Undergraduate Degrees in Health Science

Kickstart Your Career in Health and Healthcare with a Health Science Bachelor’s Degree from BSU

Are you considering a career in healthcare or a medically related field? Then our Health Science program may be the right fit for you.

Housed in the Department of Health and Kinesiology, Bridgewater State University’s health science bachelor’s degree program combines courses in health science, psychology and science to prepare you for a versatile career in a large, interdisciplinary healthcare field.

This BS in health science program prepares you for graduate or professional school with your choice of one of three concentrations:

Pre-Athletic Training
Pre-Occupational Therapy
Pre-Physical Therapy

Our bachelor of health science program provides you with a solid foundation in the discipline with courses in science, wellness and medical terminology. Then, you may continue your education in graduate school to pursue your dream job as an athletic trainer, occupational therapist, physical therapist and beyond.

Bachelor of Health Science Program Highlights

photo of Athletic Training class with 1 student sitting on a medical table, another student holding and looking at the first student's foot and a professor showing the students something on the foot

Choose your concentration

If you’ve been searching for a health science bachelor’s degree online, look no further. At BSU, you have the flexibility to choose from three concentrations so you may align your studies with your career goals and prepare for graduate studies. These concentrations include Pre-Athletic Training, Pre-Occupational Therapy and Pre-Physical Therapy.

a student examining another student's hand in class

Get hands-on experience in health care

While working toward your bachelor of health science, complete an internship for course credit to get a feel for the day-to-day work in allied health care while satisfying observation requirements for grad school applications. You can’t always get these types of experiences with a health science bachelor's degree online.

Dr. Tom Wu working with students in a kinesiology class

Learn from knowledgeable, supportive faculty

Our health science faculty members have extensive experience as healthcare providers. Their specialty areas range from athletic training to physical therapy, so you know you will be learning from experts in the field. BSU faculty members also understand the challenges you’ll face inside and outside of the classroom while working toward your health science bachelor’s degree, and they’re here to help.

One-on-one support as you earn your BS in health science

Planning for the future? Considering which Bachelor of Health Science concentration to choose? BSU’s Career Services on campus can help you connect with potential employers, navigate the process of developing and initiating your career plans as an athletic trainer, occupational therapist, physical therapist and more.

Small class sizes, big opportunities

As a health science major at BSU, you will learn in classrooms with 30 students or fewer. This will give you and your peers easy access to extra assistance from your instructors. You’ll also be able to get to know and work with your classmates for projects, assignments and other activities — experiences you wouldn’t get with health science bachelor’s degree online.

Convenient location for learning

Centrally located in southeastern Massachusetts, BSU is about 30 miles south of Boston, east of Providence and west of Cape Cod. Our proximity gives you plenty of easy-to-get-to places to visit, work or intern when you aren’t in class.

Program of Study for Health Science Majors

Unlike many health science bachelor’s degrees, Bridgewater’s BS in health science is interdisciplinary. Throughout the degree program, you will explore coursework in several areas to round out your education and prepare for different career pathways in health and wellness, regardless of the concentration you choose.

In addition to your undergraduate health science core courses — such as Medical Terminology and Nutritional Concepts for Health Care Practitioners — you will also take related classes in biology, chemistry, physics, psychology and others. Some health science undergraduate program courses you may take include:

Physical and Motor Development of Individuals with Disabilities for the Pre-Occupational Therapy Concentration, where you will learn about the medical, psychological and educational issues of individuals with disabilities.
Psychosocial Intervention and Patient Care for the Pre-Physical Therapy Concentration, which will help you learn how to recognize behavioral issues, apply strategies for interventions and refer patients to additional resources for help.

Click any link below to reveal each program's course detail.

Program details from 2024-2025 Undergraduate/Graduate Catalog

The faculty in the Health and Kinesiology Department have always been very welcoming, willing to help and I’ve had nothing but great professors and advisors who have always supported me.”

Juliana Francois, '22

Health Science, Pre-Physical Therapy Concentration, BS

Careers in Health Science

Whether or not you plan to continue your studies after graduation, opportunities abound for careers with a health science bachelor’s degree. Graduates of BSU’s program have gone on to work for pharmaceutical companies, federal government agencies, medical laboratories and hospitals. Here’s a list of a few potential careers you may be interested in pursuing after graduating from Bridgewater. Some of these jobs may require additional certifications, education or training:

Research assistant
First responder
Scientist and researcher
Nutritionist
Lab manager
Occupational health and safety professional

BSU graduates with health science bachelor’s degrees also continue their education in graduate school to become occupational therapists, physical therapists, athletic trainers, public health nurses, physicians and more.

No matter which career you pursue with a bachelor of health science, BSU’s undergraduate coursework and program instructors will help you build the knowledge and skills you need to meet grad school requirements or real-world job demands.

Employment in healthcare occupations is projected to grow 16% through 2030 — much faster than average for all occupations — according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

2 graduate students in class sitting at a padded table with laptops open and crutches on the wall in background

Continue your education beyond your BS in Health Science

If you would like to go on to earn a master’s degree after graduation, BSU offers a Master of Science in Athletic Training degree. After all, our bachelor of health science program was created in part to prepare undergraduate students to enter this program and field.

While this program is in person and not an online athletic training degree, it can offer a variety of benefits online programs may not. These benefits include face-to-face collaborations, hands-on learning opportunities to practice injury intervention and more in the classroom and lab.

Unlike online athletic training degree programs, your graduate studies at BSU will include in-person lectures paired with five levels of clinicals. Through these placements in healthcare settings, you will gradually learn a variety of clinical competencies under the direction of a certified athletic trainer.

View BSU Graduate Programs

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