Office of Career Development | Rollins School of Public Health
APPLIED PRACTICE EXPERIENCE STUDENT HANDBOOK
FREQUENTLY
ASKED
QUESTIONS
When can a student start an APE? Or, can a student use an
experience prior to their enrollment in the MPH program as
an APE?
Students are not allowed to begin an APE until they have
completed at least 9-credit hours of coursework after enrolling at
the RSPH; therefore, they cannot use any experiences prior to
their enrollment in the MPH program as their APE. In an APE,
students are expected to practice graduate level competencies
(i.e., the knowledge and skills) they have acquired through their
coursework in a professional public health environment. Students
have not acquired any competencies through their coursework
until they have completed a minimum of 9-credit hours.
Can the APE requirement be waived? (Ex. public health
nurse with 20 years of experience or physician)
No. Exemptions are not granted for the APE. Along with
coursework and the Integrative Learning Experience (ILE), the
APE is one of the 3 elements that all students much complete
while in graduate school. It is a supervised experience based
upon the application of graduate level competencies gained while
enrolled at the RSPH. A student’s work experience prior to
enrolling in graduate school at the RSPH, while important to
professional development, was not guided by the knowledge
gained in coursework at the RSPH. Therefore, prior work
experience does not substitute for the APE requirement.
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What is the difference between the APE and
ILE (thesis or capstone)?
An APE is a supervised practice experience in the
field of public health designed to meet the needs
of an agency while also enhancing a student’s
professional skills and knowledge. An APE may
result in a number of products such as a paper, a
literature review, a curriculum, a dataset analysis,
an informatics dashboard, or other deliverables for
the community partner that a student is working
with and deemed relevant by their APE Advisor.
Through the Integrative Learning Experience (ILE)
- such as a thesis or capstone project - students
integrate the broad base of public health
knowledge and skills acquired from their
coursework, the APE and other learning activities.
This synthesis typically results is a product that
resembles a written paper with an oral
presentation.
It is important to remember, that even if an APE
and ILE are related to each other, they must be
distinct projects that are independent from one
another and can be described as such.
Can a student’s thesis or capstone count as
an APE?
No. The APE and the Integrative Learning
Experience (ILE) (i.e., thesis, capstone) are
different experiences. There are some situations
when a student’s APE may lead to an ILE. For
example, as part of an APE experience, an
agency might need a student to develop and
disseminate a questionnaire on the training needs
of people living with lupus. As a thesis project, a
student can utilize the data to address a student-
identified research question and hypotheses. As a
capstone project, a student may utilize the data to
develop a training program targeting the needs of
this population.