11.2 Transfer of graduate credit

Learn about transfer of credit and the amount of credit hours permitted to transfer for each degree.

"Transfer of credit" means that the faculty permits graduate coursework already completed prior to enrollment in the degree program to be counted toward the degree, reducing the additional hours required for graduation. Students are urged not to assume that coursework already completed can be applied to a degree in the College of Public Health. All transfer credit requests are reviewed by the Graduate School for acceptability, so recommendations made by the college are not final determinations.

Students who completed a master’s degree outside Ohio State

Students who have completed a master’s degree from a university other than Ohio State are permitted to transfer credit hours for their previous degree as long as it was from a regionally accredited (i.e. Higher Learning Commission) institution. Students are reminded that the Graduate School rule regarding transfer credit requires students to complete 80% of the credit hours for their master’s degree at Ohio State. For MPH and MS programs that require 42 to 48 credit hours, only eight to nine hours of transfer credit may apply toward the Ohio State degree. For the MHA degree that requires 60 hours, only 12 transfer credit hours may apply. Students are still required to follow the transfer credit process outlined in Section 11.3 of this handbook to officially transfer the credit.

Students who completed a master’s degree at Ohio State

Students who have earned graduate credit during a completed graduate degree at Ohio State but outside the College of Public Health may only transfer excess credits that were taken as part of the first graduate degree. In other words, students cannot double count requirements for two degrees at Ohio State.

Doctoral students

Doctoral students with an earned master’s degree from this university or another institution may request, with permission of their advisor and the ASGC chair, to transfer in 30 credit hours of a master’s degree to apply toward their PhD degree. Students should consult with their advisor and follow the transfer of graduate credit process outlined in Appendix J.

For doctoral students requesting an excess of those 30 credit hours of master’s credit to apply to the doctoral degree, the credit must be in excess of the master’s degree requirements in a field in which the PhD is awarded. It must be course work normally taken by doctoral students at that institution.