Department of Epidemiology

Waiving school-wide biostatistics and epidemiology core course requirement

 

This site serves to provide students with information needed to submit a request to waive competencies covered by our introductory courses.

All students must complete a Biostatics and Epidemiology requirement. The course(s) that meet these requirements will vary based on your matriculated program. Each program details this requirement through its program competency mapping.

Only students who have previously completed at least one semester of a graduate-level Biostatistics and/or Epidemiologic Methods course can submit the required documents listed below. All students in the Biostatistics department are already considered “waived” from the intro Biostat courses (BST 201 or ID 201), and do not have to complete this requirement for those courses. This includes BST, CBQG, and HDS SM students

Schoolwide Competencies for SM Degree Programs

  • EPI: Critically evaluate and apply principles of epidemiologic methods, including exposure and outcome measures, measures of association, bias and confounding, and study design options.
  • BST: Demonstrate the ability to critically evaluate and apply appropriate biostatistical techniques for data arising from evaluation of public health problems (e.g., basic probability theory and common distributions, effect measure estimation, continuous and categorical data analysis, parametric and non-parametric hypothesis tests, confidence intervals and p-values, correlation and basic regression techniques and power/sample size calculations)
  • Courses can include: EPI 201, EPI 202, EPI 500, BST 201, BST 202/203


MPH Competencies on Evidence-based Approaches to Public Health

  • #1 Apply epidemiological methods to settings and situations in public health practice
  • #2 Select quantitative and qualitative data collection methods appropriate for a given public health context
  • #3 Analyze quantitative and qualitative data using biostatistics, informatics, computer-based programming, and software, as appropriate
  • #4 Interpret results of data analysis for public health research, policy, or practice
  • Courses can include: ID 201, BST 201, 202, 203, BST 206, 207, 208, EPI 201, 202, 202S, EPI 208, EPI 500, ID 207, 208 (these courses cover the quantitative component of these competencies)


DrPH Competencies on Data & Analysis

  • #1 Explain qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods, and policy analysis research and evaluation methods to address health issues at multiple (individual, group, organization, community, and population) levels
  • #3 Explain the use and limitations of surveillance systems and national surveys in assessing, monitoring, and evaluating policies and programs and to address a population’s health
  • Courses include: ID 201 covers the quantitative component of the competency

Details on submitting waiver requests

Before submitting a waiver request, please take a moment to review the syllabus for the course using the Harvard Syllabus Explorer (you will need to sign in with your HarvardKey). If after reviewing the syllabus you wish to submit a request to waive the course, follow the instructions below.

Note: Only students who have previously completed at least one semester of a graduate-level Biostatistics and/or Epidemiologic Methods course can submit the required documents listed below. All students in the Biostatistics department are already considered “waived” from the intro Biostat courses (BST 201 or ID 201), and do not have to complete this requirement for those courses. This includes BST, CBQG, and HDS SM students. Students who completed a prior Harvard Chan Masters degree and/or completed the required intro courses as a non-degree students DO NOT need to submit a waiver.

If you are requesting to waive two courses (i.e. EPI 201 and BST 201), please submit each request separately.

Process:

  1. Download the core course waiver form and complete the appropriate form based off your degree program.
    • SM/MPH/DrPH/BST PHD (EPI 201, BST 201 or ID 201)– course waiver form
    • PHS PhD (EPI 201 and/or EPI 202) – course waiver form
    • You do not need instructor approval prior to submitting the form
  1. Collect syllabi and course descriptions of previously completed graduate- level courses (Please provide translated syllabi if they are not written in English)
  2. Collect transcripts documenting final grades in biostatistics and/or epidemiologic methods courses
  3. Complete survey and upload all supporting documents
  4. Priority Deadline to submit waiver requests: July 18 (12pm)
      • Decisions will be sent to your Harvard University email address before enrollment opens
      • Waiver requests received after July 21 will be reviewed before the add/drop deadline for the Fall term.

*All times are Boston/ET

 

Questions can be directed to: