PHEAST

Public Health Early Admission Student Track

There has never been a more exciting time to pursue a career in public health. A career path in public health opens up a myriad of different opportunities. Whatever your intended profession, one thing is clear, the U.S. suffers from a shortage of public health workers and students like you are needed to fill the gaps.

Public health is a great mix of disciplines (medicine, economics, sociology, anthropology, mathematics, communications, and much more).

One of the many great qualities of public health is its diversity of opportunities. Combine your many interests with a graduate degree in public health and add your perspective and expertise to the future in this exciting collection of career paths.

Program Information

Public Health Early Admission Student Track (PHEAST) is a cooperative program between Peru State College and the University of Nebraska Medical Center, College of Public Health (UNMC CoPH).

Through the PHEAST program, up to three eligible Peru State College students in their sophomore or junior year can gain provisional acceptance into the UNMC CoPH Masters of Public Health Program while enrolled at Peru State College. See links to: PHEAST admission requirements and application form in addition to the UNMC CoPH MPH program.

Benefits of the Program

If selected as a participant in the program, each student will:

Receive a full tuition waiver (junior and senior years) while enrolled at Peru State provided student maintains good standing within the PHEAST program.

Mentor Program

UNMC CoPH faculty and staff will serve as long distance mentors to provisionally admitted students while they are enrolled in Peru State College.

Mentors will counsel/advise the students on academic matters including but not limited to concentration requirements, during the students' junior and senior years at Peru State College.

Mentors will meet with their mentees when they visit the UNMC campus during the junior and senior year UNMC campus visits. In the spring semester of the student's junior and senior year, the mentors will visit Peru State College where they will meet in-person with their mentees. Other communication will be handled via telephone, e-mail, and videoconferences (e.g., Skype).

Apply

1. Be a Nebraska resident in the second semester of their sophomore or junior year at Peru State College.
2. Have a minimum of 24 on the ACT or 1680 on the SAT.
3. Have a minimum undergraduate grade point average of 3.3.
Students will submit their applications to the University of Nebraska Medical Center, College of Public Health (UNMC, CoPH) Student Recruitment and Admissions Committee for acceptance into PHEAST and provisional acceptance to the Master of Public Health program by March 15th.

Applications shall include:
1. Complete the PHEAST Application.
2. The student’s most recent transcript.
3. Three letters of recommendation.
The complete application package must be submitted by the March 15th Deadline.
The UNMC, CoPH Student Recruitment and Admissions Committee will review the application, and select students for provisional acceptance into the UNMC CoPH Master of Public Health Program.

The PHEAST admissions committee includes:
- PHEAST directors
  (current Rural Health Opportunities Program directors at the undergraduate institutions).
- UNMC CoPH faculty
  (to include the Rural Health Education Network Director and the chair of the Student Recruitment and Admissions Committee, plus others to be identified).
PHEAST directors and UNMC CoPH faculty will serve as the admissions body and identify up to three individuals from Peru State College for acceptance into the PHEAST program per academic year.
1. Visit the UNMC campus (fall of junior and senior year).
2. Successfully complete the Foundations in Public Health online course.
3. Declare a concentration and meet individual MPH concentration admission requirements.
View the list of current concentrations here.
1. Successfully complete an entry level statistics course regardless of concentration.
2. Take the Graduate Record Examination (GRE).
The recommended score is 1,000 or higher (combined quantitative and analytical).
1. Submit an updated resume prior to admission.

For more information, please contact:

Dr. Gul Ahmad Professor of Biology gahmad@peru.edu

Brenda Trail Office Assistant IV btrail@peru.edu