What Should I Major In? College of Health Program Guide
The path to choosing a major is an exciting milestone of college. We’re here to help answer all your questions. Below, you’ll find FAQs and our unique offerings, along with real student experiences to ensure your decision is the best fit for you!
What are possible career opportunities in health?
Opportunities in health are varied and purpose-driven. Our students have pursued careers in health policy and administration, as well as data science, business, and finance, in both public and private health sectors. Whatever your interest, Lehigh’s College of Health will get you there. Our alumni have landed roles at leading companies. Take a look:
- Northwell Health
- Becton Dickinson
- Epic
- Huron
- Johnson & Johnson
- Goldman Sachs
- Price Waterhouse Coopers
They have also pursued further studies in public health, law, epidemiology, and biostatistics at institutions such as Harvard, Yale, and Case Western Reserve. Others have enrolled in medical school at institutions like George Washington University and the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University.
What is community and global health?
The community and global health major is a broad, interdisciplinary degree that focuses on understanding culture, collaborating with communities, and applying qualitative research methods. Students study the social, economic and environmental factors that interact and shape health outcomes—and learn how to design culturally appropriate interventions with domestic and global communities. The major emphasizes qualitative research methods to integrate the lived experience of directly impacted people as well as community-engaged approaches that include community members as partners in research. This major also underscores the importance of cultural understandings in health, and prepares students to enter impactful careers as health educators, global health policy analysts, nonprofit program managers, community liaisons for pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and more.
- Do you want to engage in hands-on work in the community?
- Do you feel drawn to explore how the world’s many different cultural backgrounds can impact health in meaningful ways?
- Do you enjoy connecting ideas from different fields to solve complex issues?
- Does hearing people’s stories and understanding the human side of health data resonate with you?
Majoring in community and global health is a great fit for you.
View the Community and Global Health program page.
What is biostatistics and health data science?
The biostatistics and health data science major combines mathematics, statistics, machine learning, computing, and epidemiology to serve an applied goal: understanding and advancing health. Students learn to work across the full lifecycle of health data, from formulating questions and designing studies to collecting, managing, analyzing, and interpreting data, and communicating results responsibly. The program emphasizes rigor, reproducibility, effective communication, and ethical practice, while grounding analytic and computational skills in real problems involving health. This major is designed for students who want to develop strong quantitative and data skills and apply them to understanding and improving human health.
- Do you enjoy solving puzzles with data and have a strong interest in mathematics, statistics, machine learning, and computer programming?
- Do you want to work with modern health technology and AI?
- Does understanding the “why” and “how” of public health from a data perspective energize you?
Majoring in biostatistics and health data science is a great fit for you.
View the Biostatistics and Health Data Science program page.
What is population health?
Population health majors prepare to improve health outcomes for large numbers of people. Students learn how to assess the impact of income and economic stability, access to and quality of education, neighborhood and environmental factors, and social and community context on a population’s well-being. The population health major includes coursework in epidemiology, health policy, and health systems. This major prepares students for careers in healthcare consulting, epidemiology, biostatistics, healthcare administration, environmental health, health policy and management, and roles within pharmaceutical, medical device, and biotech companies.
- Do you feel passionate about going beyond the health of individuals and understanding how health affects whole populations?
- Do you want to understand how countries make decisions about paying for health care or regulating drugs?
- Does predicting how diseases spread throughout a population sound meaningful to you?
- Does using large datasets to evaluate the performance of public health or health care systems interest you?
Majoring in population health is a great fit for you.
View the Population Health program page.
What does it mean to be pre-health at Lehigh?
Pre-health at Lehigh involves completing a set of required pre-health courses in addition to those required for the student's chosen major. Students who are pre-health may be preparing for dental school, medical school, or aspiring to be physician assistants. Lehigh allows pre-health students to major in any subject of their choice. Popular majors that complement pre-health courses include population health and community and global health.
View more about the Pre-Health Track at Lehigh
How do I incorporate health into my other interests?
Students are encouraged to explore a BA in Health, Medicine and Society, a dual major housed between the College of Health and the College of Arts and Sciences. The health, medicine and society major must be paired with another major of the student’s choosing, and is highly complementary to the BA in Community and Global Health. The major provides courses taught by a range of faculty members in both colleges, and provides a historical, psychological and humanities-based perspective to health, while incorporating health policy, public health, and global health courses. Health, Medicine and Society is intended to provide students with an understanding of healthcare, and can be especially helpful to those interested in communications, law, business, and health policy.
View the BA in Health, Medicine and Society.
What undergraduate degree will prepare me for health administration?
The BS in Business and Health degree, Integrated Business and Health (IBH) is the first degree of its kind in the nation. The program is an interdisciplinary, intercollegiate degree that students apply to directly. The program blends the core business curriculum with in-depth, interdisciplinary training in health economics, health policy, community health, and the social determinants of health. Students gain a comprehensive understanding of how business decisions, healthcare systems, and public policy intersect to shape population health and health equity.
Through a first-year integrated seminar and a senior capstone experience, students are encouraged to critically examine the connections between healthcare delivery, insurance, government policy, and community-based initiatives. Graduates of the IBH program are equipped to lead organizations effectively, navigate the complex institutional and policy landscape of healthcare, and develop sustainable, equitable solutions to some of society’s most pressing health challenges.
View the BS in Integrated Business and Health.
Hear From Current Students
Senior Julie Wright ’25, G’26 is majoring in community and global health. She combined her love of science and political science when considering which major to choose and thought public health would be an impactful middle ground. “I didn’t necessarily know what my major would evolve into, and I thought it was the best shot at helping me figure out what I wanted to do,” she said. “I’m very grateful it worked out that way because I didn’t know all the things it would bring me. Once I started attending Lehigh, it became very clear that this is where I’m supposed to be.” Wright graduated a semester early and has already begun her 4+1 Master of Public Health degree at Lehigh.
Wright has focused her studies on food and agriculture policy, health equity, social connection and environmental justice. Not only has she completed a COH-sponsored independent study on self-expression and identity through agriculture, but she has also been a research assistant on urban accessibility, disability and social connection and will present at an upcoming American Anthropological Association Conference, along with Professor Austin Duncan.
The COH launched the biostatistics and health data science major when junior Aaron Colon ’27 was a first-year student. “I really enjoy the content so far,” he said, “and think that Lehigh did a really great job in creating a current and intensive curriculum to prepare biostatistics students for industry, research and graduate school.” As a pre-med student, he wanted to have a reliable backup plan in case his interests changed, and he switched to biostatistics.
“Many of my research projects have been due to the fact that I am a biostatistics major, and many of these projects find biostatisticians favorable to run tests to verify/validate results,” he continued. “These projects are soon to turn into publications and hopefully be a key part of my resume or when I apply to either medical school or grad school. I truly believe that this major opened the door to many interesting projects, and while it is focused on health data, statistics and data science are used in numerous fields. I really think this major is amazing.”
Senior Laxmi Thakkar ’26 noticed that only three schools in the nation offer undergraduate degrees in population health, and she appreciates the uniqueness of her major. Compared to the community and global health major, Thakkar noticed that population health ties in more with biostatistics, an appealing aspect to her. “I saw that population health is a little bit of everything,” she said. “It’s a little bit of humanities with a social focus, and still wraps in math and science, like epidemiology and biostatistics.”
As a student on the pre-health track, Thakkar believes majoring in population health makes her more well-rounded. Students at Lehigh can choose any major and also take the required pre-health courses. While Thakkar could have opted to major in biology, a required subject for pre-health, she was driven to learn how health impacts different populations. The population health major is built on the social determinants of health, informing Thakkar about the holistic components that make up a population’s health and well-being.
Senior Natalie Werbel ’26 is a dual major in health, medicine and society, and community and global health. Werbel appreciates how much the content of the courses aligns, but also enjoys how they are taught from different perspectives. “You can learn topics from a completely new angle,” Werbel said. “I’m in a health, medicine, and society course that’s about health and Latin American societies, and it’s also a history course at the same time.” Werbel expressed that the College of Health has “multidimensional and diverse course offerings” and the opportunity to get to know classmates and professors on a deeper level.
First-year student Mara Fegley ’29 attended an open house on Lehigh’s campus for the BS in Integrated Business and Health. Fegley had an inkling that this interdisciplinary program would be the perfect fit for her, as she had her heart set on attending Lehigh and studying Business, but also wondered what studying health could be like.
“We talk a lot about pharmaceuticals and advertisements–how communications from companies that target specific audiences can be beneficial or harmful to public health,” Fegley said. “Of course, telehealth and AI are also significant topics, where we discuss the benefits of technology in healthcare and how interesting it is that those same components might pose challenges for running a business.”
Every Monday and Wednesday, the cohort welcomes a guest speaker to their seminar. Through this series, Fegley met Miranda O’Mara ’24, who began her career in hospital management at Northwell Health. The conversation deeply inspired Fegley, who now wishes to follow in O’Mara’s footsteps.
FAQs about Health Majors
Graduates pursue careers in public health, medicine, data analytics, health policy, business, and global development or continue on to advanced professional or graduate study.
It depends on your interests—whether you’re drawn to science and data, policy and community impact, business and leadership, or preparation for medical school. Each program offers a distinct perspective on the healthcare field. Explore them all!
Like most colleges and universities, Lehigh does not have a formal “pre-med” major. However, there is a recommended track of courses for students who are considering medical school.
The College of Health has mapped out the undergraduate program to ensure that students enrolled in the BS or BA majors in our college can complete both the pre-med requirements and their major requirements within four years.
Students who pursue advanced clinical degrees after graduation will be well-equipped with the education, experience and skills to address specific population health challenges that exist within health care systems, training they don’t receive in a traditional major like biology or chemistry. Learn more information about the pre-med requirements >
Not at all. Lehigh’s health programs are flexible, allowing you to keep medical or professional school as an option while also preparing for careers in public health, business, research, and beyond.
Yes. Students often engage in research with faculty, internships at health organizations, and global experiences that provide hands-on learning.
Absolutely. Current students enrolled in the College of Health are planning double majors in Biology, Economics, Business, and Health, Medicine, and Society, Journalism, and Political Science. A double-major taken outside the College of Health is considered a two-bachelor's program, and students must meet university requirements.
The College of Health faculty and staff support students interested in exploring their options for a robust academic experience.