A course Prerequisite is any requirement an academic department identifies as essential for a student to complete before taking a course.
A course Corequisite is a requirement that must be completed at the same time or prior to the course for which it is required.
A course Exclusion is any requirement that an academic department identifies as being prohibited for a student to achieve/complete before taking a course.
Prerequisites should be listed in the following order when in sequence: Home Academic Unit, Other Academic Unit(s), and General Requirements. Only use abbreviations consistent with Course Bulletin Listings/Subject Areas. Examples:
Chemistry = Chem
Materials Science and Engineering = MatScEn
Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies = WGSSt
Great care must be taken to punctuate and phrase prerequisites correctly to prevent misunderstanding of the requirements.
Prerequisites/corequisites/exclusions can most often be electronically enforced by SIS. If you have any questions about these, please contact the Office of the University Registrar at registrar@osu.edu
The order of the course requirements, as listed in the prerequisite clause, should be presented in the order in which the different types of prerequisites are presented below. Please reference the examples listed below for further elaboration.
PREREQUISITE FORMATTING RULES
HONORS COURSES (including EMBEDDED)
Course requires enrollment in honors program (e.g., course being submitted is 1101H or 1101E).
Prereq: Honors standing.
STATED SPECIFIC
Course has prerequisite in same academic unit (e.g., submitted course has a prerequisite which also comes from course’s native department).
Prereq: 1101.
Course has prerequisite in another academic unit (e.g., submitted course is a Chemistry course, and prerequisite is a Materials Science and Engineering course).
Prereq: MatScEn 1101.
Course has prerequisite from same academic unit and other academic unit (e.g., submitted course has prerequisites from the course's native department as well as other departments).
Prereq: 1101, MatScEn 1101, and Math 1150.
(Example) Course requiring enrollment in honors program and requiring course prerequisites.
Prereq: Honors standing, and 1101, MatScEn 1101, and Math 1150.
STATED VARIABLE
Course has prerequisite(s) from native academic unit.
Prereq: 1101 or 1102.
Course has prerequisite(s) from another academic unit.
Prereq: MatScEn 1101 or 1102.
Prereq: MatScEn 1101 or 1102, and Math 1150 or 1151.
Note: Course numbers which follow a listed subject heading (e.g., MatScEn) are assumed to belong to that subject heading until a new subject heading is listed, at which time the course following the new subject heading belong to that department.
Course has prerequisite(s) from native academic unit and other academic unit(s).
Prereq: 1101, and MatScEn 1101 or 1102, and Math 1150 or 1151.
CONCURRENCY
Course has prerequisite that must be taken during same semester as the course being submitted.
Concur: 1101.
Course has both prerequisite(s) and concurrent course(s) (i.e., courses that have both requirements that must have been met before taking the submitted course, as well as courses that must be taken during the same semester as the submitted course).
Prereq: 1101. Concur: MatScEn 1101.
Course has prerequisite(s) which may either be taken before the course being submitted is offered (prerequisite) or during the semester that the submitted course is offered (concurrently).
Prereq or concur: 1101 or MatScEn 1101.
(Example) A course that has strictly prerequisite and concurrent courses required, as well as prerequisites which may be taken either before or during the submitted course's semester of offering.
Prereq: 1101. Concur: MatScEn 1101. Prereq or concur: Math 1150 or 1151.
CUMULATIVE POINT HOUR RATIO (CPHR)
Note: A cumulative point hour ratio is the cumulative GPA of all work performed at the University, regardless of department. This designation should be used in lieu of GPA when appropriate. Listings of GPA requirements should be reserved for GPAs within a program or a section of courses taken within a subject. Please see next section on GPA.
Course with a cumulative point hour ratio requirement.
Prereq: CPHR 2.0 or above.
(Example) Course with a course prerequisite as well as a CPHR requirement.
Prereq: 1101, and CPHR 2.5 or above.
GPA
Note: Please see CPHR section for a note on difference between CPHR and GPA.
Course with a GPA requirement within major.
Prereq: GPA 3.4 or above in Chem major.
Course with a GPA requirement within a subject.
Prereq: GPA 3.4 or above in all MatScEn courses.
(Example) Course with a course prerequisite, and a CPHR prerequisite, and a GPA requirement within major coursework.
Prereq: MatScEn 1101 or 1102, and CPHR 2.0 or above, and GPA 3.4 or above in all major coursework.
CREDIT HOUR REQUIREMENTS
Course requiring a certain amount of credit hours previously taken in a subject (assumption is that credit hours listed are semester credit hours, unless otherwise specified).
Prereq: 15 cr hrs in English.
Prereq: 15 sem cr hrs or 20 qtr cr hrs in English.
(Example) Course with a course prerequisite, and a CPHR requirement, and a GPA requirement, and a credit hour requirement.
Prereq: English 1110.01 or 1102.01, and CPHR 2.0 or above, and GPA 3.4 or above in English coursework, and 15 cr hrs in English.
STANDING/ENROLLMENT REQUIREMENTS
The authoritative abbreviations for academic standing are as follows:
Freshman = Fresh
Sophomore = Soph
Junior = Jr
Senior = Sr
Graduate = Grad
Doctoral = Doct
First year standing in a Professional program = 1st yr standing in DVM program.
Second year standing (…)
Course with academic standing requirements.
Prereq: Soph standing.
Prereq: Jr or Sr standing.
Prereq: Jr standing or above.
Prereq: Soph standing or above in MatScEn.
Course with major or program enrollment standing requirements.
Prereq: Enrollment in English major.
Prereq: Enrollment in DVM program.
(Example) Course with a course prerequisite, and a CPHR requirement, and a GPA requirement, and a credit hour requirement, and a standing requirement, and an enrollment requirement in a major.
Prereq: English 1110.01 or 1102.01, and CPHR 2.0 or above, and GPA 3.4 or above in English coursework, and 15 cr hrs in English, and Soph standing or above, and enrollment in English major.
"OTHER” REQUIREMENTS
Note: This section is meant to contain any unique prerequisites that are not elaborated above. It does not require any specific formatting, except that these prerequisites be outlined in the clause AFTER any prerequisites presented above.
Prereq: Teaching certificate or teaching experience.
Prereq: A degree in Nursing and 3‐5 years of experience in the field.
PERMISSION REQUIREMENTS
Course requiring permission of instructor or other individual, written or otherwise, before enrolling in submitted course.
Prereq: Permission of instructor.
Prereq: Permission of instructor or department.
Prereq: Permission of department chairperson.
COMPLEX EXAMPLE
Hypothetical course listed below requires enrollment in Honors program, has course prerequisite and concurrency requirements, requires a minimum CPHR and GPA, has a credit hour requirement, requires a particular level of standing or above, and has a unique requirement. However, all course prerequisites can be substituted by obtaining permission of department or instructor.
Prereq: 1101 or 1102, and MatScEn 1101 or 1102, and CPHR 2.0 or above, and GPA 3.4 or above in Chem coursework, and 15 cr hrs in Chem, and Jr standing or above, and membership in Chemistry Club; or permission of instructor. Concur: Math 1150 or 1151.
EXCLUSIONARY CLAUSE
Course is restricted to students with credit for courses taken in the past. Formatting for equivalent semester courses remains as it is for prerequisite clauses. Example:
Not open to students with credit for 1101, 1102, MatScEn 1101, or Math 1151.
Course containing both prerequisites and an exclusion.
Prereq: 1101, and 15 cr hrs in Chem, and Soph standing or above. Not open to students with credit for Math 1150 or 1151.