What does it mean to transfer a class from one college to another? It means that College A has a class that can transfer to College B which will essentially be the same content. For example if College A has a course entitled “Psychology 101”, this course will probably transfer to College B which has a course “Introduction to Psychology”. The two courses would need to be essentially the same content. If College A has a course entitled “American Economic History” but College B does not have a course related to that topic, the College A course would probably not transfer to College B. For College B to accept a course as credit, the transferring course needs to largely represent content to a course that College B already has.
Other components to be considered in course transfer are what is the number of credits for the transferring course? A three credit course at College A may not transfer as a three college course to College B if the College B target course is four credits. Also, some colleges may require that the student’s grade in the transferring course must be a C or higher or whatever the grade standard is. A college like Notre Dame may not accept an English composition course for transferring. Notre Dame may require that all writing credits be taught on the Notre Dame campus. Some colleges may limit the number of credits that they allow to be transferred in. Another consideration is whether the institution the credit is being transferred from is an accredited institution.
One unreasonable expectation that high school students and parents have of their high school counselor is that the school counselor will know with 100% certainty that a course will or will not transfer. Why is this unreasonable? The high school counselor is not the registrar of the college. The college registrar is a college official who makes the decisions on whether a course will transfer and be accepted as credit. There is no way a high school counselor can know off the top of their head with 100% certainty that a course will transfer. Nor is it fair for a student or parent to expect them to know that. A high school counselor will probably have a good idea, but they are not the college registrar and can’t give a ruling with 100% certainty.
The surest way to answer the transfer question is for the student to call or email the potential receiving college registrar’s office and ask. The receiving college may need the originating institution name and address, a course number, possibly a course syllabus, and course description, and the number of college credits the class is worth.
Another good resource is the Transfer in Iowa website, but that is a topic for another blog in the future.
Steve - ICAN Southwest Iowa Advisor
