MPH Admissions & Tuition

SOPHAS is the centralized application service for schools and programs of public health. By creating an account with SOPHAS, you are able to apply to multiple public health programs at one time. SOPHAS collects and processes application materials before ultimately sending those materials to individual programs for application review.

When you apply through SOPHAS you will provide the following information directly to SOPHAS:

• Biographic information
• Answers to short-answer questions
• Detailed information about the courses and grades you earned at all undergraduate or graduate institutions you have attended
• A copy of your recently updated resume
• Your Statement of Purpose and Objectives
• The names of three persons who will be providing you with letters of recommendation

After you have provided this information, you can submit your application and pay the application fee. SOPHAS will compile official transcripts from all schools you attended, your letters of recommendation, and any other required materials. It is not necessary to wait for these materials to be received by SOPHAS before you submit your application.

• SOPHAS Application
• Frequently Asked Questions for SOPHAS applicants
• SOPHAS Fee: The cost for a SOPHAS application is $140 for the first school or program to which you apply; additional schools are $50.

Tufts Public Health requires three letters of recommendation for a complete application. All Letters of Recommendation should be submitted to SOPHAS electronically. Letters should be primarily academic in nature and should mention the your relationship to the recommender so that their observations can be put into the proper context.

An electronic request from will be sent immediately once you have saved the references’ information in your SOPHAS application. Please advise your references to monitor their junk e-mail and spam folders for messages from “SOPHAS Messenger,” subject heading “SOPHAS Reference Request,” as these e-mails are automated and therefore sometimes filtered as spam. You will be able to check on the status of your letters of recommendation via your SOPHAS applicant portal.

Note that SOPHAS only requires two letters of recommendation; however to be eligible for review by our program you must provide three letters.

You will need to request that all previously attended colleges and universities submit official copies of your transcript(s) directly to SOPHAS, regardless of whether you earned a degree from the institution. Transcripts must be sent to SOPHAS; documents sent to the Tufts Public Health Admissions Office will not be accepted.

Foreign Transcripts

If the school you attended is not in the United States (or in English-speaking Canada) you will instead need to provide an ICAP WES Course-by-course Evaluation of your foreign transcripts, also sent directly to SOPHAS.

Study Abroad for US Undergraduates

If you attended a study abroad program as part of your US undergraduate degree program you do not need to provide a WES Evaluation. If the transcript from your home institution includes the grades and courses you took as part of the study abroad program, there is nothing additional you need to do. If the transcript from your home institution does not include this information, you will need to send a document containing this information. If you studied abroad at an Overseas US Institution, you will need to have your official transcript sent to SOPHAS. If you studied abroad at a non-US institution, you must send a document (it does not need to be an official transcript, copies will be accepted) directly to the Public Health Admissions Office at ph.admissions@tufts.edu.

Your statement of purpose should highlight why you are interested in graduate education in public health and Tufts in particular. It should also address your career objectives and how this program will help you achieve those goals.  The Statement of Purpose should be around 750 words. 

In addition to this statement, you will need to select two of the following three prompts in your SOPHAS application and answer each in a short statement of 250 words or fewer. You are encouraged to use these prompts to provide information to the Admissions Committee that you have not already discussed in your statement of purpose.

• Option 1: Describe a time you felt challenged in an academic course. What strategies did you use to overcome that challenge?
• Option 2: Describe the process you used to teach yourself a new skill outside of an academic experience.
• Option 3: Describe a situation where either you were not treated fairly on the basis of your identity, or you personally observed such treatment for someone else. How did you handle it? Would you have done anything differently?

If you would like to provide any additional materials for consideration by the Public Health Admissions Committee, you may do so by emailing a word document or PDF to ph.admissions@tufts.edu.

Physical mail should be sent to the following address:

Office of Graduate Student Programs
Attn.: SOPHAS Application
Medical Education Building
145 Harrison Ave., Suite 813
Boston, MA 02111

Note that transcripts, WES Evaluations, letters of recommendation, or other required application materials should not be sent to the above address. Instead, all required materials must be sent to SOPHAS directly, using the instructions provided in your application.

All non-native English speakers are required to provide proof of English proficiency as part of their application to our programs. Students who are unable to demonstrate English proficiency via one of the options below will not be offered admission.

Options for demonstrating English proficiency:

1. Submit an official TOEFL score of 100 or higher on the internet-based exam.*

2. Submit official IELTS scores of 7.0 or higher.**

3. Submit an official PTE Academic score of 68 or higher.***

4. Provide evidence of enrollment for two or more years (four or more semesters) in a degree-granting college or university located in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, or New Zealand.

5. Provide evidence of full-time, paid employment for two or more years at an organization located in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, or New Zealand.

* Submit TOEFL scores with your application for admission by having ETS send your scores to SOPHAS/Tufts School of Medicine using CEEB code 5688.

** Submit IELTS scores by contacting the test center where you took the exam directly and request that your test scores be sent to the following e-download account: Tufts University Public Health & Prof Degree Programs, 136 Harrison Ave., Boston, MA 02111, United States.

***Submit PTE Academic scores by logging in to your PTE account and sending scores to Tufts University School of Medicine.

The following are not accepted as proof of English proficiency:

1. USMLE scores, or any other test of English, except the TOEFL, IELTS, or PTE exam.

2. TOEFL scores under 100 on the internet-based exam, IELTS scores below a 7.0, or PTE scores below 68.

3. Evidence of enrollment at an institution of higher education outside of the United States which lists English as their primary language of instruction, unless that school is in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, or New Zealand.

Providing official standardized test scores, such as the GRE, is optional and not required for a complete application to the program. If you would like to provide GRE, MCAT, DAT, or GMAT scores for review as part of your application, the Public Health Admissions Committee will take your scores into account when considering you for admission. In particular, students who have weak undergraduate records, have not been in a college-level class in several years, or otherwise want to demonstrate verbal and quantitative abilities are encouraged to provide scores if they feel that they are an accurate representation of their academic skills.

To submit standardized test scores for review with your application, please follow the instructions below.

GRE

• Official GRE scores should be sent directly to SOPHAS/Tufts School of Medicine using CEEB code 6997. Do not use any other codes, and be aware that Tufts University has multiple graduate programs and CEEB codes, so make sure you select the correct one carefully.

MCAT

• Official MCAT Scores can be electronically sent to SOPHAS by requesting that the AAMC send your scores to SOPHAS. Make sure that your date of birth and AAMC ID are filled out properly in your SOPHAS application to ensure the records are matched appropriately.

DAT

The ADA has permanently eliminated paper copies of test scores. Please request an electronic copy to be sent through the ADA website. All DAT Official Score Reports should be sent ph.admissions@tufts.edu by following these instructions:

• Go to https://www.ada.org/en
• Click the tab at the top 'Education/Careers'
• Click 'Admissions Tests and Dental Exams' (under the Education column)
• Click Dental Admissions Test (DAT) - located on the left hand sidebar
• This will then take you to the DAT page, click 'Score and Audit Information' - located on the left hand sidebar
• Click the blue box that says: 'Request your score report', and log in with your DENTPIN and Password. After you login it will prompt you to a page that will ask for the following information:
• Organization: Tufts University School of Medicine, Public Health & Professional Degree Programs
• Email Address: ph.admissions@tufts.edu

GMAT

Official GMAT scores cannot be sent to SOPHAS directly as SOPHAS does not accept them. However, you can request that your GMAT scores are sent to the address below and our office will add them to your application.

Tufts University Graduate Programs Admissions
Attn.: SOPHAS Application
M&V Building Suite 142
136 Harrison Avenue
Boston, MA 02111

MPH students take a total of 14 full courses (42 credits total; each full-semester course is 3.0 credits) to earn their degree.

To calculate your per-semester bill, you should multiply the number of courses you are planning to take by the tuition rates above. If you are planning to enroll full-time, you will take between 3 and 5 courses per semester. You should add the per-semester fees as well.

To be considered half-time status (and therefore eligible for federal loans) you must enroll in at least 4.5 credits (1.5 courses) per semester. To be considered full-time status, students must enroll in at least 9 credits (3 courses) per semester.

The Public Health Programs primarily provide financial assistance in the form of federal loans and work-study awards.

We strongly encourage you to submit a financial aid application as early in the application process as possible to allow adequate time for the Office of Financial Aid to process your application. Do not wait until you have submitted your application or receive an admissions decision to apply for aid, as this will delay your personal financial aid information.

Financial Aid and Scholarship Information

Tufts’ Master of Public Health program offers merit-based tuition awards to top incoming students enrolling in the stand-alone MPH program (including international students). No additional application materials are necessary to be considered for the merit-based scholarships. All applications received prior to the priority deadline will be considered, and applications received after the priority deadline will be considered if funds are available. Please note that scholarship amount varies but covers a portion of tuition costs. If you have been awarded a scholarship, you will be notified by the Admissions Office.