Completing prereqs for MPH at a NON U.S. school? Will it be recognized?

[MPH prospective]

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I plan on going abroad for a few months and was wondering if it would be wise to take my prereqs in at a wide known university (University of Ghana) there that has their own School of Public Health and prep for the GREs as well. If all goes well ideally I would spend a semester or longer there if need be. The courses are less expensive as well (thats my main reason)

My only question is once I get back to the states will my courses be recognized, Im not looking to gain or transfer credit, I just want to develop basic knowledge of Public Health, so I can show my interest since my undergrad was in International Development ( not too related).

Any suggestions or input would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you

 

[mystal]

I plan on going abroad for a few months and was wondering if it would be wise to take my prereqs in at a wide known university (University of Ghana) there that has their own School of Public Health and prep for the GREs as well. If all goes well ideally I would spend a semester or longer there if need be. The courses are less expensive as well (thats my main reason)

My only question is once I get back to the states will my courses be recognized, Im not looking to gain or transfer credit, I just want to develop basic knowledge of Public Health, so I can show my interest since my undergrad was in International Development ( not too related).

Any suggestions or input would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you

Email the school with syllabi of the courses and ask for approval. That's the only way of knowing for sure. A biochemistry class I took in Australia was approved, but I know a lot of schools only take credits from accredited U.S. institutions.

 

[MPH prospective]

Hey I'm back with good news, so I made a list of all the schools I would be interested in and emailed the person in charge with talking to prospective students, and asked them.

A majority of them stated that there are no specific set prereqs but course work, whether its undergrad or grad in stats, public health, epi, sciences, math will def add to the eligibility of an applicant. And they cannot transfer credits from another country ( which im not worried about) I just want the some coursework to give me a headstart.

Thanks for your answer Mystal

 

[OneDay81]

I think you still have to get the courses evaluated by WES, or whatever the organization is called, for the admissions process. I'm not sure how much of a pain that is, but overall I think your international experience will be a great asset. I am going to try to take a course in Uganda next June

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[MPH prospective]

I think you still have to get the courses evaluated by WES, or whatever the organization is called, for the admissions process. I'm not sure how much of a pain that is, but overall I think your international experience will be a great asset. I am going to try to take a course in Uganda next June

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Oneday81
So your saying even if I dont want to transfer the credit I still have to get the courses evaluated? You see, the courses in Ghana are quite inexpensive so I don't have a desire to transfer them, I just want to learn more about public health and refresh my mind with Algebra and Biostats. I'll def give WES a call.

Now if it was a school here in the states that I was taking the coursework at then I would def want to transfer because they are not cheap at all.
I was just thinking that once I head back to the states I'll bring my transcript and course descriptions, just to show I have some academic experience....

 

[OneDay81]

I know SOPHAS says to...here is part of the FAQ on that.

" Most schools of public health require applicants to submit official foreign transcripts to an approved foreign transcript evaluation service for a course-by-course U.S. equivalency report (Foreign Transcript Evaluation). Each participating school has its own policy regarding whether it requires foreign transcripts from the records office(s) at the non-U.S. school(s) you attended or Foreign Transcript Evaluations from an evaluation service. Please see www.sophas.org/documents/SOPHAS_Intl.pdf for specific instructions for each school. You MUST read each school of public health's instructions for submitting documentation of foreign coursework because individual program policies will vary. SOPHAS will forward any foreign transcript or Foreign Transcript Evaluation that we receive for your application to the schools of public health that you have selected, and is not responsible for determining whether you have submitted the proper document according to your designated schools' requirements. If one or more of your designated schools of public health require official transcripts from non-U.S. schools and others require Foreign Transcript Evaluations, you should provide both documents to SOPHAS.
Should you be required to have your transcripts evaluated by a foreign evaluation service, we highly recommend that you contact the foreign transcript evaluation service as early as possible. The services may take several weeks to process your foreign transcript once it is received."

 

[MPH prospective]

I know SOPHAS says to...here is part of the FAQ on that.

" Most schools of public health require applicants to submit official foreign transcripts to an approved foreign transcript evaluation service for a course-by-course U.S. equivalency report (Foreign Transcript Evaluation). Each participating school has its own policy regarding whether it requires foreign transcripts from the records office(s) at the non-U.S. school(s) you attended or Foreign Transcript Evaluations from an evaluation service. Please see www.sophas.org/documents/SOPHAS_Intl.pdf for specific instructions for each school. You MUST read each school of public health's instructions for submitting documentation of foreign coursework because individual program policies will vary. SOPHAS will forward any foreign transcript or Foreign Transcript Evaluation that we receive for your application to the schools of public health that you have selected, and is not responsible for determining whether you have submitted the proper document according to your designated schools' requirements. If one or more of your designated schools of public health require official transcripts from non-U.S. schools and others require Foreign Transcript Evaluations, you should provide both documents to SOPHAS.
Should you be required to have your transcripts evaluated by a foreign evaluation service, we highly recommend that you contact the foreign transcript evaluation service as early as possible. The services may take several weeks to process your foreign transcript once it is received."

👍 Thank you! I like to see cold hard facts. 🙂

 

[MPH prospective]

Just called SOPHAS customer service and told them about my situation. They stated that it is not required by them but the schools I'm interested in may want to see course descriptions and maybe a transcript as well. And the rules do vary school by school.

Thanks Mystal and Oneday81

 

[epinerd]

I just wanted to chime in and give you some tips on the WES evaluation process, having just gone through it myself for my applications this year. I don't know if you have other transcripts (i.e. from your undergrad) that have to be evaluated as well, but the cost is the same no matter how many transcripts you send them. I have two degrees, and I was worried that I would have to pay twice the WES fee, but it all ended up just costing me the one flat rate. So, if you're having some other transcripts evaluated already, you may as well add these new ones in as well since it won't cost you any more (except for whatever you have to pay your school to get the transcript).

Secondly, contact the schools you're applying to find out whether they need you to send the WES evaluation directly to them or whether they will just get it from SOPHAS. The SOPHAS website has some information on this, but I found that it was not correct in some cases. Even though SOPHAS said that a school required you to send your evaluation to them directly (and therefore pay an extra fee to WES for this), it turned out that some were OK with just getting it from SOPHAS. So, if you can get away with just sending one WES report to SOPHAS, instead of one each to all your schools, you will save a lot of money.

Anyway, I'm not sure if any of this applies to you, but I figured I'd throw this out there in case there were other international students reading. It's just some information I wish I had known when I was applying. Good luck!

 

[MPH prospective]

I just wanted to chime in and give you some tips on the WES evaluation process, having just gone through it myself for my applications this year. I don't know if you have other transcripts (i.e. from your undergrad) that have to be evaluated as well, but the cost is the same no matter how many transcripts you send them. I have two degrees, and I was worried that I would have to pay twice the WES fee, but it all ended up just costing me the one flat rate. So, if you're having some other transcripts evaluated already, you may as well add these new ones in as well since it won't cost you any more (except for whatever you have to pay your school to get the transcript).

Secondly, contact the schools you're applying to find out whether they need you to send the WES evaluation directly to them or whether they will just get it from SOPHAS. The SOPHAS website has some information on this, but I found that it was not correct in some cases. Even though SOPHAS said that a school required you to send your evaluation to them directly (and therefore pay an extra fee to WES for this), it turned out that some were OK with just getting it from SOPHAS. So, if you can get away with just sending one WES report to SOPHAS, instead of one each to all your schools, you will save a lot of money.

Anyway, I'm not sure if any of this applies to you, but I figured I'd throw this out there in case there were other international students reading. It's just some information I wish I had known when I was applying. Good luck!

Thank you soo much! The thing is though, Im a U.S. citizen I was raised and born here, been here for 23 years. my degree is from the U.S. as well. Does this still apply to me?

 

[epinerd]

Thank you soo much! The thing is though, Im a U.S. citizen I was raised and born here, been here for 23 years. my degree is from the U.S. as well. Does this still apply to me?

I thought maybe you did your undergrad in Ghana as well. If all your other coursework is from the US, then no WES evaluation is needed for that. You only need to get one if the schools where you're applying ask for one for those extra courses you're taking at the University of Ghana. My guess is you probably won't need one because you're probably not going to count them towards your GPA.

 

[OneDay81]

This has to do with coursework, not citizenship.

 

[MPH prospective]

This has to do with coursework, not citizenship.

You've been soo helpful thank you, but I think in my case I will have to contact each school im interested in and let them know my situation when the time comes. After speaking to someone at SOPHAS it became clear to me that I wont need to go through WES or SOPHAS after all.

I appreciate all the input. Thanks and best of luck to everyone in your future endeavors 👍