Obtain unofficial transcripts from each college or university where you have earned a degree or taken relevant coursework. Download unofficial transcripts or scan printed copies.

UW will request official transcripts when an offer of admission is made (international applicants) or accepted (domestic applicants).

Make sure your resume or curriculum vitae (CV) are up to date.

Length: 2-3 pages, single spaced

Describe your professional background, career goals, and the educational objectives you expect to meet through the program. Be sure to include a description of your work experience in health care or related fields.

The admissions committee places particular importance on well-specified and realistic career objectives.

Length: 1-2 pages, single spaced

The University of Washington is committed to excellence through diversity, and our program’s curriculum promotes an understanding of how social inequities and racism, generated by power and privilege, undermine health. We welcome students who have varied cultural experiences, and who will contribute to the intellectual and social enrichment of the doctoral program.

Describe your personal history, family background, and influences on your intellectual development that reflect your commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion.

You may include social, cultural, economic, and educational opportunities, or disadvantages that you have overcome, and the ways in which these experiences have affected you.

This statement is not intended to ask you to share personal information you are not comfortable providing.

Length: 20-word limit

Please respond with a comma-separated list, such as “social determinants of health, health policy, Latina health, immigrant and refugee health, payment reform.”

Are your research interests aligned with any of our training grants? If so, which and how? 

Applicants are strongly encouraged to review faculty profiles to identify those with shared research interests from whom they may be interested in mentorship and/or collaboration. Applicants can reach out directly to faculty with whom they are interested in working to discuss shared interests and program fit. Please list any faculty you have contacted. 

Number Required: 3

Identify three people who are willing to write letters of recommendation for you. Recommenders should be familiar with your academic goals and your potential for achieving those goals.

In the UW Graduate School online application portal, applicants will designate recommenders by entering their names and email addresses. The online application will then send specific instructions to each recommender. Applicants will be able to return to the online application to check whether the application system has received the recommendations.

Applicants are expected to be in contact with each of their letter writers to make sure they have submitted their letters of recommendations to the online application system by the due date.

The Health Services PhD program welcomes applicants across differences of ideas, history, gender, sexual orientation, ability, religion, gender identification, national origin, race and ethnicity. For the program to track the effectiveness of our recruiting efforts and ensure that we consider the needs of all our students, we appreciate feedback. Please consider responding to the questions in the optional PhD Supplemental Self-Identification Form.

If you choose to complete the form, download it, enter your responses, and save it. You can then upload the completed form in the appropriate section of the online application.

The GRE is no longer required! However, if applicants think their GRE scores are a better representation of academic preparedness for the program than their transcripts, they may include their GRE scores.

Applicants who choose to submit GRE scores must self-report them in the online application with the UW Graduate School AND have scores sent directly to UW from the Educational Testing Service using the UW institutional code. Scores from the testing services must arrive by the application deadline to be considered.

UW Institution Code: 4854

Applicants whose first language is not English might need to share proof of English language proficiency. If English is not your first language, please carefully review the UW Graduate School’s English Language Proficiency Requirements for the most up-to-date information on how to demonstrate proficiency for your specific situation.

If you have remaining questions after reviewing the policy, contact the Graduate Enrollment Management Services (GEMS) team at uwgrad@uw.edu.

Test scores must be sent directly to the UW by the Educational Testing Service using the UW institution code. Only scores less than two years old will be accepted.

UW Institution Code: 4854

The UW Graduate School application fee is $90. Waivers are available to qualified applicants.

Please request an application fee waiver as soon as possible, at least seven days before the application deadline.

If you request an application fee waiver, DO NOT pay the fee or submit your application until you receive approval or denial. The application fee cannot be reimbursed. Contact us if you have not heard about your fee waiver and need to submit your application.

Award Amount: Up to $5,000

Please note: All PhD applicants who are eligible and submit a complete UW Graduate School application to the program will be considered. There is no formal application process or essay.

The UW Department of Health Systems and Population Health (HSPop) is committed to increasing the number of health professionals from diverse communities in the field of public health. The Health Systems Excellence, Equity, and Distinction (HSEED) Award provides $5,000 tuition support to outstanding students from each of our academic programs.