Welcome to USF. My name is Erin Grinshteyn and I am going to help you select your classes for the fall semester. Oublic Health is a great major for those who are interested interested in going into public health, healthcare, medicine, other pre-health careers, or anythingÊrelated to population health and population-level prevention.Ê

It is all about preventing illness and injury and promoting good health at the population level. In this major you will complete an internship and gain real-world experience in public health, learn how to seek health equity and health justice, learn to heal the whole person: body, mind, spirit, learn in the city of health tech, health care, and public health innovation and study a range of areas across disciplines to become well-rounded. I am so excited to share this academic path with you.

In this video, I will review your first semester classes.  Typically, students register for between 16 and 18 credits each semester. The majority of our courses are 4 credit courses, so this typically means that youÕll register for four, 4 credit courses and possibly 1 or 2 credits from other types of courses. 

The first two classes you should register for include a support course from Biology and one of our two public health foundational courses.

The support course from Biology actually consists of two courses - one lecture and one lab course. These are Human Physiology and Laboratory in Human Physiology.

Bio 115: Human Physiology; and
Bio 116: Laboratory in Human Physiology 

Human Physiology is a 4-credit course that is composed of two courses: 3-credits for the lecture and 1-credit for the laboratory. You must take both the lecture and the laboratory at the same time as you cannot register for one without the other. However, you must register for Bio 115 and Bio 116 independently. Taken together, they make up the 4 credit human physiology course required for this major. 

In addition, you should register for one of our foundational courses, BSPH 201, Introduction to Public Health. The foundational courses in public health including this one and BSPH 202 should be taken before you take the rest of the public health curriculum, and they are required before you take any of our upper division courses. 

To complete your schedule, you should add two additional classes.  I recommend that you select two of the following options.

All students need to complete their rhetoric and composition requirement at USF as this is a core requirement. Developing good written skills is essential to your success in all public health classes, and is a skill that will serve you throughout the rest of your career. You should complete the Direct Self Placement course to determine in which rhetoric and composition class you should register. For more information, you can review the section on the core curriculum.

Consider taking a first year seminar.  This is a great opportunity for you to engage with other students in a special, unique course designed to connect students with USF, San Francisco, and passionate faculty members in a small class setting. ItÕs a great way to begin your education at USF. 

You can select from any of our core classes such as Philosophy, Ethics, Visual and Performing Arts, History, to name a few.  Please note, the Core B2 requirement  will be fulfilled by the Public Health major. 

In addition, you could consider taking a 1 or 2 credit course such as a college success course, a physical activity course of USF 101, a computer science course, you could get involved in a play, or you can join a choir or vocal group. 

Once you have selected your classes, your schedule should resemble something like this: 
Bio 115/116: Human Physiology (Core B2)Ê
BSPH 201: Introduction to Public Health
Rhetoric course (Core A2)
First year seminar

Please spend some time navigating the Schedule of Classes to familiarize yourself with the layout of the website. Try looking for courses that you would like to register for, including specific sections as some classes have multiple sections from which you will need to choose one. Spend some time doing this so that you can map out a schedule that works for you. You should also keep a list of alternate courses and sections in case some of the ones you would like to enroll in are closed.

At the end of this tutorial you will be asked to complete a quiz[1]. Once you have completed the quiz, you will be eligible to sign-up for classes when registration opens. After you register we will review the classes you have selected. If necessary, we will recommend adjustments to your registration. We will review all major requirements during orientation, and you will have the opportunity to meet public health faculty and other students in the program.

Again, welcome to USFÕs Public Health major. We look forward to meeting you during orientation when you arrive on campus!


I saw this in the advising scripts you sent me. Will I need to write questions for the quiz and send them to you?