We are excited that you have chosen to apply to our undergraduate programs in Public Health Policy (BA) and Public Health Sciences (BS). There are three pathways to applying to our undergraduate degree programs. We welcome students who are incoming first-year, transfer students, and continuing students at UCI who would like to change their major to either our BA in Public Health Policy and/or our BS in Public Health Sciences programs.
We encourage students considering the public health degrees to connect with the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and Request Info about applying to UCI. Continuing students should review our Change of Major section below.
Admission Requirements
Please note: Students who are interested in pursuing a premedical program should note that additional courses will be needed beyond the requirements of the public health degrees to fulfill requirements for medical school.
Prospective First Year Students
All students interested in applying to UC Irvine Joe C. Wen School of Population & Public Health must meet the First Year Student admission requirements. There are no additional admission requirements for our undergraduate programs.
The UC application for admission opens August 1. The submission period is October 1 – November 30.
Prospective Transfer Students
Junior-level applicants with the highest grades overall and who satisfactorily complete lower-division will be given preference for admissions to the BA degree in Public Health Policy and the BS in Public Health Sciences.
Transfer to the BA Program: All applicants to the BA degree must have a minimum overall GPA of 3.0 and a minimum GPA of 3.0 in required courses, one year of social science courses in any combination of the following topics: anthropology, economics, sociology, political science and/or psychology.
Transfer to the BS Program: All applicants to the BS degree must have a minimum overall GPA of 3.0 and a minimum GPA of 3.0 in required courses, one year of general chemistry with laboratory, and one year of courses equivalent to UCI’s Biological Sciences 93 and 94.
New transfer students who want to change into Public Health Sciences or Public Health Policy must meet the criteria above before Summer Orientation in June. Summer Orientation is when students enroll in their courses for Fall quarter. If major change criteria is not met upon admission, students must attend orientation for their admitted major and follow criteria for continuing students.
Please note: Courses in Biological Sciences (93-99), General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry are major restricted to Public Health Sciences and other STEM majors.
*Public Health Policy (B.A.) majors do not receive priority access to these science courses.
The UC application for admission opens August 1. The submission period is October 1 – November 30.
All incoming first year students are required to complete an orientation program, the Student Parent Orientation Program (SPOP) is your opportunity to learn about how to navigate the campus, access academic and campus resources, meet current students, staff, and faculty from diverse backgrounds, and find community here at UCI. SPOP is our first-year orientation program, but we also have Transfer SPOP (TSPOP) and International SPOP (ISPOP) to cater to those specific communities.
Change of Major Applicants
Continuing Students wanting to declare a major, change a major, add additional majors, or drop a major must submit a change of major application online through Student Access. Students may submit a change of major application AFTER they have completed all pre-requisites. Grades must be posted for any prerequisite courses before a change of major application will be reviewed. If grades are not posted, the change of major application will be denied. The student may submit a new application once they have completed the pre-requisites.
Before submitting an application for a change of major, please review the Change of Major Criteria for the BA in Public Health Policy or for the BS in Public Health Sciences.
Deadlines for Change of Major Applications
- Student Change of Major Applications Due: Friday of Week 5
- Student Notification of Application Decision: Friday of Week 7
Please Note: Completion of the change of major requirements does not guarantee acceptance into public health majors. Minimum Progress Criteria is taken into consideration. Courses that satisfy major change requirements must be completed at the time the application is submitted.
Students applying for a Double Major, must complete the Double Major Form, in addition to submitting the application on Student Access.
Student Applications submitted past the Week 5 deadline, are not likely to be reviewed before course enrollment.
