Student Affairs
Transfer Credit
Transfer Credit Policy Overview
You can request transfer credit for university-level course work completed outside Stanford. Once approved, transfer credit can count towards overall University graduation requirements and, if approved by your major department, towards major and minor requirements.
The requirements are very specific, so it is important to be aware of all these policies:
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All work must be completed at a regionally accredited institution in the U.S. or at an officially recognized international institution.
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Courses must be college-level and count towards a college-level degree. Courses counted towards your high school graduation requirements do not qualify. Life experience and military training, such as boot camp, are not accepted for transfer credit.
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Provide an official college transcript in English which shows the following for each course:
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Course codes/numbers
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Course titles or descriptions
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Final grades earned
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Course credits earned
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The course must have substantial content overlap with Stanford course work. A maximum of 20 quarter units may represent courses which do not parallel specific undergraduate courses at Stanford.
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The course cannot duplicate, overlap, or regress previous work.
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You must receive at least a ‘C-’ grade. ‘Pass’ grades are only accepted when that grade is equivalent to a letter grade of 'C' or above as confirmed by the transcript key, institution web site, or a letter from school official.
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Your approved transfer credit is a maximum of 45 quarter units (or 90 units for transfer students) and that total includes advanced placement test credit.
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No more than 15 quarter units from correspondence and online study may count towards the maximum transfer credit. Online course work, however, is not accepted for Ways, Language, and some program requirements.
See the Stanford Bulletin for the full transfer credit policy.
Requesting Credit
General credit (units)
You can request transfer credit only after you have been unconditionally admitted to Stanford. "Unconditionally" means that there are no further grades to be received or diplomas to be conferred such as your high school diploma.
Make a request for transfer credit by submitting a Request for Transfer Credit Evaluation form.
If transfer credit is approved, we convert it into quarter units, rounded down to the nearest whole unit, and post it to your student record. Transfer credit appears on your transcript only with the name of the institution and the total number of units awarded; no external course codes or grades appear.
Language or Program Major/Minor Requirements
If transfer credit is approved through the Office of the University Registrar, then you may request a review of your transfer work to see if it may be used to satisfy a department major or minor requirement or the language requirement. Indicate on the request for Request for Transfer Credit Evaluation where you want your transcript and request to be forwarded to after the Registrar review. You may also request this via a HelpSU ticket. We encourage you to discuss transfer credit with your department adviser to learn more about department transfer credit policies.
Ways of Thinking/Doing (Ways) General Education Requirements
If you want to fulfill Ways requirements through transfer work, you must request pre-approval by the quarterly deadline in the quarter prior to the term in which students intend to enroll in the transfer course, as defined on the Ways web site. The possible transfer courses are reviewed to determine if they can be certified to fulfill Ways requirements. Courses must be taken for a minimum of 3 quarter units (2 units in the case of Creative Expression only) and must be taken for a letter grade. For additional information regarding the policy and process for requesting Ways credit via transfer credit, see the Ways website.
Transfer Students
For transfer students admitted in 2015-16 and later, a proportion of your Ways breadth requirement must be fulfilled at Stanford. Based on the number of qualified transfer units awarded at matriculation, students must complete a number of Ways courses to fulfill the Ways requirement as outlined in the Transfer Credit for Ways section of the Stanford Bulletin.
GER System
If you are subject to the GER system in place prior to Autumn 2013-14 and you want to fulfill general education requirements through transfer work, the proposed transfer course must match a specific Stanford course that fulfills the same GER requirement; it must be a minimum of 3 quarter units and have been taken for a letter grade.
