The Master of Science in Child Health is designed for students who wish to pursue careers as Child Life Specialists or related fields. Child Life Specialists are health care professionals who help children and families navigate medical intervention in ways that reduce the effects of stress and trauma related to injury, illness, hospitalization, dentistry, bereavement, vaccination, and related medical experiences. We have designed our program to meet the eligibility requirements for the Child Life Specialist certification exam, including a 600-hour clinical internship under the direct supervision of a Certified Child Life Specialist. Child Life Specialists are certified by the Association of Child Life Professionals (www.childlife.org). Although focused on creating a pathway into the Child Life profession, we recognize that there are other relevant career pathways that graduates of our program might follow (e.g., in Extension, community health, or family life education), and thus we have named this degree “Child Health” so that it can be understood more broadly.
See the Child Health, MS course catalog page for degree requirements and learning outcomes.
Admissions Requirements
Applicants must have earned a B.S. in HDFS from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign by the time of program start, must have an overall GPA of 3.0, and have taken for credit and received a grade of B or higher in the following courses (or equivalents) from an accredited institution:
HDFS 108: Grief and Loss
HDFS 208: Child and Family Inclusion: Disability, Health, and Diversity
HDFS 290: Introduction to Research Methods
HDFS 301: Infancy and Early Development
HDFS 305: Middle Childhood
HDFS 350: Early Learning and Play
CLCV 102: Medical Terminology or HK: 264 Applied Medical Terminology for the Health Professional
One additional course in a related content area (HDFS or other)
Applicants must also pass background checks related to working with minors.
We do NOT require GRE scores.
Application Deadline is May 15th (program starts August 16th).
The application fee is $90. It can be waived, but you must follow the instructions carefully. To learn more about this (and other aspects of the application process), read through the application instructions.