Public Health

Colleges offering this major Rankings Trends

What you'll do in college

These majors prepare students for careers in healthcare and the broader health system. Public health majors take epidemiology, biostatistics, environmental health, health policy, and community health. Health sciences is broader—a flexible pre-health major that often serves as a bridge to medical, dental, PT, or PA school. Pharmacy and pharmacology students dive deep into drug chemistry, dosing, and patient care. Expect long hours and a lot of memorization across all of these tracks.

What you'll do after college

Public health grads work for health departments, hospitals, NGOs, the CDC, or international organizations. Many health science majors continue to medical, dental, PA, or PT school. Pharmacy grads sit for licensing exams and work in retail, hospital, or clinical pharmacy settings. Veterinary science students typically continue to vet school. The work is mission-driven and the field is growing as the population ages.

Selectivity vs. earnings

By acceptance rate

$69,227

1,030

100–82%

$65,733

2,067

82–70%

$68,164

2,000

70–55%

$71,507

1,992

55–44%

$70,207

2,154

44–23%

$73,414

1,037

21–0%

Acceptance rate · bar = degree-weighted adjusted 5-year earnings

By SAT median

$58,218

691

400–1090

$66,349

1,355

1090–1180

$73,280

1,237

1180–1265

$74,838

1,560

1270–1365

$73,713

1,341

1365–1455

$80,635

700

1460–1600

Median SAT · bar = degree-weighted adjusted 5-year earnings

Majors in this category

Major	Colleges	Degrees ▼	Male/Female	Intl	5yr Earn
Public Health	362	14,865	18% / 82%	2%	$68,211
Public Health	284	11,842	18% / 82%	2%	$68,744
Public Health Education and Promotion	43	1,146	15% / 85%	1%	$62,753
Public Health Sciences	2	405	12% / 88%	0%
Health Education and Promotion	2	168	14% / 86%	2%	$74,693
Population Health	1	164	26% / 74%	0%	$54,930
Health Education	19	156	35% / 65%	1%	$53,280
Global Health	5	156	19% / 81%	6%	$62,950
Epidemiology	6	153	24% / 76%	1%	$63,853
Medical Anthropology and Global Health	1	127	13% / 87%	3%
Public Health Studies	1	108	31% / 69%	6%	$98,667
International Public Health/International Health	6	97	19% / 81%	3%	$72,910
Health Science, Society, and Policy	1	70	23% / 77%	0%	$73,880
Global Health and the Environment	1	46	20% / 80%	2%
Biology of Global Health	1	38	13% / 87%	5%	$62,316
Public and Community Health	1	33	64% / 36%	3%
Public Health Science	1	32	22% / 78%	6%	$57,535
Environmental Public Health	1	31	42% / 58%	0%	$78,477
Community/Public Health	1	25	24% / 76%	0%	$77,834
Health Policy Analysis	5	21	29% / 71%	0%	$99,544
International Public Health	5	16	44% / 56%	0%
Community Health Promotion	1	8	38% / 62%	0%	$67,742
Health Humanities	2	7	14% / 86%	0%
Health Policy and Administration	2	6	17% / 83%	0%	$75,344
Health Education and Health Promotion	1	4	25% / 75%	0%	$83,356
Health Promotion and Education	1	4	0% / 100%	0%	$53,310
Global Public Health	1	1	0% / 100%	0%	$87,360
Health Policy	1	1	100% / 0%	0%