MPH in Health Policy & Management

Applicants must be doctoral level health professionals (e.g. physicians, veterinarians, and dentists), have a prior doctoral degree in a related discipline (e.g. anthropology, sociology, psychology, demography, the biology sciences), or be concurrently enrolled in a doctoral level degree program in a health profession or related discipline.

Official U.S. transcripts of all the schools you attended for post-secondary education must be sent to SOPHAS. SOPHAS only accepts electronic transcripts from Credentials Solutions, Parchment, and National Student Clearinghouse. For application review purposes only, include copies of transcripts for all of the post-secondary institutions you attended, including study abroad institutions in the Berkeley Graduate Application. During the online application process, you will be prompted to upload scanned documents. Uploaded transcripts should be recent and include the following: your name the institution name dates of attendance conferral date if applicable grades/marks received and credits If you studied abroad, your study abroad grades must also be listed in the transcript, otherwise you will need to submit a transcript directly from the study abroad institution.

Berkeley Public Health’s Admissions Committee requires a minimum of three letters of recommendation be submitted electronically to SOPHAS with your SOPHAS application. We recommend that you request that your letter writers use an official letterhead. Typically, we recommend you have at least one letter of recommendation from an academic and two from individuals who can evaluate your professional experience. However, please thoroughly look at the requirements and qualifications of the program you are applying to for more guidance. Overall, it will be in your best interest to have three individuals who can attest to your academic and/or professional ability to succeed in a public health career. For academic references, we recommend you ask professors who you think will write the strongest recommendations. A strong quality letter attesting to your ability to succeed in the program will weigh more than a generic letter from a high-ranking professor.

Personal History Statement Word limit: 1,000 words In your Personal History Statement, please provide information that you are comfortable sharing on any personal, social, or financial challenges you have experienced that have had an impact on your candidacy as an applicant. This information helps inform our decisions, particularly in regard to fellowship nominations.

Applications should include a resume or CV. Prior work experience, preferably in health sector related activities, is required for some programs. Resumes should include: Educational degrees Employment Experiences (especially those that are public-health related) Professional skills and accomplishments Volunteer activities (specify any leadership roles)

Word limit: 1,000 words Your Statement of Purpose should clearly address the following: Why do you want an MPH? Why do you want to do your graduate studies at this point in your career/academic development? Why are you interested in health policy and management, including some discussion of your previous interest or involvement in management and/or policy related activities (note that you do not need to restate your full resume as the HPM Admissions Committee will have that available to review). How will the Health Policy and Management MPH degree and the graduate study experiences contribute to your short and long-term career goals? Why do you want to pursue these graduate studies at Berkeley Public Health?

TOEFL/IELTS

The SOPHAS Application will contain a text box for you to write a short answer response to a question on your quantitative and analytical abilities. The question has a word limit of 250 words. Please indicate your achievements in obtaining verbal, quantitative, and analytical writing skills that prepare you for the specific program to which you are applying. This can be completed coursework, such as undergraduate or post-baccalaureate math/stats or epidemiology/biostatistics courses, quantitative research, programming, data analysis, or evaluation experience, verbal/writing strengths such as professional publications and/or presentations, etc. Note: you may also submit a writing sample, publication, or other documents that demonstrate the above skills in the “Documents” section of the application.