M.S. in Health Studies

Because the classes in this program are offered online, you can continue to work full-time, advancing your career as you complete your degree at your own pace. Plus, you can save time and money as no GRE score is required for program admission. TWU values your proven career success over scores on an exam.

Whether you want to focus on community health, worksite health and wellness or the pedagogy and principles of teaching the next generation of health professionals in higher education, you can select the focal area coursework that best matches your goals.

Focal areas for thesis and internship/professional affiliation students include higher education, community/population health and worksite health.

If you are currently a dental hygienist, earning a master’s degree will lead to new opportunities in your current professional setting and open doors to opportunities in professional leadership, higher education, research and public health. TWU is one of a handful of Texas universities to offer a graduate degree with a dental hygiene emphasis.

There are three ways you can complete your degree:

Internship/Professional Affiliation option: 36 semester credit hours, including 18 hours of required core, 12 hours in your selected focal area, six hours of research tools and 350 hours of site work for academic credit or 250 hours of internship/professional affiliation and passing a national certification exam.

Thesis option: 42 semester credit hours, including 18 hours of required core, nine hours in your selected emphasis area, nine hours of research tools and six hours of thesis work.

Dental Hygiene Emphasis option: 36 semester credit hours, including 18 hours of dental hygiene emphasis coursework and six hours of research tools.

See the Graduate Catalog for more details on this program of study.

Emphasis areas for thesis and non-thesis students include higher education, community/population health and worksite health.

As a full-time student, you can complete the coursework for this master’s degree within four semesters for the non-thesis option and five semesters for the thesis option.

As a part-time student, you can complete the coursework for this master’s degree within six semesters for the non-thesis option and eight semesters for the thesis option.

Program Contact

Jason Torres
940-898-2864
jtorres9@twu.edu

Application Deadlines

Fall and Summer - March 1
Spring - July 1

Admission Requirements

Unconditional admission indicates an applicant meets all requirements for admission. However, meeting minimum admission requirements does not guarantee admission.

1. Hold a baccalaureate degree in health promotion, public health, kinesiology, or a related field from a U.S. college or university accredited by a regional or general accrediting agency, or an equivalent degree from a foreign college or university.
2. Undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or higher for the last 60 semester credit hours of bachelor's degree coursework, as evidenced by official transcripts. 
3. For those seeking the M.S. in Kinesiology with Biomechanics emphasis, submission of GRE scores is highly recommended. 
4. For international students, a test of English proficiency or exception. Please consult the School of Health Promotion and Kinesiology Graduate Advisor and the Office of International Education prior to applying.

For applicants who submit all required application materials but do not meet the minimum requirements for unconditional admission to the master’s degree program, provisional admission will be considered, dependent upon the relative strength of the application materials. When provisional admission is granted, the admission letter from the Graduate School will specify the prerequisites and/or provisions a student must satisfy to advance to unconditional admission status. It is the student’s responsibility to satisfy all requirements to remove the provisional admission status. Once the provisional requirements are complete, the student must inform and provide evidence of requirement completion to the advisor.

Students who do not plan to work toward a graduate degree but who wish to enroll in coursework for personal or professional purposes may, with the permission of the School, apply as “non-degree seeking students.’’ Please refer to the Graduate Catalog for more information.

How to Apply

1. Apply for admission to the TWU Graduate School. In the application, specify degree and emphasis area.
2. Collect and submit the following documents as separate PDF files in ONE email to jtorres9@twu.edu with the subject line (YOUR LAST NAME)-(YOUR FIRST NAME)-Degree Sought. Please attach all items as PDFs.
   • Personal Statement Letter. The Personal Statement Letter, evidencing the ability to express concepts and ideas in writing, should indicate whether the applicant is interested in conducting a thesis. If an applicant is interested in conducting a thesis, the applicant should also identify a preferred faculty mentor and discuss how their research interests align with the identified faculty mentor’s research agenda.
   • Professional resume/curriculum vita evidencing appropriate academic background and relevant experience for graduate study.
3. Two letters of recommendation submitted by faculty members and/or employers as PDFs on institutional or organization letterhead to jtorres9@twu.edu. Recommenders should include student name and degree sought (e.g. "M.S. in Kinesiology") in the subject line.