Transfer Credit for Approved Programs

Although approved programs have been vetted for their general academic rigor, student participants must still seek transfer credit preapproval for each course they wish to transfer for Colgate graduation credit.

Transfer Credit Limits

Students may transfer a maximum of four course credits for a single approved program. Overall, a student may count a maximum of six transfer course credits (including Advanced Placement and other pre-matriculation credit) toward a Colgate degree.

Requirements and Restrictions

Students must participate in a full course load, as defined by the approved program.
Credit is awarded only for liberal arts courses compatible with the Colgate curriculum. Therefore, courses in business, marketing, and applied health care, for example, do not transfer.
Transfer credit will not be awarded for internships, practicums, or other service-learning courses.
Courses may not be taken on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory (S/U), pass/fail (P/F), or other ungraded basis.
Courses already taken at Colgate may not be repeated if a grade of D- or higher was earned.
Independent Studies/Field Research: Independent studies/field research are only eligible for credit when they are a required part the approved program.
All grades earned on approved programs will appear on the Colgate transcript, but will not be factored into the GPA.

Note: Global Engagement credit cannot be earned from an approved program.

Acquire Transfer Credit Application

Obtain and review the Transfer Credit Application Form, available from the registrar’s website.

Retrieve the application form

Department Signatures

Obtain department signatures, if applicable. Signatures are needed if you are taking courses in any of the following:

Your major or minor (regardless of whether you are seeking credit toward major or minor requirements)
The natural sciences or mathematics
English

Submit Transfer Credit Application

Submit the completed form to the registrar’s office. The registrar will review any courses that do not require departmental approval.

Final Approval

Following its review, the registrar’s office will send you a copy of final approvals. Review the returned form thoroughly, as it contains information about denied courses, full load requirements, provisional approvals, and more.

A provisional approval means that in order to earn credit for a course, the student will need to submit some work to the department at Colgate for review following the completion of the program.

Changes to Course Registration

In the event that you must change courses: for any courses not preapproved, obtain approval via email from the appropriate academic department or the registrar’s office. If you do not seek approval at this stage, you may not receive Colgate credit for the course.

Save Your Work

It is strongly recommended that you save all syllabi, papers, projects, and other coursework in the event that it is needed upon your return to Colgate

Your Colgate Records

The courses in which you are enrolled during your approved program will not appear in your Degree Works records until Colgate receives a final transcript after program completion.

Registering for Colgate Courses in the Coming Semester

While participating on an approved program, students will still need to participate in Colgate course registration for the approaching semester, when they will return to campus. Students will receive an email about this course registration approximately two weeks before it begins with instructions and procedures.

Confirm Transcript Submission

Most programs automatically send transcripts to Colgate:

January–March for completed fall programs
May–August for spring programs

Confirm with your approved program and with Colgate that your transcript has been shared. A registration hold will be placed on a student’s account if all required paperwork (including the transcript) is not submitted by the posted deadlines.

Submit Work as Required

For any courses that were provisionally approved prior to the approved program, students will be required to submit work to academic departments for final approval.

Review Message from the Registrar

Students will receive an email from the registrar’s office with one of the following messages:

Credit has been recorded. If this is the case, students should check their information in Degree Works to verify all credit was granted as expected.
Problems or issues have arisen that must be resolved with the registrar’s office prior to the recording of credit.

All recorded credits will appear in students’ Degree Works records.