INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
Financial Guarantee
A financial guarantee (Confirmation of Financial Resources) is required for applicants expecting to be F1 or J1 visa holders prior to our being able to send an I-20 or DS-2019 to applicants offered admission.
Your application can be reviewed without uploading a Financial Guarantee. However, if you are offered admission, then not uploading a Financial Guarantee to your application for submission with your application will delay issuance of an I-20 or DS-2019. To upload your Financial Guarantee with your application, complete the Financial Guarantee form along with obtaining the necessary other required documents listed on the form, save these as .pdf, .doc, .docx, .rtf, or .txt documents, and upload the form and required documents on page 12 of the application.
Please be prepared to upload your Financial Guarantee with your application to ensure a timely issuance of your immigration documents.
English Language Proficiency for Admissions
All persons for whom English is a second language are required to present proof of English competency. However, an applicant who has or will have completed a baccalaureate or graduate degree from a college or university where English is the primary teaching language, and which is located in a country where English is a primary language, is not required to submit a TOEFL or IELTS score. Note, however, that submission of an internet based TOEFL score may be necessary if employment as a graduate teaching assistant/associate is desired. Please refer to departmental information/website for any such requirements for employment as a teaching assistant/associate.
If required, an official TOEFL score of 79 (internet based test) or 550 (paper based test) is required to be submitted. The TOEFL institution code for OSU is 6546.
Alternatively, an official IELTS, academic stream, examination with a minimum overall band score of 6.5 will satisfy the English proficiency requirements for admission to a graduate program. Either examination must have been taken within the last two years.
The MPH program requires a minimum score of 90 on the internet based TOEFL (minimum subscales: 26 speaking, 22 reading, and 24 writing) or 6.5 on the IELTS. Note that submission of an internet based TOEFL score may be necessary if employment as a graduate teaching assistant/associate is desired. Please refer to departmental information/website for any such requirements for employment as a teaching assistant/associate.
Additional Course Requirements
Students who score at least 45 on the combined Reading and Listening portions of the internet based TOEFL, with a score of at least 20 in each section, are not required to enroll in any remedial coursework.
Students who score less than this on the Reading and Listening portions of the internet based TOEFL (irrespective of the score on the Written portion) are required to enroll in ENGL 0003 during their first semester. ENGL 0003 carries a grade of satisfactory or unsatisfactory (S/U) and may not be used toward minimum degree requirements. Students must enroll in ENGL 0003 each semester until a grade of S is earned.
Students who score at or above the minimum score(s) on the Reading and Listening portion of the internet based TOEFL, but less than 22 on the Writing portion, are required to enroll in ENGL 4893* at some point in their studies. ENGL 4893* carries graduate credit and may be used toward minimum degree requirements; a grade of C or better in this course is required. Both ENGL 0003 and ENGL 4893*, as applicable, must be listed on the student's Plan of Study.
Students who have completed the IELTS, or the paper-based TOEFL have different requirements.
*denotes receipt of graduate credit for an undergraduate course; these remedial courses, however, are prerequisite requirements and will not serve as electives for the MPH program.