Transferring Credit from Other Institutions
(if you are matriculated in Arts and Sciences)
Arts and Sciences transfers credit earned at other accredited collegiate institutions upon the recommendation from the relevant Cornell department. Some departments insist that courses acceptable for transfer credit be offered by strong four-year colleges or universities; others consider credits from junior colleges. College courses taken during high school may be available for transfer credit. No credit, however, will be awarded for courses taken during high school, unless the student attended the course(s) on a college or university campus (i.e., no credit will be awarded for courses designated college-level if the courses were offered in the student's high school). Further, no credit will be awarded for a college-level course taken during high school if the course was used to fulfill high school requirements or one of the 16 high school units required for admission. While the college will transfer credits only if the grade you earned is a C or better, some departments insist on a higher grade for some courses; the college complies with that stipulation. If possible, obtain written approval from the relevant department before taking a course elsewhere.
How to Request Transfer of Credit:
- Pick up the triplicate form, "Application for Credit from Other Institutions," in G-55 or 172 Goldwin Smith Hall (or print the form here ).
- Submit a written form (along with a syllabus) for each course to the appropriate department to approve.
- Once approved by the department, turn in the completed form to Robin Perry at 172 Goldwin Smith Hall.
- Have the institution offering the course send an official transcript directly to Robin Perry, Cornell University, Arts and Sciences Admissions, 172 Goldwin Smith Hall, Ithaca, NY, 14853.
Robin Perry posts the credits (not grades) on your Cornell transcript once she has all the documentation. The grades do not count into the Cornell grade point average.
Credits and courses transferred from other institutions count as part of the 120 credits and 34 courses required for graduation; they do not count toward the 100 credits required in Arts and Sciences.
Courses taken at other institutions during the summer may be applied to meeting the criteria for accelerating one's graduation (graduating in fewer than eight semesters).
Courses taken at other institutions while on leave of absence may not be used to reduce the terms of residence. In other words, students planning on accelerating their graduations to fewer than eight semesters must be able to complete all graduation requirements and meet the criteria for acceleration without credits earned while on leave of absence.
Students may not apply transfer credit to any distribution requirements.
Transferred courses, with the approval of the department, may count toward the major.
For more information, please contact:
Robin Perry
rrp2@cornell.edu
172 Goldwin Smith Hall
