What You Need to Know About Transferring Credits
If you are looking to transfer credits from one college to another, you will want to be prepared. Before you commit yourself to any particular school or program, you should really speak with an admissions counselor. This way, you’ll be able to go over with him or her what classes of yours will transfer.
When you visit with the admissions counselor, make sure you bring a copy of any of your college transcripts. The counselor should be able to give you at least a general idea about what courses will transfer, and what courses you will still need to take. Also, keep in mind that there is usually a cap on the number of credits that you can transfer from one school to another. Typically you can transfer up to 60 credits from a two-year college, and up to 90 credits from a four-year college.
Some schools are more liberal about transfering credits, while others are sticklers accepting only a portion of them so they can extract more money out of you at their own school. Schools also typically limit how many courses you can transfer to count towards your major. While you may have taken 30 credits in psychology at your last school, the school you transfer to might not allow you to apply them all towards your major requirements, forcing you to take even more psych classes. Your grades must also be a grade “C” or higher for them to transfer, so any “D”s or “F”s won’t do you any help. Classes such as technical classes, sciences classes, and math classes might have “expiration” dates because the content of such classes changes rapidly. For example, a computer class you took in 1994 likely wouldn’t be valid today because the technology has changed so much.
Although an admissions counselor can give you a pretty good idea of what classes will transfer, your official and complete credit evaluation probably won’t be finalized until after you’ve applied and sumbitted your transcripts. If you end up with less than you thought, don’t fret. There are other ways for you to make up for some of the lost credits. A good way to check up on a school’s credit transfer policies is to look in their college catalog or handbook; it will usually describe their policies and practices in detail.