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Will My Courses Transfer and Count?

Learn how your prior coursework and academic credits will potentially transfer to one or more target colleges or universities. 

CollegeTransfer.Net offers "Will My Credits Transfer" - a free online service to answer the most common transfer question about prior coursework and academic credits completed or may contemplate.  If you have accumulated course credits and are considering transfer, then run the "Will My Credits Transfer" service to see which schools will accept the courses you have taken or plan to take.  Take a few minutes and compile your online transfer transcript - and then let the system tell you which schools may be your best target in seconds.  Our service searches millions of course equivalencies and will present a detailed transfer map you can save, share and refresh as you continue your path to a degree. 

See where my coursework and academic credits
will transfer confidentially...

Will my credits transfer?"Will My Credits Transfer" has a menu like the one on the left side of this text.  The wizard will step you through entering your coursework and assessments.  Then it will give you feedback on transferability and offer alternative schools to view.  It is that simple and easy to use.  Compile your complete academic history in minutes,  and then let the system help explore your best transfer options.

If you navigate to another institution and reselect "Will My Credits Transfer" on that Transfer Profile page, the system will show you a transfer map again for the courses and assessments you already entered.  

Use your Student Passport to save and share your coursework and assessments with advisors, faculty or department heads.  Let the system help you manage your academic credit history across schools. 

Getting credit for the courses you have already taken will impact cost and time to complete your degree. The older your credits are, the more likely you will have some issues. Retain of all your transcripts and college catalogs, as they will come in handy when you have to finally sit down and negotiate your transfer circumstance. There is subjectivity in the assessment process. If you are taking courses from a well known institution, you will have fewer problems with transfer in general. If you are taking courses from a lesser known institution, you may run into issues, especially when the transfer evaluator says we have never evaluated a student from XYZ before.

More Details: Course equivalencies are published linking source courses to target colleges and universities. CollegeTransfer.Net has millions of course equivalency records in the repository you can search online using the Course Equivalency Search. Keep in mind that there are many institutions that do not publish course equivalencies, which makes it hard to find out if courses, classes and credits will transfer before a personal assessment is performed by the school's administrative and academic services. If you are trying to transfer course work from a school that has never been evaluated before, it is recommended you prepare a detailed summary of your courses including the syllabi.

At most schools, the evaluation process is usually three steps. The first is performed by admissions, where they maintain a database of prior courses already evaluated called course equivalencies. Sometimes this database is shared with other departments, and sometimes it is standalone. Course equivalencies are like a linked list of courses from one school mapped to another. The second process is performed by the academic departments and faculty, who must approve any new course that is brought forward for acceptability and mapped to the comparable course. The third is generally called articulation.  Articulation is when the Registrar, after you are accepted and enrolled, transcribes your transfer courses on your transcript noting any special arrangements. A degree audit report is usually produced. Typically transfer students don't see this report until the end of their first semester, making it difficult to question or appeal articulation decisions. It is a good practice to meet with the academic departments in advance, and get into writing any commitments on how transfer credits will be handled.

If you don't find course equivalencies on CollegeTransfer.Net or the selected institution's website, that does not mean they don't exist. You should check with your target school's enrollment/transfer office for course equivalency maps or tables with your prior colleges and universities. If they don't have any, that will signal they may not be as transfer friendly as other institutions. In any case, request a course transfer equivalency map in writing and validate it with your advisor before applying.

We caution all students to validate course transferability before enrolling and make sure courses will count toward general and upper level courses where applicable. Depending upon your degree requirements for the intended major(s), courses may fill elective buckets and force additional course work to be taken to satisfy the major or upper level requirements. This is a normal situation to experience. If you question the validity of the course transferability, you can appeal the academic decisions usually with your intended department. Depending upon how selective the school and department are, they may still not grant transfer credit for some courses because of academic reasons.

Finally, many colleges and universities have a cap on the number of credits they will allow to transfer to a four-year degree. The term "residency qualifications" means you need to take a certain number of courses with the school from which you are seeking the degree and major. Check the school's transfer policy on their respective Transfer Profile page.

College transfer has many forms and flavors. There are statewide transfer agreements and transfer policies that govern public colleges and institutions by state. There are various forms of statewide agreements that provide full transferability of associate degrees, enabling students to transfer and place in junior status. Some states also provide up to 60 credits in transfer frameworks, listing courses approved across all majors or a restricted set of majors.

 

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This article was written by AcademyOne's CEO and Founder David K. Moldoff who has worked in higher education for over thirty five years. Mr. Moldoff has been developing student centered enrollment systems since the 70's spanning multiple institutions, policies and practices. Mr. Moldoff graduated from Drexel University through the cooperative education program and majored in economics with a minor in marketing.