Public Health, Graduate Certificate

Different types of students enroll in the Public Health Graduate Certificate (Generalist concentration), including: 

• Individuals working in public health or another health-related field (e.g., nurses, federal contractors, health department employees) who do not have a prior degree in public health but who wish to advance their career or stay current on the best practices in the field of public health. 

• Individuals working in fields outside of health who wish to make a career change. 

• Graduate students at Mason in other disciplines (e.g., communications, sociology, anthropology, health administration) who are interested in taking additional public health courses. 

If you are confident that you want an MPH, we advise you to apply to the MPH. If you want to develop general knowledge of best practices of a public health degree without committing to a full degree, apply to the certificate program. 

The GRE is not required to apply to the certificate program or any Master’s or Doctoral programs in the Department of Global and Community Health. 

Read more about admissions in the Department of Global and Community Health. 

If you are not a current Mason graduate student: The application for the Public Health Graduate Certificate (Generalist concentration) is in SOPHAS. Review the Graduate Admissions webpage for more information on the application process. 

If you are a current Mason graduate student: Email gch@gmu.edu to inquire about how to add the Public Health Graduate Certificate (Generalist concentration) onto your current degree program. Refer to University Policy 6.8.1 for more information. 

Federal student loans are not available to students enrolled solely in the public health graduate certificate program. Students in degree programs (e.g., the MPH program) have access to federal financial aid. Contact the Office of Student Financial Aid for more information. This is a list of graduate certificate programs that allow federal financial aid.