ACADEMIC CREDITS (COURSES) - HOW TO TRANSFER THEM SUCCESSFULLY
- Moran Sciamama Saghiv
- 3 days ago
- 7 min read
Academic credit (courses) transfer is the process used when you transfer from one academic institution to another. A successful transfer of academic credits means that academic courses you studied and passed in one academic institution are now applied to your studies in your current academic institution (the institution you have transferred to). Unfortunately, over my years as a professor, academic mentor, program director, department chair, and school director, I have witnessed too many (notice the critique!) partially successful or unsuccessful academic transfer of credits (courses). First, it is crucial to distinguish between at least three three "types" of courses/credits and how they are used on your way towards graduation:
General Education
These are credits/courses that all students at the academic institution are required to take, irregardless of which major they are in. Such credits/courses may be deemed mandatory by the federal government, state government, or the university itself. At the associate and undergraduate levels of academic degrees, most of these credits/courses are determined by the state, while the university is allowed to offered a variety of courses to meet these requirements. The number of general education credits required varies by degree level:
Associates degree: 15-40 credits.
Undergraduate degree: 30-60 credits.
Graduate degrees (master's and doctoral): none.
Major Required/Specific
These are credits/courses that all students within a specific major must study to be eligible for their academic degree in that specific profession/major. Most, if not all of these credits/courses are determined by the specific department that offers the degree itself, while in some cases, some of the credits/courses are determined by the college, university, and even an accrediting body. In some cases, the general education and major specific credits/courses make up 100% of the credits required by law to graduate, and in some cases, students must reach that required number of credits by taking elective credits/courses.
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Electives
Are credits/courses that meet the following criteria:
They have never been studied and passed by the student before. You may use a course that you took yet did not pass as an elective.
They are not major specific credits/courses. You are not allowed to "double dip". The same credits/course cannot be counted twice.
Please note the following:
Credits/courses that are required for the major, can meet the requirements of a general education course.
An elective course can meet both the requirements of a general education course, and those of a major specific course.
Courses you have successfully passed, only count once.
In many cases, the department, college, university, and the state determine what is the minimum letter grade required to pass a course.
While a letter grade of a "D" is usually the minimum required to pass a course, departments often choose to require a better letter grade to pass a certain course and/or all courses within the department.
It is common to require a letter grade of a "D" for general education courses.
Transferring Academic Credits/Courses
Now that we understand how academic credits/courses are used to meet the requirements of a degree, let learn how to be smart about transferring credits/courses from one academic institution to another. Credits/courses that you request to be transferred to another institution can be divided into three major statuses:
The Credits/Course Transferred Successfully
This means that the academic institution acknowledges that the credits/course were studied and they count as the equivalent of a course that exists at the institution that the credits/course are transferred to. This is the best outcome possible. In this case, the course transferred in will appear on your academic transcript with the course ID and course name that the academic institution transferred to uses.
The Credits/Course Semi-Transferred Successfully
This means that the academic institution acknowledges that the credits/course were studied but they do not count as the equivalent of a course that exists at the institution that the credits/course are transferred to. In this case, the course will appear on your academic transcript with with 2-3 letter X. For example: BIOL 2XXX or KINE 3XXX. This is the result of one or more of the following:
The course does not have the exact course name and/or course ID as the academic institution being transferred to.
The course is not an academic equivalent of any course at the academic institution transferred to.
The course is not at the same academic level as the course offered at the academic institution transferred to. For example: a 2,000 level course vs a 3,000 level course.
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The Credits/Course Did Not Transferred At All
This means that the academic institution does not acknowledge that the credits/course were studied, thus will not count them as equivalent to a course offered by the academic institution transferred to (attempted at transferring them to). This can be the result of one or more of the following:
The course itself is not accredited (even if the academic institution is accredited regionally). This is rarely the case.
The course simply does not exist in the academic institution transferred to in any shape or content. This is often the case with purely elective courses that are extremely specific in content and scope.
The student did not pass the course, withdrew from the course, or has an "incomplete" as their grade.
Are the Credits/Course Applicable to the Major?
Students often do not know that credits transferred or semi-transferred must be applicable to the major or the degree as a whole. This means that they must fit into at least one of the credit/course types mentioned above (general education, major specific, or electives) to count. There could be a scenario where an academic advisor rightfully tells you that the credits/course cannot be applied to the major, thus, even if they fully transfer in, they do not promote your status towards graduation.
What Can Be Done?
When academic credits/courses do not transfer at all or do not transfer completely, there are several processes that are worth trying:
Check the Course's Accreditation Status
It may be worth your time to reach out to the previous academic institution where you studied the course, and ask if the course and institution are accredited. The focus on the course's accreditation is KEY. The fact that an academic institution is regionally accredited does not automatically mean that every course offered by that academic institution is also accredited. While this is a very rare situation, it might be the problem. Honestly, you have nothing you can do if this is the case. This is a problem at the institutional level or even state level.
Have the Course Evaluated at the Department Level
Unfortunately, the course may appear with the Xs since the transcript evaluator did not go the full distance in this case, is not being required to do so, or was not taught to check your transcripts from your previous academic institution/s and see if there is something similar in essence and/or content. You should visit with your academic adviser and ask that they reconsider or evaluate the studied course as the equivalent to an existing course in your current academic institution. Usually it takes no more than an academic petition (one form) if indeed the course is found to be the equivalent or pretty similar to an existing course. You would be smart to share with your academic adviser the syllabus of the course (course descriptions alone are usually not enough).
Use the Course as an Elective
Courses that fully or semi-transfer in can be used as electives if they don't meet the criteria to be used as general education nor major specific courses. There is a limit to how many courses are usually allowed as electives. Once you reach the minimum number of credits required to graduate, anything beyond that has no true meaning.
"Climb the Ranks Ladder"
If an adviser, program director, or department chair do not approve, you can choose to request that the dean and even provost make a decision. Honestly, the higher you "climb" the academic rank/position ladder, the lesser the chances the decision will be changed. From my experience, this is rare, evermore so beyond the level of a department chair. Some may think that they have nothing to lose.
Summary
Unfortunately, transferring from one academic institution to another does always go smoothly, and not all credits/courses studied in one academic institution can be applied in the next. This is ever more so the case, when you change from one major to another. For example, you have studied 40 Biology credits yet only 24 apply to your new major. Before you transfer between majors and/or academic institutions, visit with someone from the institution you intend to transfer to, and make sure to get from them an analysis in writing of what would be applicable, how, and how much, before making the decision.
Good luck as you transfer smarter!
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