Special Standing Courses
Non-degree special standing courses are an affordable and convenient opportunity for students to take select public health classes without the commitment of enrolling into a degree program.
Special standing students are admitted Rollins School of Public Health students, but they are not seeking a degree. These students may enroll in courses of interest, after they have been admitted to Rollins, if there is space available in the course and their academic backgrounds meet course prerequisites.
Those interested in applying for Special Standing Status are encouraged to follow the application process below as soon as possible. The application deadline for Spring 2024 courses is December 15th. The traditional Spring term begins January 16th.
APPLY (STEP 1): If you have never applied to Rollins School of Public Health as a non-degree student OR have not done so in the past five years, you must complete and submit an application. Emory University employees and graduates interested in registering for special standing courses are also required to submit an application for admittance.
REQUEST ENROLLMENT (STEP 2): If you have been admitted to Rollins School of Public Health as a non-degree student within the last five years, follow Step 2.NOTE: If you submitted an application and were admitted as a special standing student to the Rollins School of Public Health within the past five years, you are NOT required to submit another admissions application to register for courses. Students can register for public health classes only. Enrollment in classes within another Emory University school will require admittance to that school.
Questions regarding applying for special standing should be addressed to the Office of Admissions & Student Services at sphadmissions@emory.edu.
Questions about enrolling in classes after being admitted should be addressed to the Office of Enrollment Services at rsphenrollmentservices@emory.edu.

Apply
Admission Requirements
Transcripts
Rollins must receive official transcripts from the registrar of the institution at which you received a bachelor's degree or its equivalent. It is preferred that applicants submit official electronic transcripts from their undergraduate institution to sphadmissions@emory.edu. Alternately, transcripts may be mailed and are not "official" unless received in the academic institution's sealed envelope. All documents must be in English or accompanied by an official notarized literal translation.
Special standing application materials must be submitted to the Admissions department at the Rollins School of Public Health located in the Office of Admissions and Student Services on the seventh floor of the Grace Crum Rollins Building. Materials may also be mailed to:
Rollins School of Public Health
Emory University
Office of Admission and Student Services
1518 Clifton Rd NE
Mailstop 1518-002-1AA
Atlanta, Georgia 30322
For additional questions or concerns regarding the admissions process please contact the Admissions Office by e-mail at sphadmissions@emory.edu or call 404-727-3956.
Admission Application Deadlines
Spring
The deadline to apply for spring admissions is December 15. The deadline to apply for EMPH admission is December 1.
Summer
The deadline for summer admissions is April 30. The deadline to apply for EMPH admission is April 22.
Fall
The deadline to apply for fall admissions is August 14. The deadline to apply for EMPH admission is August 1.
Register for Classes
Registration Requirements
Students who were recently admitted and/or admitted in the past five years should email the Office of Enrollment services at rsphenrollmentservices@emory.edu for the Special Standing Registration form. If you have not submitted an application for admittance to Rollins you may not register for special standing courses.
Enrollment forms will be processed in the order they are received. Registration is based on students meeting pre-requisites and space availability. On the Registration Form, we ask students to share how they have met the pre-requisites of the course via previous coursework and/or professional experience.
All students in special standing status enrolled in a courses, even if enrolled in an online class, must abide by all information on the Emory Forward website and submit complete immunization records including both flu and COVID-19 vaccinations. Detailed information will be sent to students after registration.
NOTE: The registration processing dates listed below are the start dates for processing special standing registration forms. Student's registration will be confirmed by email after processing has begun.
Registration Processing
Spring
Processing of registration forms for spring semester courses will begin December 15.
Summer
Processing of registration forms for summer courses will begin April 15 date.
Fall
Processing of registration forms for fall courses will begin after incoming students pre-register.
The Spring 2024 course schedule is available here. For information on how to navigate Atlas, click here. RSPH courses will be offered in person and online. Additional information, including details about online and/or asynchronous online components to in person classes, may be found on Atlas.
Students interested in Executive MPH program courses must be enrolled no later than December 15th and complete a self-paced orientation. For all other programs students may be enrolled through the add/drop/swap period for traditional term classes ending January 23rd. To view Spring 2024 Academic Dates, click here.
Students who are interested in applying for course enrollment should email rsphenrollmentservices@emory.edu.
Courses Available by Department:
Hubert Department of Global Health (HDGH)
Course Number & Title: |
GH 508 Health & Human Rights Seminar |
GH 509 Transl&Implementation Sciences |
GH 531 Quant.Methods1:Data Collection |
GH 534 Diabetes:Global Dis Prev&Cntrl |
GH 535 Field Epidemiology |
GH 536 Religion&Health in Context:HIV |
GH 537 SRH in Humanitarian Emerg. |
GH 545 Nutritional Assessment |
GH 546 Maternal And Child Nutrition |
GH 550 EPI and Dynamics of STDs |
GH 559 Gender and Global Health |
GH 564 Intl Infectious Diseases |
GH 565 Hlth.in Humanitarian Emergens. |
GH 566 Immunization Prog&Policies |
GH 574 Malaria Prevent Cntrl & Treat |
GH 577 Maternal Mortality - Abortion |
GH 580 Ctrl.of Food/Waterbrne Disease |
Course Number & Title: |
AEPI 537D Intro.to SAS Programming |
EPI 504D Fundamentals Of Epidemiology |
GH 500D Addressing Key Iss Global Hlth |
PRS 530D Quantitative Analysis |
PRS 532D Qualitative Research Methods |
PRS 533D Qual. Analysis & Mixed Methods |
Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics (BIOS)
Course Number & Title: |
BIOS 501 Statistical Methods II w. Lab |
BIOS 505 Stats For Experimental Biolog |
BIOS 507 Applied Regression Analysis |
BIOS 509 Applied Linear Models |
BIOS 511 Intro.to Statistical Inference |
BIOS 520 Clinical Trials |
BIOS 530 Observational Studies |
BIOS 532 Statistical Computing |
BIOS 545 R Programming (BIOS Students) |
BIOS 581 Statistical Practice II |
BIOS 590R Seminar In Biostatistics |
BIOS 591P Biostatistics Methods II |
DATA 530 Introduction to GIS |
DATA 532 Advanced GIS |
DATA 550 Data Science Toolkit |
Department of Behavioral, Social, and Health Education Sciences (BSHES)
Course Number & Title: |
BSHES 522 Princ.of Curr&Instr in Hlth.Ed |
BSHES 554 Social Marketing |
BSHES 560R BSHE Seminar |
BSHES 567 LGBTQ + Public Health |
BSHES 583 Mindfulness and Health |
Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health (EH)
Course Number & Title: |
EH 500 Perspectives/Environ Health |
EH 510 Foundations-Exposure Science |
EH 515 Air Quality in the Urban Env. |
EH 523 Neurotoxicology |
EH 527 Biomarkers and Env Pub Health |
EH 530 Occuptionl/Environmtl Epi |
EH 548 Rsch Methods for Water& Health |
EH 570 Envt.Health Law & Policy |
EH 571 GEH Policy:Power,Sci.&Justice |
EH 572 Environmental Justice |
EH 573 Climate Change Communications |
EH 586 Adv Sem Clm Chg&Hlth:Rsrch&Pol |
EH 587 Intro.toSatellite Remote Sens. |
EH 587L Satellite Remote Sensing Lab |
EH 590R Environmental Health Seminar |
EPI 504 Fundamentals Of Epidemiology |
Department of Epidemiology (EPI)
Course Number & Title: |
EPI 523 Hlth.Prom.Crim.-Legal Settings |
EPI 531 Field Epidemiology |
EPI 533 Programming In SAS |
EPI 539 EPI Concepts & Analysis |
EPI 541 Hospital/Healthcare Epidemiol. |
EPI 543 CVD Epidemiology |
EPI 546 HIV Epidemiology |
EPI 547 PH App of Molecular EPI |
EPI 548 SystematicReview/Meta Analysis |
EPI 552 Human Genome Epidemiology |
EPI 560 Epidemiologic Methods IV |
EPI 561 Obesity Epidemiology |
EPI 565 Data Sources & Methods MCH EPI |
EPI 570 Infectious Disease Dynamics |
EPI 590R EPI Seminar |
EPI 591S Social Epidemiology |
EPI 594 Adv. Methods in Social EPI |
Department of Health Policy and Management (HPM)
Course Number & Title: |
HPM 500 Intro To US Health Care System |
HPM 511 Fin Manage/Health Care Org |
HPM 522 Econ Eval of Hlth Care Prog |
HPM 523 Pub Financing/Health Care Syst |
HPM 525 Health Services Data Analytics |
HPM 540 Hum Rsrce Mgmt In Health Care |
HPM 545 Health Care Marketing |
HPM 554 Qual Improvment Meth/Hlth Care |
HPM 556 Physician Performances |
HPM 557 Healthcare Administration Law |
HPM 559 Negotiation and Conflict |
HPM 561 Fund Of Public Health Law |
HPM 562 Health Insurance Concepts |
HPM 569 Women's Health Policy |
HPM 592 Case Studies Public Mental Hlt |
Everyone taking courses at Emory University must adhere to Emory's Honor Code and is responsible for adhering to its contents. A copy of the Emory Honor Code may be accessed here.
The cost per credit hour for academic year 2023-24 is $2,370 per credit hour plus additional fees.
After a student registers for the desired courses, payment must be made to Emory University via the Student Accounts and Billing Office. Details of how to pay a bill are found here.
All fees must be paid by the payment deadline.
No special standing public health fellowships/scholarships or other financial assistance program are available to students in special standing. Students must be enrolled in degree programs to be considered for financial aid at Emory University. If you have any questions regarding this policy, please contact the Office of Financial Aid at 404-727-6039.
Emory employees should contact Human Resources for questions regarding their courtesy scholarship eligibility. The courtesy scholarship application will become available once the employee has submitted an application for admission.
Books for all courses can be purchased at the Barnes & Noble Bookstore located in the Oxford Road Building.
If the special standing applicant is accepted the first time, but does not enroll for the initial semester of acceptance, and that applicant wishes to take classes during a subsequent semester, the applicant may write to the Rollins Admissions office to request that his or her file be reactivated for the semester he or she wishes to enroll.
Acceptance into special standing does not guarantee acceptance into the degree-seeking category. Special standing students who decide to apply as degree-seeking candidates must complete and are bound by the same application/admission process as other Rollins degree-seeking applicants. This includes the degree-seeking fall admission policy as outlined in the catalog and on the Admissions section of the website. Therefore, should you decide to apply as a degree-seeking student, you will need to apply online through SOPHAS, the centralized application service utilized by Rollins.
If a special standing student decides to apply to a Rollins degree program and is accepted as a degree-seeking candidate, up to nine (9) credits taken as a special-standing student may be transferred to the degree-seeking status. The transfer of individual course credits will transfer as long as the credits fulfill program degree requirements.
If a special standing student is considering eventually applying to be a degree seeking student, he/she should talk with the department ADAP to assure that the course selection is appropriate for the degree program and will transfer.
Special standing students will have school email addresses, access to Canvas (the learning management system), as well as access to online library resources. ALL students, including those in Special Standing Status are required to have a laptop for use during class.