With the approval of a doctoral student's advisory committee chair and the executive associate dean, graduate-level academic credit from another institution may be transferred for use in a School of Public Health-Bloomington doctoral degree. An official transcript from the registrar's office of the academic institution where the course work was completed must be on file in the School of Public Health-Bloomington records office. A copy of this transcript should accompany the request through its approval stages. A student's academic advisor must submit a Request for Transfer of Graduate Credit Form to the School of Public Health-Bloomington records office, room 123, for evaluation and final approval of the executive associate dean. This form may be found at https://one.iu.edu/task/iub/current-sph-students.

Stipulations for transferability are as follows:

• Up to a third of a graduate degree credit hours with the approval of graduate advisor, Director of Graduate Studies, Executive Associate Dean, and Dean of the Graduate School may be transferred from other institutions for application to a doctoral degree; however, courses already counted toward the requirements for one advanced (doctoral or equivalent) degree will not be counted toward requirements for another degree at the same level, and cannot be transferred.
• A maximum of 30 credit hours of graduate work may be transferred from other institutions for application to a doctoral degree.
• For Ph.D. degrees, coursework completed more than seven years before successful completion of the qualifying examination is not applicable to the program unless the student has remained current in the course subject matter. The graduate advisor, after consultation with the advisory committee, may recommend to the executive associate dean that a maximum of 30 credit hours of course work taken before the seven-year time limit be revalidated if it can be demonstrated that the knowledge contained in the course(s) remains current. Currency of knowledge may be demonstrated by such accomplishments as (a) passing an examination specifically on the material covered by the course; (b) passing a more advanced course in the same subject area; (c) passing a comprehensive examination in which the student demonstrates substantial knowledge of the content of the course; (d) teaching a comparable course; or (e) publishing scholarly research demonstrating fundamental principles of the course. Each course for which consideration for revalidation is being requested should be justified separately.
• A minimum grade of B is required in each course to be transferred.  A course with a grade of B- may not be transferred for use in a graduate degree.
• Grades of Pass (P) or Satisfactory (S) cannot be accepted unless there is official documentation from the transferring institution to verify that these grades are equivalent to at least a B on a graduate grading scale.
• No credit can be transferred for a course that cannot be officially documented as carrying graduate credit.
• No doctoral coursework from any completed doctoral or terminal degree may be transferred into any part of the PhD degree.  A student could transfer coursework from another institution which was taken under a doctoral degree program, so long as that doctoral degree was never conferred.
• Any graduate course work to be taken at another institution for the purpose of transfer to an Indiana University program must be approved in advance by the advisor and the executive associate dean.
• A student wishing to enroll in degree-related course work at any other Indiana University campus must secure the appropriate forms from the School of Public Health - Bloomington Records Office, SPH 123, before registering for such courses.
• The cumulative grade point average (GPA) for students in the School of Public Health-Bloomington is calculated, using only Indiana University graded course work. Credits and grades in work transferred from other institutions are not used in the calculation of a student’s Indiana University GPA.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Question: I wish to transfer courses from my master's degree for use in my Ph.D. degree here at IU. May I do this?
Answer: Yes, if your academic advisor agrees, and the School of Public Health-Bloomington Records Office has an official transcript showing the course work to be transferred, you may transfer in up to 30 credits from another institution as long as that credit will not be older than 7 years when you pass the qualifying examination.

Question: I wish to transfer courses from my doctoral degree for use in my Ph.D. degree here at IU. May I do this?
Answer: No, courses which are part of another completed doctoral or terminal degree, including a J.D. degree, may not be used as transfer credits towards a new Ph.D. degree. 

Question: I have transfer work which will be older than seven years when I take my quals. Can I transfer it for use at IU?
Answer: No, unless you can prove that you have kept up to date with developments in the course content since you took the course. If you have, you may apply to have up to 30 credits of courses revalidated for use in your course prescription.

Question: How does revalidation of an old course work?
Answer: The graduate advisor, after consultation with the advisory committee, may recommend to the executive associate dean that a maximum of 30 credit hours of course work taken before the seven-year time limit be revalidated if it can be demonstrated that the knowledge contained in the course(s) remains current. Currency of knowledge may be demonstrated by such accomplishments as (a) passing an examination specifically on the material covered by the course; (b) passing a more advanced course in the same subject area; (c) passing a comprehensive examination in which the student demonstrates substantial knowledge of the content of the course; (d) teaching a comparable course; or (e) publishing scholarly research demonstrating fundamental principles of the course.  A revalidation request document should include separate request for each course for which revalidation is being requested.  Each request should list the complete course number and title, and explain the how the student has maintained currency of knowledge in the course subject matter.

Question: Some of my courses taken at an academic institution, other than IU, were not graded with a letter grade (A, B, C, etc.). Is it possible to transfer such coursework into my IU Ph.D. program, and if so, what is the process?
Answer: With advisory committee approval, it may be possible to transfer "P" or "S" graded coursework to IU from an accredited academic institution. In order to use such coursework toward Ph.D. requirements, written verification is required that the grade earned in the completed coursework is equal to at least a minimum grade of 3.00 on a 4.00 grading scale. It is up to the student to obtain the required verification from an appropriate source, such as the professor of the course, the Registrar’s Office of the institution where the course was completed, or an administrator of the institution.