Policies & Procedures

Although students earn Emory credit and grades for the courses you take abroad on an Emory-approved program, receipt of course credit is not automatic. Emory academic departments evaluate courses to determine if they meet Emory's standards and are appropriate for Emory credit. 

We advise students to submit more course approval requests than needed, so that there is more flexibility and less stress with the finalization of their course schedule abroad. A record of all course approvals will be saved to the "Documents" section in a student's Emory Online Education Abroad application.  We recommend that students keep copies of all syllabi, coursework, papers, and exams in case they need to verify their work with Emory faculty upon returning home.

After arriving on-site, students should immediately request approval for any courses that have not been approve before the program’s add/drop/swap deadline. Students cannot take classes for which an Emory course approval is not granted. For any courses without Emory course approval, students will receive a grade of “F” on their Emory transcript.

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 they wish 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.

Major and/or Minor Requirements

Courses taken abroad on Education Abroad programs may generally count towards major or minor requirements. Some departments have special policies or limits regarding how many courses taken abroad may fulfill major/minor requirements. Students should check with their academic advisor(s) regarding any department-specific policies for their major(s) or minor.

During the application process, students must obtain an approval from your faculty academic advisor in your major department by submitting the Academic Advisor Approval Form. If a student has a double major, they should complete this form twice to request approval from both major advisors. Advisor(s) will review the students tentative study abroad academic course plan.

Students that are unsure which classes are needed to taken abroad for their major requirements, are highly encourage you to discuss this or other concerns with their academic advisor(s).

General Education Requirements

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

Students cannot take Continued Writing or Continued Communication GER classes through study abroad abroad programs. These classes must be taken at Emory. (Note: some summer study abroad programs taught directly by Emory faculty offer Continued Writing classes.)

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.

Business School Courses

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 study abroad program.

Minimum Enrollment Policy

For Semester Abroad programs, Emory requires that all students maintain a regular full-time load of academic courses. This is equivalent to a minimum of Emory 15-16 credits, depending on the specific program. Students should check with both their overseas coordinator and their Emory Education Abroad Advisor to verify registration.

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 county, if English is not the primary language.

For Summer Abroad programs, our office will register students for their summer abroad classes. Students may enroll in Emory College Summer School course(s), as long as the dates of the courses do not overlap with the summer study abroad program dates. Students may not take an Emory College Online course while they are out of the country participating in a Summer Abroad program.

Semester Abroad courses must be taken for a letter grade at the host institution, however, Emory College allows students to designate up to one course per semester as S/U.  Students participating in the Summer Abroad program, may also designate up to one course as S/U.

All Education Abroad courses will post to a student's Emory transcript and the course grade is factored into the student's overall GPA. 

If a student would like to designate a course as S/U, a written notice must be submitted to their Education Abroad Advisor, such as a message from the student's Emory email account. S/U requests should be made within 16 calendar days of the first day of classes of the study abroad program. For programs in which courses are taught sequentially, the S/U request should be made by the end of the third day of the course for which the request is being made. After this period, no S/U election or changes can be made. The student must receive a confirmation email from their Education Abroad Advisor to finalize the S/U request.

If you would like to take a course S/U on your summer abroad program, please inform your education abroad advisor in the Office of International and Summer Programs in writing (an email will suffice) within the first week of the courses that are taught. For programs in which courses are taught sequentially, requests to take a course S/U should be made by the end of the third day of the course for which the request is being made.

Please note that Semester Abroad courses are still taken for a letter grade at the host institution. The student must earn a grade of "D" or better, to receive a "S" grade. Our office will change the grade for the course to "S" or "U" upon receipt of the students overseas transcript.

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 a student has submitted the program deposit or has received approval for a program deposit deferment, the student is deemed to agree to enroll in the program which was applied to.

Semester Abroad Partial Withdrawals

Regardless of any withdrawal policies at the host institution, as long as a student maintains enrollment in at least 15-16 Emory credits, a course may be dropped according to the following.

1. A student may withdraw from a course until 4:00 pm the Friday of the sixth full week of class of the semester based on the academic calendar of your host institution.
2. A student must notify their Emory Education Abroad Advisor via email and receive approval before the withdrawal of the course.
3. If a student withdraws after the official drop/add period at the host institution, but before the sixth full week of class, as defined above, a "W" will be received on the student's Emory transcript.
4. If a student withdraws after the sixth full week of class, as defined above, the student may receive a "WF" on the Emory transcript, regardless of the specific withdrawal policy at the host institution.
5. In some extenuating circumstances, a student may request to drop below 15-16 credits while studying abroad. Extenuating circumstances may be defined as medical need, family emergency, death in the immediate family, or other significant circumstances resulting in unforeseen hardship.
   
   To initiate a partial withdrawal request to drop below 15-16 credits
   1. A student must submit a formal letter of petition via email to their Emory Education Abroad Advisor describing the extenuating circumstance and provide supporting documentation such as a letter from a medical doctor.
   2. If a student does not request approval prior to dropping below 15-16 credits,  the student may be dropped from the education abroad registration at Emory, resulting in "WF" grades for the academic term.

Summer Abroad CanceLlations

 If a student needs to cancel their application for any reason, a written notice must be submitted, no later than March 15, to their Education Abroad Advisor, such as a message from the student's Emory email account.