IE3 Global Internship credits

Students completing an IE₃ Global Internship listed in the Go Abroad in Biology and Zoology or Go Abroad in Human Health Professions websites will work with OSU GO to register for ABRD 410. These program credits will automatically count for 3 credits of experiential learning for biology or zoology majors. Students can meet with relevant minor or University Honors College advisors to see how these credits may also work for those programs. ABRD credits also apply toward elective credits to reach the 180 credits needed to graduate from OSU, and many students need additional credits to reach 180 as the major and Baccalaureate Core or Core Education requirements which don't automatically add up to 180 credits.

If you have question about how to sign up for ABRD 410, please follow up with your IE₃ contact or email [email protected] for more information. If you are seeking approval for IE₃ Global Internships not listed on the Go Abroad in Biology and Zoology or Go Abroad in Human Health Professions website, email Brock McLeod ([email protected]) with a description of the IE3 Global Internship in question. Only OSU internships listed on the OSU GO website can be pre-approved as part of your degree program.

OSU Faculty Led Study abroad course selection

All OSU Faculty Led Programs receive OSU credit. A minority of these programs include regular OSU courses, some of which are included in Core Education or Baccalaureate Core categories. These courses will work just like normal OSU courses. Many faculty led offerings include x99 courses that are not regular OSU course numbers. These courses can be approved to count for major requirements if they align with the major and/or some biologically-oriented professional goals. These courses will generally count for the major experiential learning elective area and may work for other areas if they include more than one course and are not covering Core Education or Baccalaureate Core course requirements. Biology and Zoology majors can check with their advisor about approvals of specific faculty led program courses.

Other Study abroad course selection

The study abroad programs listed as Go Abroad in Biology and Zoology or Go Abroad in Human Health Professions all receive OSU credit for courses abroad. Students can begin to explore course options by discussing their program choice with their advisor and reviewing the Study Abroad Course Equivalency Database to see courses recently completed by OSU students. In addition to seeing direct OSU course matches, reviewing courses can give clues for what department(s) might offer courses of interest. For example, James Cook University (JCU) offers marine biology courses under the MB designator, and students with marine interests can review websites that relate to that department/program for other courses not found in the OSU database. Students can also submit new courses for review and inclusion in the course database by using the study abroad articulation form but they should review the bulleted considerations below before doing so.

Not all of the courses in the completed Study Abroad Course Equivalency Database will match OSU courses, but courses do not need to be articulated as an OSU matches to count in major or option elective categories. This underscores the importance of advising conversations to consider how courses might count and what requirement of your degree might be worth saving until your abroad courses are approved. Once accepted, students complete the final course approval process related to courses in their program.

A few considerations for study abroad course selection are outlined below:

• Some schools have study abroad student pages which can be useful to research before you look elsewhere. In some cases these outline specific restrictions, course access issues, and information about the timing of terms. Review the OSU GO program sites for links and tips on this, and search for these types of sites on your own if you don't see anything listed.
• Students who are going for a term abroad should focus on single-term, non-series courses, and health profession students should not take any professional prerequisites abroad. If you are going abroad you can work with your advisor to shift courses around to avoid series or other areas while keeping on track for graduation.
• Courses taken abroad in European systems (most of the world) with 100 (or 1000) level numbers are generally equivalent to 100-200 level OSU courses here, while courses with 200-300 (or 2000-3000) numbers tend to be 300-400 level OSU courses. The numbers is different because their undergraduate degree are generally three years. Be careful when looking at numbers that are 400-4000 or above as they may be graduate courses that are not available or appropriate for undergraduates.
• Make sure you also have the equivalent of the listed prerequisites for upper division courses *(usually 200-300 or 2000-3000 numbers) at other schools. In general, you will want biology, organic chemistry, math and statistics complete because of prerequisites overseas, but there can be other requirements.
• Make sure you review courses to confirm they are offered the term you plan to attend. Most biology and zoology students will want to go in our summer to fall term (leaving early in summer) to avoid disrupting their major series courses. Be sure to account for the term numbering or season being counterintuitive if you are looking at a school in the Southern Hemisphere (e.g. our fall is spring in Australia).
• It is a good idea to focus on elective categories in your major and option which are more easily approved than specific OSU courses. For example, look for organismal biology or ecology, evolution and conversation elective categories which could allow many courses to work instead of focusing on a specific course like BI 445 Evolution which needs to match very closely to OSU.
• It is worth considering unique course offerings you would not have the opportunity to take at OSU. These may work for elective areas or total credits for graduation even if they don't match anything at OSU. Students can often take some courses abroad that do not count for specific requirements and still graduate in four years. Courses taken abroad on OSU approved programs count toward the 180 requirements for graduation even if they do not complete specific major, Baccalaureate Core, Core Education, or other requirements.
• If you are taking courses to complete another major or minor you should seek separate advising approval from those programs. In particular, abroad courses can generally be counted toward University Honors College elective requirements.

Once accepted to a program, students can begin the approval process by developing a list of courses of interest. Email Brock McLeod the list and include the following:

• Name
• OSU ID#
• Course number(s) and title(s) for courses of interest at the other school
• Course syllabi or description(s) for courses from the other school - syllabi will frequently be needed, and descriptions should be pasted into the message (not linked)
• Your ideas about what you hope to count them for in your program