Students who wish to take courses during the summer or while on a leave of absence must get their courses approved for credit toward the Wellesley degree.

Two steps are required:

1.  The course must be approved for credit at Wellesley, by the registrar and the relevant department. 

2.  An official transcript from the school offering the course must be received by the Registrar. 

An approval form, available on My Wellesley (Student Tab>Administrivia), must be completed for each course taken outside the Twelve College Exchange Program or outside an approved foreign study program. On this form the registrar’s office will evaluate the course for the amount of credit, and the department chair for course content. Certain academic departments will not approve outside credit from two-year colleges after a student has matriculated, or have other restrictions on approving transfer credits.  Courses in non-liberal-arts subject areas are not eligible to receive transfer credit.  Please see the full guidelines for transfer credits posted by the Registrar here.

Students should have their courses evaluated and approved prior to enrolling, otherwise credit is not guaranteed. (A course must be equivalent to four semester-hours or six quarter-hours in order to earn one full unit of Wellesley credit.) Credit will be granted only for liberal arts courses taken at an accredited institution. Courses must be taken for a letter grade, and credit will be given only for an approved course in which a grade of C or better is earned. Credit is not granted for independent study work away from Wellesley. 

Approved courses may be used toward the distribution requirements, although a student may earn no more than one unit of distribution credit in each of the three main distribution areas from courses away from Wellesley. Students should consult with their class dean if they plan to take courses away from Wellesley and apply those to their general requirements. Students may also apply transfer credits to majors or minors, subject to the approval of the department chair. 

After completing their course, students must request that an official transcript be sent to the Wellesley College registrar’s office. Transcripts should be received by October 1 for summer and previous year course work and by March 1 for fall semester work.