Policies & Procedures

All courses that are taken abroad must have an Emory equivalent. All courses will be transferred back. A student cannot choose to not transfer back any courses taken abroad. 

Course Approval Options

1. Blanket-Approved Courses
   Students should use the Blanket Approval Form for courses that are listed in the Blanket Approval Database.
2. Non-Blanket-Approved Courses
   Students should use the Course Approval Form for courses not listed in the Blanket Approval Database or an alternate Emory equivalent for a blanket-approved course. Use the email address of the designated Faculty Study Abroad Representative in the Emory academic department through which you are seeking course approval.
3. Course Approval Video
   To learn more about how the course approval process works for Emory College semester Education Abroad programs, please watch this video and direct any questions to your Education Abroad advisor.

Major/Minor Requirements

Courses taken abroad can often count toward your major or minor, but some departments have limits or special rules. Be sure to check with your faculty advisor about what applies to you.

As part of your application, you’ll need to submit the Faculty Advisor Approval Form. If you have a double major, get approval from both advisors– that includes the Business School if you are a double major.

Not sure which classes to take? Talk to your advisor early– they can help you choose courses that fit your academic plan.

General Education Requirements

Courses taken abroad to fulfill a General Education Requirement (GER) must be approved for an Emory equivalent with the respective GER tag. For example, if a student wants to fulfill the HAL requirement of FREN 460, then they should submit a course approval request to the French department.

See Course Approval above.

See General Education Requirements in the Emory College Catalog.

PE Credits

In rare cases, students may find a PE course offered for academic credit abroad. Students may only take one (1) PE course while abroad, and they will only earn 1 credit hour for the course at Emory. The course must be taken for a letter grade and appear on the overseas transcript. The PE department does not grant any retroactive approval, so students must obtain pre-approval before enrolling in a PE course abroad.

Minimum Enrollment Policy

For semester abroad programs, Emory requires that all students maintain a regular, full-time load of academic courses as defined by your program host or institution. Emory College strongly recommends that students be enrolled in the equivalent of 15-16 credits while studying abroad. Emory College requires that students be enrolled in the equivalent of 12 credits for their semester abroad. Students should check with both their overseas coordinator and their Emory Education Abroad advisor to verify the number of required credits for their program.

Registration

For semester abroad programs, our office will register students in four “OISP 99X” courses, each listed as four Emory credits. This may or may not reflect a student's actual overseas enrollment. Semester abroad students are required to take a foreign language course of the host country, if English is not the primary language. This course cannot be taken S/U.

S/U Designation

Semester abroad students may choose to take one course as S/U (pass/fail) per term. All other courses must be taken for a letter grade, and all grades will appear on your Emory transcript and count toward your GPA.

To request S/U grading, email your Education Abroad advisor from your Emory email.

• For semester programs, submit the request within 16 days of the program start.

You’ll receive a confirmation email once your S/U request is approved– no changes can be made after that, including changing the grading method back to a grade.

S/U Designation Restrictions

• Only 20 graduation hours may be taken S/U at Emory, including study abroad coursework.
• Language courses are considered integral to the study abroad experience and cannot be taken S/U.
• Courses intended to satisfy a GER cannot be taken S/U.
• One course required for concentration in a given field may be taken on an S/U basis with the approval of the student's faculty advisor, if the department of concentration so determines.

Once you’ve paid or deferred your deposit, you’re expected to enroll in your approved program.

You must stay enrolled in a regular, full-time load of academic courses as defined by your program host or institution. If you need to drop a course:

• You may withdraw from a course by 4 p.m. on the Friday of the 6th full week of classes (based on your host school’s calendar).
• You must email your Emory Education Abroad advisor before dropping the course.
• If you withdraw after your host school's add/drop deadline but before week 6, you’ll get a W on your Emory transcript.
• If you withdraw after week 6, you may receive a WF, no matter the host school’s policy.

Our office must receive an official transcript or e-transcript from a student's study abroad host institution or program provider to process their education abroad coursework. We do not consider any academic records provided by a student as official.

Official transcripts from the host institution or program provder may be mailed to:

Education Abroad
Emory College of Arts and Sciences
Emory University
550 Asbury Circle
Candler Library, Suite 200
Atlanta, Georgia 30322

Official e-transcripts from the institution or program may be sent to: abroad@emory.edu

Once we receive your abroad transcript, we update your Emory record (the “OISP 99X” courses) with the correct number of credits and grades (based on the program’s translation memo). These grades count toward your Emory GPA.

Course equivalents will appear in the “Notes” section of your transcript.

• GERs are updated by our office.
• Major/minor credits must be confirmed with your academic advisor.

Transcript processing can take several months. We can’t post your courses or grades until all course approvals are submitted– be sure to get them done!

Emory College semester Education Abroad programs are available to more than just Emory College students. However, there may be specific requirements depending on where you are coming from.

Oxford College

Oxford College students can participate in an Emory College Education Abroad program starting in their third semester, in either of these two cases: You are graduating from Oxford a semester early OR you have completed all of your Oxford College requirements and only need credit hours in order to graduate. 

You will need to meet with an Oxford College academic advisor in the Advising Support Center to discuss your eligibility and have them fill out the Academic Advisor Approval Form for Oxford College students.

Business School

If you are a Goizueta Business School student you can only participate in Emory College Education Abroad programs if you have a double major in the College. Contingent upon review of the course description and/or syllabus, Emory's Business School will grant up to one (1) business course equivalent for College students abroad on an Emory-approved semester education abroad program.

Non-Emory Students

If you are not a full-time degree-seeking Emory student, there are two Emory College Education Abroad semester programs you can participate in. Those are the Emory in Salamanca Program and the EDUCO Paris program. Please reach out to the advisor for these programs for more information.