Welcome to USF and to the Public Health major. My name is Laura Chyu and I am going to guide you in selecting your classes for Fall semester. Public Health is a great major for those who are interested in going into public health, healthcare, other pre-health careers, or anything related to population health and well-being.

Public Health is all about preventing illness and injury and making the world a better and healthier place for all. In this major you will learn how to promote health equity and social justice and address complex public health issues. You will explore a range of disciplines to gain a well-rounded, holistic understanding of health.  You will also complete an internship and gain hands-on experience in public health. And of course, being located in San Francisco, renowned for being a hotspot for public health, health care, and tech innovation, offers so many learning opportunities right at our fingertips. I am so excited to share this academic path with you.

In this video, I will review your first semester classes. On average, students register for 16 credits each semester. The majority of our courses are 4 credit courses, so this typically means that youÕll register for four 4-credit courses in a semester. 

The first class you should register for is one of our foundational public health courses, BSPH 201 Introduction to Public and Global Health. This course will give you an overview of what public health is and is required before you take any upper division courses. 

The second course is a support course from Biology. BIOL 115/116 Human Physiology will provide foundational knowledge on how the human body works and the biological basis for disease. Human Physiology actually consists of two courses - one lecture course, BIOL 115, and one lab course, BIOL 116. You must take both the lecture and the laboratory at the same time as you cannot register for one without the other. Taken together, they make up the 4-credit Human Physiology course required for this major. 

If you are a pre-health student, you can take BIOL 105/L General Biology instead of Human Physiology. Similarly, you will need to sign up for the lecture and lab component of this course. This means you would sign up for BIOL 105 and BIOL 105L. Either BIOL 115/116 Human Physiology or BIOL 105/L will fulfill your Core B2 requirement. 

To complete your schedule, you should add two additional classes.  

The third class I recommend signing up for is your Rhetoric and Composition class. All students need to complete their Rhetoric and Composition requirement at USF as this is a Core requirement. Developing strong writing skills is essential to your success in all public health classes and 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, please review the section on the Core curriculum.

For your fourth class, you have several options. You can take any of the required Core classes such as Philosophy, Ethics, Visual and Performing Arts, History, to name a few.  
Alternatively, you can sign up for another BSPH support class, RHET 111 Public Speaking for Health Professionals. This class will prepare you with valuable speaking skills to communicate health-related information. 

Once you have selected your classes, your schedule should look something like this: 

1) BSPH 201: Introduction to Public and Global Health
2) BIOL 115/116: Human Physiology (Core B2) or BIOL 105/L General Biology for pre-health students
3) Rhetoric and Composition course (Core A2)
4) Core course or RHET 111 Public Speaking for Health Professionals 

Please spend some time navigating the Schedule of Classes to familiarize yourself with the layout of the website. Look for courses that you would like to register for, including specific sections.

We look forward to meeting you at Orientation.  During Orientation, we will review all major requirements, and you will have the opportunity to meet public health faculty and other students in the program.

Again, welcome to USF and the Public Health major. We look forward to meeting you in the Fall at orientation!