Steps to Apply for an Undergraduate Degree

Time management is a crucial skill. It will be important to consider the deadline you are applying for and plan your personal timeline for filling out your application, gathering your transcript(s), preparing essays, and double-checking your materials before the final deadline.

The final application deadline for both cross-campus and external transfer applicants is January 15, 2024 at 11:59 pm ET.

If you’ve attended a college or university other than the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, after graduating from high school, you’re considered an external transfer student. The University of Michigan School of Public Health welcomes BA and BS applications from students who have attended or are currently attending a post-secondary institution within the United States.

International applicants must have completed two consecutive academic years at a U.S. institution before matriculating to the program.

A cross-campus transfer student has completed college coursework on the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor campus but is not currently enrolled at the School of Public Health. Students are eligible to apply to cross-campus transfer in their sophomore year.

Before beginning a bachelor’s degree at Michigan Public Health, you must complete several prerequisite courses and have a minimum of 54 transferable credits. Applicants who complete all required coursework before application review begins (February of each year) will be most competitive for admission. Visit this webpage for a complete list of required prerequisite courses. Please note that if you are passionate about applying to major in public health but are missing some prerequisite coursework, it is still possible to be admitted. We encourage you to email sph-inquiries@umich.edu and request an appointment. We would be happy to help discuss your unique situation and assist you on your path to public health.

External transfer students: use the Transfer Credit Equivalency Database to find out how your coursework completed at a U.S. college or university applies to the University of Michigan School of Public Health prerequisite courses. Find more information on the Transfer Credit webpage.

Both external transfer and cross-campus transfer applicants are strongly encouraged to set up an advising appointment with an undergraduate admissions team member to discuss transferable credits (if applicable), progress toward the prerequisite courses, and the application process before applying. You may contact sph-inquiries@umich.edu to set up an appointment.

In the application, you must upload an unofficial transcript from the high school where you earned your diploma and any post-secondary institution you have attended (including any dual enrollment courses). If admitted, you will be required to submit official transcripts.

If you receive an error message asking you to remove the password protection from the document this may be due to a digital signature in the document. To resolve this issue, we suggest you choose one of the following options and then re-upload the transcript to your application:

• Open the PDF, go to print and choose Adobe APF as the printer. This will create a copy of the PDF without the digital signature.
• Take a photo of the printed document, convert the .png or .jpg file to a PDF.

The bachelor’s degree application includes two essays: a Statement of Interest and Qualifications Essay and a Reflective Essay.

Statement of Interest and Qualifications
In this essay, you are encouraged to consider the academic and extracurricular factors that have influenced your decision to study public health. Below are some questions to ask yourself as you write your statement of interest and qualifications:

• What has prepared you to be successful as a public health student?
• What has made you want to study public health at this point in your academic career
• What do you understand about the field of public health so far, and what do you hope to learn through the undergraduate program?
• Is the information that I’m sharing through my essay providing new context to the reader that they haven’t already learned about in other parts of my application?

The limit for this essay is 500 words. These points are not meant to be answered one by one throughout your essays. Rather, they are meant to help guide you and keep you on track as you write.

Reflective Essay
In the reflective essay, you are encouraged to share the personal motivators that have shaped your interest in studying public health. This essay gives you the opportunity to share non-academic components of yourself as an applicant, as well as how you would contribute to a diverse and inclusive community at Michigan Public Health. Consider the following:

• Are there any social identities that have impacted your decision to pursue public health?
• Have certain relationships in your life contributed to your interest in the field?
• How do your personal values and beliefs connect to the field of public health?

The limit for this essay is 250 words.

Before submitting, please double check each part of your application. It’s important that your application is accurate and complete before pressing submit.

We look forward to reviewing your application and understanding your unique interests and goals in public health!