Candidates must satisfy the general requirements for admission to the Faculty of Graduate Studies. Students seeking admission to any of the graduate programs should have earned an excellent record during four years of undergraduate study.
Please note that entry into Dalhousie's graduate programs is very competitive, and applicants who meet the minimum requirements are not guaranteed admission. Normally, successful applicants have academic records and qualifications that are well above the minimum requirement. Although Dalhousie's minimum requirement is a 3.0 GPA (B) and the School of Health and Human Performance requires a minimum of 3.3 (B+), the average GPA of students accepted to the School of Health and Human Performance is usually 3.5 or better.
Students with a GPA less than a 3.7 cannot be considered for the Internal Graduate Scholarships but are still eligible to apply for Research Assistantships and Teaching Assistantships once accepted to the program.
Although the School of Health and Human Performance may accept a student to the program, please note that the final decision made on all admissions are made by the Faculty of Graduate Studies, and there are no appeals on admissions decisions. The official letter of acceptance is sent by the Dalhousie Registrar's Office.
The application deadline is January 15; however, applications received prior to June 1 will be considered pending space availability.
Health Promotion Admission Requirements
Admission Types - Length of Program
There are three types of admission to the School of Health and Human Performance graduate programs. Those with appropriate qualifications are normally registered in the one-year master's program. Students from undergraduate programs in related fields (other than Health Promotion, Kinesiology, or Leisure Studies) will be considered for graduate study in the School, but may be required to register in the two-year master's program. Please see additional requirements for each program listed below.
Qualifying work may be required of applicants whose background for advanced studies in Health Promotion, Kinesiology, or Leisure Studies is judged deficient (please see details below).
One Year
Students with adequate backgrounds are normally admitted to the one-year program. There is a one-year residency requirement and students must pay full fees for one year. Students take five full credits (30 credit hours), consisting of a thesis (worth 12 credit hours) and 18 credit hours of course work (6 3-credit courses). Following the first year, thesis-only fees are paid. Students enrolled in the one-year program should expect to take 18-24 months of full-time work to complete the program. Ordinarily, the one-year program must be completed within four years of initial registration.
Two Year
Students with inadequacies in their backgrounds may be admitted to the two-year program. This involves the completion of a combination of undergraduate and graduate courses over a two-year period. Full fees must be paid for two years. Students should expect to take the equivalent of 6 3-credit hour courses (18 credit hours) in each of the first two years of the program for a total of 12 3-credit hour courses (36 credit hours). The minimum number of 3-credit hour courses required for the two-year program is 10 (30 credit hours) and the maximum is 18 (36 credit hours). These courses can be a mixture of graduate and undergraduate courses, but the minimum number of graduate courses required for the one-year program must be taken. The requirements of the two-year degree also include a thesis worth 12 credit hours. Students in the two-year program should expect to take 24-36 months of full-time work to complete the program. Ordinarily, the two-year program must be completed in five years.
Qualifying Year
A Qualifying student is a person with a Bachelor's degree or its equivalent who meets normal Faculty admission standards and in whom a department has expressed an interest as a potential graduate student, but who is without a sufficiently strong academic background in a particular discipline to be enrolled directly into a Master's program. For example, a Qualifying Year may be used for a student to take an Honours equivalency certificate, or to take a year of senior undergraduate classes in an area of deficiency in their undergraduate degree. Only in exceptional circumstances may a student be admitted to a Qualifying Year to upgrade a below-standard undergraduate degree or academic record.
Qualifying students can be full-time or part-time and can take as little as one 3-credit hour course or as many as 10 3-credit courses chosen from undergraduate classes or a mixture of undergraduate and graduate classes. If advanced placement for the graduate classes is anticipated, this information must be specified in the comments section of the application form. Because it is a pre-requisite, a qualifying program cannot be used to reduce the length of a subsequent regular graduate program. Qualifying students are not eligible for scholarship or bursary support and must apply for admission to the appropriate graduate program in the usual way toward the end of the qualifying period. Qualifying students must pass all the classes with no grades below a B- and with an average of at least B, and fulfill any other requirement in order to be considered for admission.
Applicants to the School of Health and Human Performance should be aware that a prior criminal conviction may render them unable to be licensed in their field of study upon graduation, or to be able to participate in some clinical fieldwork experience in agencies through their course of study.
Please note that the deadline for receipt of applications is January 15.
For further information on admission requirements, please contact:
Tracy Powell - Graduate Secretary
Phone: 902-494-1154
Email