Barnard College, the highly selective liberal arts college for women in New York City, has announced an accelerated program where women students can earn a bachelor’s degree at Barnard and a master of public health degree at Columbia University in just five years.
“We’ve seen an increase in recent years in the number of Barnard students pursuing STEM fields, as well as heightened interest in public health,” said Barnard President Sian Leah Beilock. “This accelerated pathway provides an opportunity for students to combine their undergraduate degree at Barnard with an MPH from Columbia Public Health to jump-start their work in this important area. I am excited to see how our Barnard students will use this program to make their mark in the world.”
Linda A. Bell, professor of economics, provost, and dean of the faculty at Barnard College, added that “the frequency at which Barnard students are applying to schools of public health has risen steadily over the last decade for a multitude of reasons. Medical schools are putting a greater emphasis on humanistic and sociomedical understandings of health and illness. At the same time, Barnard offers students varied educational opportunities to study in public health-related fields like environmental health, medical anthropology, and interdisciplinary work at the intersection of race, gender, and science. Barnard students have the critical thinking skills necessary to succeed in graduate work and in careers in public health, and the need and opportunity for thoughtful, brilliant, and public-minded leaders in this field has perhaps never been greater.”
Barnard College students can apply for admission to the program as juniors and if accepted must tailor their course selections to meet the requirements for both degrees. Students need a 3.5 grade point average to be eligible for the program.