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Bulletin Archive

This archived information is dated to the 2011-12 academic year only and may no longer be current.

For currently applicable policies and information, see the current Stanford Bulletin.

Undergraduate Transfer Work

Academic credit for work done elsewhere may be allowed toward a Stanford bachelor's degree under the following rules and conditions:

  1. Credit may be granted for work completed at institutions in the U.S. only if the institutions are accredited.
  2. Study in institutions outside the U.S., when validated by examination results, tutorial reports, or other official evidence of satisfactory work, may be credited toward a Stanford bachelor's degree, subject to the approval of the credit evaluator and the appropriate departments.
  3. Credit is officially allowed only after the student has been unconditionally admitted to Stanford.
  4. Credit is allowed for work completed at institutions in the U.S. only on the basis of an official transcript received by the Registrar at Stanford directly from the institution where the credit was earned.
  5. Credit from another institution may be transferred for courses which are substantially equivalent to those offered at Stanford University on the undergraduate level, subject to the approval of the credit evaluator. A maximum of 20 quarter units may represent courses which do not parallel specific undergraduate courses at Stanford, again, subject to the approval of the credit evaluator as to quality and suitability.
  6. Course work cannot duplicate, overlap, or regress previous work.
  7. Transfer course work cannot count towards secondary school diploma and/or graduation requirements.
  8. To fulfill GER requirements through transfer work, the course must match a specific Stanford course that fulfills the same GER requirement, be a minimum of three quarter units, and be taken for a letter grade.
  9. Transfer work can be used to satisfy a department major or minor requirement. The transfer work must first be officially accepted into the University through the Office of the University Registrar. Departments determine if approved transfer work can be used to satisfy a department major or minor requirement.
  10. The credit allowed at Stanford for one quarter's work may not exceed the number of units that would have been permissible for one quarter if the work had been done at Stanford; for work done under a system other than the quarter system, the permissible maximum units are calculated at an appropriate ratio of equivalence.
  11. Credit is allowed at Stanford for work graded 'A,' 'B,' 'C,' or 'Pass' (where 'Pass' is equivalent to a letter grade of 'C' or above), but not for work graded 'D' or below.
  12. No more than 45 (90 for transfer students) quarter units of credit for work done elsewhere may be counted toward a bachelor's degree at Stanford (including advance placement test credit).
  13. Credit earned in extension, correspondence, and online courses is transferable only if the university offering the courses allows that credit toward its own bachelor's degree. Such credit is limited to a maximum of 45 quarter units for extension courses, a maximum of 15 quarter units for correspondence and online study, and a maximum of 45 quarter units for the combination of extension, correspondence, and online courses.
  14. Credit earned in military training and service is not transferable to Stanford, unless offered by an accredited college or university in the U.S. and evaluated as above by the credit evaluator.

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