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Are you currently attending a two year Junior college and wish to transfer to
a four year college or university? Many students start their college education
at one school and transfer to another school due to a host of reasons. A major
concern when transferring colleges is if all your courses will be valid at your
new school. Will you receive credit for the courses you have already taken?
The answer is that it depends on several factors. Colleges and universities have
different transfer requirements and expectations. Some colleges and universities
will transfer a majority of your courses while other colleges will not. The
probability that all your courses will count at your new college is greatly
dependent upon how many and what courses you have taken.
Following is a list of factors that can affect the transfer acceptance of your
courses from one college to the next:
- Course level. Some colleges, such as Junior colleges, have remedial or
developmental courses that are required within their college, but are not
applicable to another college or a higher level college such as a four year
university. These types of college courses typically do not transfer.
The course level affects not only undergraduate transfer students, but graduate
transfer students as well.
- Course Name and Content. Certain courses are easy to transfer such as
Algebra because the objectives for these classes are often universal.
However, your new school will need to compare the objectives for each class
to see if they are equivalent to what they offer.
- Major. Have you switched your major in the new school? If so, then any
courses that aren't applicable to your new major usually will not transfer.
- The probability that more courses will transfer is higher if you haven't
taken very many courses. This is common sense and due to the fact that as
freshman you usually take core, required courses. It is often the case that
unique electives don't transfer.
- If there is more than one college and/or university in your town they may
accept transfer credits between these schools more easily. Schools within one
community or surrounding communities often try to work together.
This is not a comprehensive list of all the factors that can affect transfer
credits. You will need to check with your academic advisor for assistance. In
addition, you will need to contact the college you are transferring to find out
about transfer credit procedures. Seek out a meeting with their registration
staff to go over your academic transcripts.
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