Approval of Courses for Transfer Credit
1. PROCESS OF APPROVAL FOR COURSES TAKEN ELSEWHERE IN THE UNITED STATES BY
MATRICULATED STUDENTS
The DUSs determine the suitability for transfer of courses relating to their departments. Courses must be from four-year, accredited colleges. The student provides the DUS with a course description from the college catalog and a transfer course approval form available from the office of the academic dean. (Students may also obtain the form and a transfer course instruction sheet from the T-Reqs website.) If the course seems appropriate for transfer, the DUS signs the form and notes the Duke equivalent. If there is no Duke equivalent for a course that is appropriate for transfer, the DUS designates it as an "elective," specifying the elective by department, by upper-level (999) or lower-level (888) number, and recommends Area of Knowledge distributional credit if appropriate: e.g., ENGLISH 999, ALP. (Final approval for Area of Knowledge code is given by the academic dean.) Transfer courses cannot be pre-approved for curriculum codes for Modes of Inquiry but only for Area of Knowledge (i.e., ALP, CZ, NS, QS, or SS). (Students may, upon completion of the course, apply for specific Modes of Inquiry through the Office of Curriculum and Course Development, and should be referred to T-reqs, http://t-reqs.trinity.duke.edu/documents/TransferModesofInquiryForm_003.pdf for instructions.)
The DUS also recommends the amount of Duke course credit to be transferred. See Transfer Course Equivalency: Credits
After the DUS signs the approval form, the student returns it to the academic dean who reviews the proposed credit, the acceptability of the institution, and the number of contact hours. Transfer course approval is not complete until it contains the approval and signature of both the DUS and the student's academic dean.
It is the student's responsibility to obtain approval before taking the course, but a student may request it after the fact. Because many courses are taken away during the summer, the DUS can expect to be approached repeatedly for approvals during the spring semester (and, sometimes, during the summer). Occasionally, the form is sent directly to the DUS by mail or fax, in which case it should be forwarded to the student's dean after a decision about approval has been made. Students should be reminded that the approval of the dean is also needed.
An approval of transfer course from another American college functions exactly as its equivalent in fulfilling graduation, distribution, and major requirements, with three exceptions:
- Trinity College restricts the number of transfer credits that may be applied to the major, minor, and certificate to half the total required; each department may set further restrictions on the number of transfer credits acceptable toward the major.
- Courses taken elsewhere will transfer as seminars only if the student furnishes to the University Registrar documentation from the instructor about class size and mode of instruction; the "S" designation should not be written on the approval form and does not constitute documentation.
- Transfer courses do not count towards Modes of Inquiry requirements of the curriculum, unless the student applies for these upon completion of the course (see http://t-reqs.trinity.duke.edu/documents/TransferModesofInquiryForm_003.pdf). Any questions about course approvals and the student's eligibility to transfer courses may be referred to the student’s academic dean.
2. LIMITATIONS ON TRANSFER CREDIT
- No more than two courses may be transferred from an institution in the United States whether in the summer while the student is regularly enrolled at Duke, while withdrawn voluntarily from the College, or while on personal leave of absence.
- No more than four courses (4.0 s.c.) may be transferred from an approved, semester-long study abroad or domestic exchange program during the academic year. No more than two courses (2.0 s.c.) may be transferred from an approved summer program for study abroad (see Study Abroad).
- In total, no more than ten transfer courses completed after matriculation may be counted toward the Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree. Students who matriculated at Duke as transfer students or with transfer credit must also be aware of the minimum Residence Requirement.
3. ELIGIBILITY FOR TRANSFER CREDIT
Students will not receive transfer credit for courses taken at a junior or community (i.e., two-year) college.
Students wishing to transfer approved courses must earn grades of C- or better in them. No credit is granted for pass/fail courses. Ordinarily, no credit will be accepted for courses taken while students are withdrawn involuntarily.
4. TRANSFER COURSE EQUIVALENCY: CREDITS
The unit of credit at Duke is the semester course credit (s.c.); credits are totaled as course credits (c.c.). A three or four semester-hour course (five or six quarter-hour course) is equated as one semester course at Duke for students transferring one or two course credits. For transfer as one full course, a summer course must meet for at least 35 full-clock hours over a period of at least three weeks. The maximum number of course credits which can be transferred in a summer term can be estimated by dividing the number of weeks in the term by three; i.e., from a term of six weeks, two semester course credits can be transferred. Students enrolling in approved study abroad programs will receive specific information about transfer credit policies for their programs.
5. COURSES TAKEN BY STUDENTS ACCEPTED FOR TRANSFER TO TRINITY COLLEGE
The office of the academic dean for pre-major students bears the responsibility for evaluating transcripts of transfer students, with final decisions, as necessary, to be made by the DUS. In general, a student transferring as a junior may transfer up to seventeen s.c. credits provided the courses were taken at an accredited institution, grades of C- or higher were earned, the courses were not used toward a high school diploma or bachelor's (or higher) degree, and they are deemed as "Duke level." If a student transfers more than seventeen s.c. credits, the Residence Requirement of seventeen s.c. at Duke must still be met. The DUS may be asked to approve a course for transfer and/or to assign a Duke equivalent. The bulk of this work for the DUS comes in late spring and summer. Questions about credit for transfer students may be directed to Dean Norman Keul, Director of the Pre-Major Advising Center.
6. SEMESTER-AWAY PROGRAMS IN THE UNITED STATES INVOLVING TRANSFER CREDIT
Students may request approval of a semester at another accredited four-year college in the United States, with which Duke does not have an exchange program. Approval may be given to a student who wishes to pursue a special program important to the student's major and not available at Duke. The student’s academic dean must have the assurance of the DUS that the semester away will benefit the student to a greater extent than the time spent at Duke. The student submits a plan of study, supported by the DUS, to the appropriate academic dean. The plan should provide for the equivalent of a full semester's work at Duke, with courses approved by appropriate DUSs. If the plan is approved, the student will be granted a leave of absence.
Information about the Duke/Howard Exchange Program may be obtained from 02 Allen Building.
APPROVAL OF COURSES TAKEN ON STUDY ABROAD
See Study Abroad.