Undergraduate Transfer Credit Policies: Office of the Registrar

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Undergraduate Transfer Credit Policies

Undergraduate Transfer Credit Policies

Review transfer credit policies, find out which courses do not transfer and find school specific policies.

Minimum Criteria:

In order to be considered for transfer credit at Northwestern, a course must meet the following minimum criteria:

Completed at a regionally or nationally accredited college or university within the United States, or at a foreign institution accredited by the appropriate agency such as that government’s department or ministry of education.
Earned a letter grade of C or higher (or U.S. equivalent). See School-Based policies for additional information for SESP students.
Cannot be taken on a Pass, Satisfactory, or other non-quality grading basis.
- Covid-19 exception: as a result of the global pandemic, credit earned during the winter, spring, and summer 2020 terms with grades of pass/satisfactory/credit, assuming all other transfer policies are met, will be eligible for transfer articulation.
Work must be in a curricular area generally recognized for credit at Northwestern. Transfer credit will not be awarded for coursework not offered within our undergraduate program (eg: nutrition and wellness, fashion, agriculture, sports or physical education related classes, etc.) See Northwestern's Academic Catalog for current course descriptions.
Must be equivalent to at least two semester hours, three quarter hours, or equivalent at the sponsoring institution to receive one NU unit (standard ccourse value). Courses of lower credit value may be considered for transfer if Northwestern offers a comparable lab or course at the 0.34 or 0.5 unit value.

Additional Policies of Note:

Final, official transcripts from the offering institution are the appropriate mechanism for reporting completion of a course to Northwestern. Such transcripts must bear the signature and/or seal of the issuing official and must arrive at our office sealed and/or unopened since issue. Official transcripts must be written in English and contain the institution’s name, the student’s name, dates of term(s) attended, title of each class taken, grades earned and academic credit system for each class (if applicable). E-transcripts are accepted and must be sent to nu-transfer-credit@northwestern.edu directly from the issuing institution.
- Incoming first-year student who take college-level courses after high school graduation but before attending Northwestern, please submit your official transcripts to the Office of the Registrar at our mailing address or to nu-transfer-credit@northwestern.edu.
Transferred credit accepted from another institution is reflected on the Northwestern University transcript with a grade of "T", not the actual grade received at the other institution. The "T" (Transfer) grade is not used in calculating the Northwestern GPA.
- Credit earned in other Northwestern University careers (eg. The School of Professional Studies, NU-Q, and Non-Degree programs) may be transferred to the Evanston Undergraduate career. If accepted, those courses will transfer with their previously earned grades and will count towards the Evanston Undergraduate GPA.
Students may not register concurrently at Northwestern and at another institution and receive transfer credit for work taken at the other institution unless permission is granted in advance by the office of the dean of their schools. This applies to traditional and online or blended-format courses.
Students may not receive credit twice for the same course. If a student receives transfer credit and test credit for the same course (eg. Math 220-2), credit will only be awarded once, however both will remain on the NU transcript; one will reflect zero units earned while the other will show one unit earned.
- All eligible test scores and transfer credits submitted to Northwestern will be reflected on the NU transcript. Northwestern does not remove or revoke credit after posting or in cases of course duplication/repeats.
- If a student takes a course at Northwestern for which they have already received equivalent credit for via test or transfer credit, the NU attempt will take priority and the transfer or test credit will be zeroed out on the transcript.
Undergraduate students who wish to transfer post-secondary courses completed outside the United States should request an evaluation by Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE) and submit the report to the Office of the Registrar at Northwestern. ECE reports describe the level of the student’s academic work and the accreditation and credit system of the institution and inform the degree to which courses taken abroad may transfer to Northwestern University.
- Students hoping to earn credit for foreign national exams or any courses taken after enrolling at Northwestern (except Northwestern-affiliated study abroad programs and Northwestern Suggested Independent Summer Programs) must request an ECE evaluation of their records be sent to Northwestern as part of the transfer review process.
- Incoming undergraduate students who wish to transfer post-secondary courses completed outside the United States should request evaluation from ECE. The report will enable transfer credit evaluators to make articulation decisions quickly and accurately.
- Students must contact ECE directly to 1) request the review and 2) request that the resulting evaluation be sent to transfer credit evaluators in the Northwestern Office of the Registrar.
- ECE costs are borne by the student; enrolled students receiving financial aid can contact the Office of Financial Aid (undergradaid@u.northwestern.edu) to inquire about using aid toward the cost of this evaluation.
The Undergraduate Registration Requirement (URR) specifies the minimum number of units of credit a student must earn at Northwestern; it thus limits the amount of non-Northwestern credit that may be counted toward a Northwestern degree. More details can be found on the Undergraduate Registration Requirement Summary page.

The following courses do not transfer:

Courses for which credit was granted by institutional or CLEP examination rather than course attendance.
Courses worth less than three quarter hours or two semester hours.
Courses that an applicant has audited, repeated or failed.
English as a Second Language courses.
Work in a curricular area generally not recognized for credit at Northwestern such as fashion, nutrition, health and well-being, sports, hospitality, agriculture, etc. Please refer to the Northwestern Academic Catalog for more information.
Any course work completed during a deferral period.

School-specific policies

Two-year or community college credit

Northwestern University's colleges and schools have specific policies on granting credit for courses taken at a two-year or community college after matriculation at Northwestern:

Bienen, Communication, and McCormick - Credit accepted with approval.
Medill - No credit accepted after sophomore year.
SESP - Credit accepted with approval and B-grade or higher.
Weinberg - No credit accepted toward a Weinberg degree. In addition, students in other schools may not count such courses toward a Weinberg major or minor.

Weinberg College requirements

Credit earned at other domestic institutions after matriculation at Northwestern may not be applied towards the Weinberg College foundational disciplines requirement, the distribution requirements, or the requirement of proficiency in a language other than English.

Credit earned at foreign institutions by international (F1/J1) students studying in their home country after matriculation at Northwestern follows the same restrictions as domestic institutions; credit may not be applied towards the Weinberg College foundational disciplines requirement, the distribution requirements, or the requirement of proficiency in a language other than English.

Students may not apply any transfer credit for college coursework taken while they were still a high school student to their Foundational Disciplines.

Students approved to study abroad by the Study Abroad Office may be authorized to apply some credits earned at foreign institutions toward the Weinberg College foundational disciplines requirements.

Courses that are to be applied toward a Weinberg College major or minor must have the prior approval of the Director of Undergraduate Studies or designated adviser in that department or program.

School of Communication requirements

Transfer credits are not permitted to apply for those major requirements that must be taken in the major department. Transfer credits may be approved (by petition) to count towards courses required in SoC. Courses in the major department may also be accepted as elective credit.

Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications

Transfer credit cannot be applied to the journalism major. Transfer credit may apply toward foundational disciplines, the language requirement, and other areas of study (pending approval from those disciplines.

McCormick School of Engineering requirements

Transfer credit may be generally applied toward McCormick Social Sciences & Humanities and Unrestricted Elective degree requirements.  After review to ensure relevance/equivalency, Transfer credit may also be applied towards requirements in the areas of Mathematics, Basic Science, Engineering Analysis and Computer Proficiency, and Design and Communication. 

McCormick allows no more than 4 units of transfer credit to be applied towards Major Program degree requirements, only with departmental approval. Some departments may further limit the number of transfer credits that may be counted toward Major Program requirements.

Further information about McCormick’s processes regarding transfer credit may be found here: https://www.mccormick.northwestern.edu/students/undergraduate/advising-registration/transfer-credits.html

School of Professional Studies

SPS-specific inquiries can begin here, on these two websites: