Transfer Credit

Transfer of Credit

Current and entering students may receive credit for courses taken at institutions other than Wellesley College.

For Entering Students

  • First-Year entering students may receive credit from the Advanced Placement (APs) or the International Baccalaureate (IB) programs. Please review the AP and IB page for more information.

  • Students entering from other undergraduate programs should review the Admission's Transfer Student pages for more information.

Guidelines

The following are general guidelines regarding the transfer of credits from other institutions.

  • Courses are eligible for transfer if taken at an accredited institution of higher education, as well as provided that institution can produce an official transcript with a final letter grade once the course is complete.

  • Courses taken at other institutions must fall under the category of Liberal Arts and be similar but not necessarily identical to courses offered at Wellesley.

  • Courses taken at colleges or universities while the student is enrolled in high school which appear on the high school transcript are not eligible for transfer credit.

  • Courses taught exclusively online or through distance learning are not eligible for transfer credit.

EXCEPTION: Courses taught remotely/online through distance learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic are eligible for transfer for the Summer 2020, Summer 2021, Summer 2022, and Summer 2023 terms only. Self-paced and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are not eligible for transfer.

Course Subjects Not Eligible for Transfer of Credit

  • Non-academic courses

    • Internships

    • Leadership

    • Practica, Workshops, Skill/Experiential Learning

  • Individual Study or Self-Paced courses

  • Business (Management, Finance) – except for one Accounting course

  • Communications, including Speech/Rhetoric

  • Computer Science courses that cover non-programming topics such as

    • computer hardware and operating systems applications

    • business application software and information systems

  • Mathematics subjects prior to Calculus (Pre-Calculus, Basic Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry)

  • Music lessons

  • Physical Education or Dance

  • Standalone laboratory courses

  • Non-academic Studio Art

Only one course of the following subjects may be accepted for credit:

  • Accounting

  • Journalism

The following are evaluated on a case by case basis (Transfer of Credit form is required)

  • Criminal Justice

  • Freshman Seminars (syllabus required for evaluation)

Eligibility of Courses Taken at 2-Year/Community Colleges

Economics

Courses taken at 2-Year/Community Colleges are not eligible for transfer

Biology / Chemistry / Neuroscience / Physics

In general, courses from 2-Year/Community Colleges will not be accepted at any level

Exceptions for Entering Transfer/Davis Students

These restrictions normally apply only to courses taken after enrollment at Wellesley. Transfer students wishing to obtain credit for Biology, Chemistry, Neuroscience or Physics courses taken at 2-Year/Community Colleges prior to enrollment at Wellesley should consult the Chair of the respective Academic Department. Students must fill out Transfer of Credit forms for each course, to be reviewed by the Department on a case by case basis.

Minimum Final Grade of C or Higher Required for Transfer Credit

Courses graded Pass/Fail or Credit/Non are not eligible to transfer unless the student submits a letter from the professor who taught the course or the institution's Registrar, confirming that the student would have earned a grade of ‘C’ or higher.

Minimum Course Credit Equivalency

Courses that would earn less than 0.5 Wellesley Units are not eligible to transfer.

Credit Equivalency

One (1) unit of Wellesley College work typically equals 4 semester-hours or 6 quarter-hours. That means that if you attended an institution where you took 5 courses each semester worth 3 credits each, each course could transfer as 0.8 or 0.75 units of Wellesley College work, depending on the total number of credit hours needed for a degree from the institution where the courses were taken.

Transfer Credit Limits: for Students who enter as First-years

Students who come to Wellesley as First-years may transfer in a maximum of 16 units from a combination of any of the following:

  • 4 units total from AP/IB credit, or transferable credit from courses taken at other institution or during a Wellesley College Summer program prior to beginning at Wellesley as a First-year

  • 4 units total may be transferred from courses taken at other institutions during the Summer

  • students may earn a maximum of 4 units per semester of Study Abroad - 8 units total for a full academic year of Study Abroad or 8 units total from Fall/Spring semesters at another institution while on leave from Wellesley

Transfer Credit Limits: for Transfer & Davis Students

Transfer Students and Davis scholars can transfer a maximum of 16 units combined between:

  • a maximum of 4 units worth of AP/IB credit

  • courses they took at other institutions prior to transferring to Wellesley regardless of what semester the courses were taken

  • Study Abroad program through Wellesley (4 units per semester, 8 units maximum for full academic year)

Limits to Distribution Requirements Covered by Transfer Courses

Distribution requirements may be fulfilled by taking or transferring in one (1) whole unit of coursework. Courses worth less than one unit that are each approved towards the same distribution may be added together in order to add up to a full unit of the distribution requirement.

  • Transfer & Davis students entering Wellesley with less than 8 units as well as students who enter as First-years may fulfill only 1 unit from each of the three Distribution Areas (1: ARS/LL, 2: MM/NPS, 3: SBA/HS/REP/EC) with courses they've transferred in from other schools.

  • Transfer & Davis students entering Wellesley with more than 8 but less than 16 units can satisfy 2 out of the 3 required units in each of the three Distribution Areas (1: ARS/LL, 2: MM/NPS, 3: SBA/HS/REP/EC) with courses they've transferred in from other schools.

  • Transfer & Davis students entering Wellesley with the full maximum of 16 units may fulfill 3 units from each of the three Distribution Areas (1: ARS/LL, 2: MM/NPS, 3: SBA/HS/REP/EC) with courses they've transferred in from other schools.

How Transfer Courses appear on the Wellesley Transcript

With the exception of courses taken at MIT as a cross-registering Wellesley Student, grades from other institutions do not appear on the Wellesley transcript and are not included in the calculation of the GPA.

Requesting an Official Transcript to be sent to the Registrar's Office

An official transcript can be a paper or e-transcript that is sent directly from an institution's Registrar's Office or a third party vendor the school uses for transcript services. Forwarded electronic files and paper copies that arrive in unsealed envelopes are not considered official. E-Transcripts are preferred, whenever possible.

E-Transcripts should be sent to: registrar@wellesley.edu

A paper copy should be addressed to:

Office of the Registrar
Wellesley College
106 Central Street
Wellesley, MA 02481