.0 cumulative GPA
    4. Submit the Declaration Form before the end of your 5th semester, December 17 – January 1 or May 17 – June 1; transfer students must submit the Declaration Form to the major by the end of their 1st semester at UC Berkeley
      • Note for Transfer students: If you have completed the prerequisites prior to your 1st semester on campus, you are eligible to declare the major in the semester before you matriculate. Meet with an academic advisor to learn more.

Prerequisite Coursework

All prerequisite courses must be completed prior to declaring the major, with a minimum letter grade of a C-, and a minimum of a 2.0 GPA in the prerequisite courses, term submitting the Declaration Form, and overall.

If you had to retake a course, only the higher grade will be included to count towards the prerequisites. Students are eligible to declare the major up until their 5th semester. This does not include summer terms or terms away from UC Berkeley.

  • Biological Science Prerequisites

    Complete at least 7 units of coursework from the following list:

    • BIOLOGY 1A: General Biology (3)
      • Per the Molecular and Cell Biology department, students are required to enroll in both Biology 1A and Biology 1AL in the same term. Biology 1AL (2) will not count towards the 7 units of Biological Science Prerequisites.
    • BIOLOGY 1B: General Biology (4)
    • MCELLBI 32: Introduction to Human Physiology (3)
    • MCELLBI 38: Stem Cell Biology, Ethics and Societal Impact (3)
    • MCELLBI 50: Immune System and Disease (4)
    • MCELLBI 55: Plagues and Pandemics (3)
    • NEU C61/W61/PSYCH C61: Brain, Mind and Behavior (3)
    • MBN 10 or 10S: Introduction to Human Nutrition / Managing Life (3)
      • Formerly NUSCTX 10 or 10S.
  • Mathematics Prerequisites

    Complete a full year of Math, one course from Part I and one course from Part II.

    Part I

    • Math 51: Calculus (4); previously MATH 1A
    • MATH 10A: Methods of Mathematics (4)
    • MATH 16A: Calculus (3)

    Part II

    • Math 52: Calculus (4); previously MATH 1B
    • MATH 10B: Methods of Mathematics (4)
    • MATH 16B: Calculus (3)
  • Social Sciences Prerequisites

    Three courses in at least two areas:

    Psychology

    • PSYCH 1/W1 or PSYCH 2: General Principles of Psychology

    Sociology

    Note: SOCIOL 3 is no longer offered at UC Berkeley however there still may be courses that will be eligible for SOCIOL 3 transfer credit.

    • SOCIOL 1: Introduction to Sociology or N1H: Introduction to Sociology for Pre-Health Majors or SOCIOL 3 or 3AC: Principles of Sociology (4)
    • SOCIOL 5: Evaluation of Evidence (4)

    Economics

    • ECON 1 or ECON 2 or ECON C3/ENVECON C1 Introduction to Economics (4)

    Anthropology

    • ANTHRO 3 or 3AC: Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology (4)

    Political Science

    • POL SCI 2: Introduction to Comparative Politics (4)
    • POL SCI 4: Introduction to Political Theory (4)
  • Data C8 Major Requirement

    You do not have to complete Data C8 before declaring the public health major but it is strongly encouraged due to limited space in the course. This course must be completed with a letter grade.

    • Data C8: Foundations of Data Science (4)

    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 for planning purposes.

    The major will accept California Community College credit for this course requirement. See the list of equivalent DATA 8 courses (in the Preparing to Transfer section) that can be taken at some community colleges in California.

Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) Higher Level Exam Credit

AP and IB Higher Level exams credit may be used to fulfill the Social Sciences and Math prerequisites. If an exam is not listed, we do not accept scores for that exam. The exam credit applies to the Public Health major. Other majors may accept different scores.

If you have taken both an AP or IB exam and the equivalent college-level course, we will only take the grade from the college-level course into consideration for admissions purposes. We will not accept both as two separate prerequisites.

Prerequisite Coursework Completed at Another Institution

For California Community Colleges, assist.org is the official course transfer and articulation system for California colleges and universities. If your coursework is listed on assist.org as an equivalent course, it will be accepted as a prerequisite for the Public Health major. Be sure to transfer the coursework to UC Berkeley for credit if you have not yet done so.

For other four-year institutions or out-of-state community colleges, please contact the appropriate UC Berkeley department to determine the course equivalency. Be prepared to submit your syllabus along with your request. For example, if you took Math 33 at Penn State, contact the UC Berkeley Math department to see if the course is equivalent to a Public Health math prerequisite course. Once equivalency is determined, please email a copy of equivalency decision to the academic advisors at sphug@berkeley.edu and complete the steps to transfer the coursework to UC Berkeley if you have not yet done so.

Public Health Major Declaration Instructions

There are two declaration cycles. Submissions are not reviewed on a rolling basis and students must complete the requirements by the end of their 5th semester at UC Berkeley or 1st semester as transfer students.

  • Fall application cycle: December 17 – January 1 by end of 5th semester or 1st semester for transfer students
  • Spring application cycle: May 17 – June 1 by end of 5th semester or 1st semester for transfer students

You can join the SPHUG Prospective Listserv to receive our Public Health newsletter and hear of any updates or events.

Declaration Requirements and Checklist

Prerequisite Information and GPA Calculation Form

Demonstrate that you have met the application requirements for the major through the Prerequisite Information and GPA Calculation form.

Use the form below and review some of the examples as you complete this part of the application.

Academic Records

Please highlight the course and grade for the applicable prerequisite coursework, if possible.

Accepted types of academic records:

Submit the following materials in a PDF format. You will be required to upload each of these documents individually and in one combined file. Review the UC Berkeley Unofficial Transcripts and Merging Declaration Materials Guide.

  1. Prerequisite Information and GPA Calculation Form
    • Save your PDF file as “LastName_FirstName_GPA.pdf”
  2. Academic Records
    • Please highlight the course and grade for the applicable prerequisite coursework, if possible.
    • Save your PDF file as “LastName_FirstName_transcripts.AP.pdf”
  3. Other Required Uploads
    • Only upload declaration materials that have been requested.
    • Save your PDF file as “LastName_FirstName_other.pdf”
  4. Combined Major DeclarationMaterials PDF
    • Combine all the files into one PDF in the order of the checklist above.
    • Save your PDF file as “lastname_firstname_PHApplication.pdf”

Frequently Asked Questions

  • I am submitting a declaration to the major this semester, what courses should I plan to enroll in?

    You should enroll in PH elective and breadth classes first. If you have not taken Data C8, we recommend you try to enroll in this course if possible. Then you may either join a waitlist or leave room for the public health core classes you wish to take if you are admitted to the PH major.

    Alternatively, you can enroll in classes for your backup major and have a plan for what to drop and add upon receiving an admissions decision. You may want to Phase 1 the courses you need to prioritize for your alternative major, other requirements, or popular courses you are interested in that fill up quickly since Public Health core courses will have reserved seats for declared majors.

  • Will I be able to enroll in Public Health core courses when I am still in the process of declaring the major?

    While applying you may find yourself waitlisted for the Public Health core courses. Seats will be reserved for declared Public Health majors during the Phase I and II enrollment windows for the Fall and Spring semesters.

    The Public Health major declaration will ask which core courses you are hoping to enroll in. Upon admission into the major, the academic advisors will work with you to enroll in the core classes. Be sure you are waitlisted for an open section since students cannot enroll in lectures without selecting an open section.

    Keep in mind the enrollment unit cap. Waitlisted courses count towards the unit cap. For continuing L&S students, you can enroll in 13.5 units during Phase 1 and 17.5 units during Phase 2. For new first-year and transfer students, you can enroll in 17.5 units during Phase 1 since you do not have a Phase 2.

  • How do I change or switch my discussion section?

    See the Switching Related Sections Guide.

    If you are enrolled in the class, then you can switch sections through the Enrollment Center.

    If you are not enrolled in the class, then you will have to drop and re-add the class to select a new section. This will lower your position on the waitlist however CalCentral will prioritize students on the waitlist who are waitlisted for an open section. If you are #21 but the 20 students ahead of you in the waitlist selected a section that is full, they will not be able to enroll into the lecture. If you choose a section that is open and there are seats in the lecture, then you will have a higher chance of enrolling in the class.

    If you find you are unable to drop and re-add the course, be sure you are trying to do so during your allotted enrollment time.

  • I plan to graduate early, what do I need to do?

    If you are graduating early, you will need to plan your courses carefully since some of the core courses are only offered once an academic year. You can review Public Health Sample Plans and major requirements through the BA Curriculum.

    There may be senior year opportunities you may not be eligible for if you have not completed PB HLTH 142 and PB HLTH 150A prior to your final year, such as the Honors Thesis and certain 4+1 MPH programs.

    Prioritize enrollment into a senior Capstone and PB HLTH 150E (offered Spring only). Senior Capstones may vary each academic year and may require completion of PB HLTH 142 and 150A.

Major Declaration Timeline

Final declaration information is sent via email once all the submissions are reviewed after the deadline. This process may take up to 6 weeks. For the Fall declaration cycle, students may be notified the week before Spring classes.

Students declared in the major who are switching majors within L&S or undeclared in L&S will be automatically declared in the major.

Students who need complete Change of College, Double Major, or Simultaneous Degree paperwork to declare the Public Health major should complete their declaration no later than 3 months (12 weeks) of the declaration email. The Public Health advisors will notify you of the required forms. Failure to meet this deadline will result in an automatic drop from the major.

  • Students applying in the Fall cycle (December 17 – January 1) should complete the declaration process by mid April.
  • Students applying in the Spring cycle (May 17 – June 1) should complete the declaration process by mid October.

Declaration Form

There are two declaration cycles within the academic year. By submitting a form for admission to the public health major, you certify that the information provided is true and accurate to the best of your knowledge. Any student found to have provided false documentation will receive an automatic denial to the major and may be referred to the Center for Student Conduct.

  • Fall application cycle: December 17 – January 1 by end of 5th semester or 1st semester for transfer students
  • Spring application cycle: May 17 – June 1 by end of 5th semester or 1st semester for transfer students

If you have read all of the major declaration instructions in full and you are ready to submit a declaration form, click the button below:

The Declaration Form link will be added to this section when it becomes available.

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