Transferred Credit Policies and Procedures
- Students must submit a Petition for Transferred Credit form prior to registering for coursework at other institutions. It is the student’s responsibility to submit a completed form and track it through final approval. Courses not receiving approval prior to registering at other institutions are not guaranteed transfer credit.
- Courses must be liberal arts - similar to courses taught at Hamilton.
- Courses not normally accepted include advertising, accounting, business, criminal justice, engineering, finance, journalism, law, and social work. If a student believes a course within one of these disciplines is in fact liberal arts, they are welcome to contact a department for approval.
- Courses must be approved to receive credit.
- Courses in the department of the student’s concentration or minor must be approved by the department, even if the course is not required for the concentration or minor.
- Courses in math, computer science, and physics must be approved by the appropriate department. For foreign language courses not normally taught at Hamilton, please see the Registrar's Office for details.
- Courses not applicable to the items above may be approved by the Registrar’s Office.
- Coursework is not considered to have final approval until the student receives an emailed copy of the Petition for Transferred Credit form from the Committee on Academic Standing (CAS).
- Students must earn a grade of C or higher for the course to be eligible for transfer. Courses with a numeric or other non-letter grade such as “credit” or “pass” will not be accepted for transfer unless the host institution provides documentation to the Registrar’s Office indicating the grades are equivalent to C or higher.
- Department Chair approval is required for an Independent Study Project (ISP) to receive department specific transfer credit. General Transfer Credit for an ISP will receive automatic approval from CAS with a grade of B or better. The Associate Dean of Students for Academics will review any ISP for transfer credit if the grade is C, C+ or B-.
- Directed research papers (completed through SFS or other program provider) must be approved by CAS. For group projects, the student must be able to delineate their contribution.
- The quantity of transferred credit a student may earn towards a Hamilton degree for work done at another school is determined by a proportionality between the 32 Hamilton units required for a Hamilton degree and the number of units required at the other school to earn a degree there. For example, if a school requires 120 semester-hours for a degree, a course worth 3 semester-hours at that school is .025 of the total work required for a degree at that school. By proportionality, that 3 semester-hour course would generate .80 of a Hamilton unit, because (.025)(32)=.80. The Registrar will use this rule to evaluate the totality of a student’s transferred credit for a given semester or summer.
- No more than 2 units of credit per summer will be awarded.
- Students who have earned a total of 14 or more Hamilton units [including units earned by all forms of transferred credit (which include Advance Placement credits and International Baccalaureate credits)] may not study at a two-year institution and earn transfer credit.
- Students may receive transfer credit for no more than 16 Hamilton units.
- Normally, no more than 4 course credits will be granted for courses taken online. Courses taken asynchronously will only be granted after approval of a portfolio of coursework by the appropriate department.
- Students must request an official transcript from the host institution be sent to the Registrar’s Office at Hamilton College.
- The Committee on Academic Standing is the final authority on questions interpreting the policy governing transferred credit. Questions can be directed to the Associate Dean of Students (Academic) or the Registrar.
Contact
Office of the Registrar
Hours
M
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8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Tu
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8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
W
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8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Th
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8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Fr
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8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
