Best MPH Programs in Pennsylvania: 2025 Guide to Accredited Public Health Degrees

*Honorable Mention: Northeastern University offers a fully online MPH program that can be completed either full-time or part-time in as little as 1.5 or as many as 5 years. Go to their website to learn more.  

If you are interested in pursuing a fully online accredited MPH degree program, go to CEPH’s website and filter by ‘Online Programs Only’ MPH degree programs in Pennsylvania to see a full list.

After deciding to pursue graduate public health education, your next question may be what are the admission requirements to MPH programs? Similar to public health programs across the country, Pennsylvania’s accredited MPH graduate programs have similar admission requirements such as academic prerequisites (like GPA and having a bachelor’s degree), letters of recommendation, and a statement of purpose. While you don’t need to have a bachelor’s degree in public health sciences or a related undergraduate study, it may help your graduate studies to have taken health or social science-related academic prerequisite coursework (such as statistics or biology, etc.) in your undergraduate education. Many public health schools, such as George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health, University of North Carolina’s Gillings School of Global Public Health, and Tufts University (which also has a dual degree in public health and physician assistant studies in partnership with a PA program), offer undergraduate degrees that specialize in public health studies. However, if the majority of your undergraduate coursework was in a field like computer science or business administration, you will still be welcomed by your future MPH program.

Some public health programs have GRE required for entry; however, many programs have dropped the GRE requirement in recent years. Touro University California does not require this exam for entry into the program. We have a separate article detailing additional MPH programs that do not require a GRE.

Most graduate schools will require letters of recommendation from either a supervisor, professional colleague, or academic faculty member from your undergraduate institution. Most programs will also require individuals to submit a personal statement, which is like a cover letter that’s geared towards receiving an education at the specific institution you are applying to. Many programs have a fall start date (August or September), but some MPH programs allow you to begin your coursework in the fall, spring, or summer. We have a timeline to walk you through the admissions process.

Below are tips for how to strengthen your application.

Finally, as much as a school is vetting students to ensure they are a good fit for the program, you should also be vetting the school to ensure it’s the right fit for you. Look up the contact information for alumni and faculty of the program to talk about their experiences. Request information online if you have any questions, and interact with admissions offices to gain additional insight that isn’t posted on the website. You will be spending much of your time over the next couple of years in the program, so make sure it’s a great fit for you too.

As seen from the programs highlighted above, public health tuition ranges from school to school and in-state versus out-of-state. You will see tuition as low as $516 per credit at West Chester University and Slippery Rock University (for in-state students) and as high as $5,044 per credit unit at the University of Pennsylvania.

Wherever you end up pursuing your graduate degree, we don’t want continuing education to break the bank, so it’s important to take finances and scholarships into consideration when looking at graduate schools.

There are abundant health needs in Pennsylvania so there are a plethora of public health opportunities for MPH graduates. You could become an epidemiologist, policy analyst, physicians assistant, health educator, and more. If you are asking, what can you do with a public health degree? look no further - this is the place to explore that exact question. If you are looking to stay in Pennsylvania after graduating, you have many options for career opportunities. You could go into city or state government and work for your local or state health department. You could work for a non-profit organization running their health communications team, or become a community health educator at a local hospital teaching your community about health behaviors and health services. Pennsylvania has many renowned academic medical institutions, such as University of Pennsylvania, where you can work in hospital administration or research. There are endless opportunities, so if you are interested in pursuing a career in public health in Pennsylvania, now is a great time to do so.

With the current public health landscape in Pennsylvania, such as the high incidents and death rates from cancer, high rates of heart disease and drug-related deaths, and disparate health care access to the large rural population, the state presents a unique opportunity and strong need for public health professionals in the field^1,2,7.  Pennsylvania needs MPH graduates to fill these gaps and uncover fresh ideas and knowledge to help solve the problems the state is facing.

With the variety of accredited programs, flexible formats, and strong job market, Pennsylvania is a great place to pursue your MPH degree. Are you ready to explore your MPH options in Pennsylvania? Use the public health programs that are profiled here, and the information above, as a starting point for your exploration, and come back periodically throughout your search to ensure you are considering factors that are important to you.