Transfer Credit Information
The Transfer Credit Evaluation Process
Accessing Your Transfer Credit Evaluation
Missing Transfer Credits
Procedures for Evaluating/Reevaluating Transfer Courses
Foreign Transfer Evaluations/Study Abroad Credit
AP/IB Credits
Transfer Credit from the Virginia Community College System (VCCS)
Transfer Credit from Richard Bland College (RBC)
Where to send your Official Scores or Transcripts
Studying Away from the College
How are courses evaluated?
In order to ensure that students receive the most appropriate designation for their courses, transfer evaluations are conducted in an extremely tedious and careful manner. While many institutions conduct transfer evaluations on the basis of the title alone, the Transfer Credit Coordinator (TCC) at W&M is charged with the task of reviewing course descriptions for all of the courses completed by the transfer student. In accordance with guidelines established by each department, the TCC pays close attention to the course level, prerequisites and other information revealed through the description to determine its transferability. The TCC may consult the departmental Transfer Credit Evaluator (TCE) when the transferability of the course cannot easily be ascertained. Transfer Credit Evaluators are generally the department chairperson, program director or a long-term faculty member who has extensive knowledge of the departmental curriculum and requirements. After all courses have been evaluated, they are applied to the student transcript, where they can be viewed through Banner Self Service.
How do I access my transfer credit evaluation?
In order to view your transfer credit evaluation, you must first access your transcript through Banner Self Service by visiting myWM. Transfer credits are always listed first on an official transcript and you should be able to view the name of every institution that you have attended along with the corresponding transferable courses. Please understand that you will only be able to view the courses that actually transferred on your transcript! Since transfer credits are posted in the same order that they appeared on the transcript of the transfer institution, it is recommended that you refer to a personal copy of your official transcript or grade report when viewing your transfer evaluation.
Transfer courses are given one of three designations: W&M equivalency, W&M elective, or Academic Elective credit (only applicable for VA Community College and Richard Bland transfers).
W&M Equivalent Credit
Courses will be granted W&M equivalent credit when they are considered to be close matches to courses currently offered at the College. These courses can be applied toward proficiencies, the General Education Requirements (GERs), major and minor requirements--ONLY for courses that are taken prior to matriculation at William and Mary.
W&M Elective Credit
W&M elective credit is granted to courses that are transferable, but, not currently offered at the College. Elective credits appear on the transcript record with an assigned departmental designation (eg. RELG, PSYC) and the course level remains consistent with the transfer institution. Therefore, a 300-level Religion course would receive the W&M elective designation of RELG 3XX. In contrast to W&M equivalent courses, elective courses cannot be applied toward proficiencies, GERs, major or minor requirements.
Academic Elective Credit
Academic Elective credit is awarded only to transfers from VA Community Colleges and Richard Bland College who have completed an Associate's degree and are in need of supplementary credits in order to obtain junior standing (54 credits). These credits receive the designation of 'ACEL' on the official transcript and they can only be utilized toward the 120 credits necessary for graduation. If the final transcript does not reflect completion of an Associate's degree, ACEL credit will not be applied to ensure that the student receives 54 credits. In these instances, the student must contact the transfer institution to request that a transcript that confirms completion of the degree be forwarded to the TCC.
I'm missing transfer credit. What should I do?
There are five main reasons why courses may be missing on your W&M transcript: 1) course descriptions were never received by the TCC, 2) courses are under evaluation, 3) supplementary materials are required for evaluation, 4) the final or an official transcript has not been received, or 5) the course is not transferable.
Courses Under Evaluation
Due to the fact that it often takes a while for the TCE to evaluate a course, especially during summer months when they are not easily accessible, the TCC is incapable of posting credit for questionable courses until a response has been received. You will receive notification from the TCC about courses that are under evaluation via your W&M email account.
Supplementary Materials Required
Courses of a special nature, such as Freshman Seminars, Honors, Interdisciplinary, Independent Study courses, almost always require submission of course syllabi, tests and other materials that give detailed content information. At times, course descriptions that are submitted for ordinary courses fail to reveal critical information that is necessary for evaluation. You will be notified via your W&M email account if supplementary materials need to be submitted.
Missing Final or Official Transcripts
Whenever an entire semester of course work is missing from the W&M transcript, it is obvious that the final transcript had not been received by the time the initial transfer credit was posted. If additional credits have not appeared within one week prior to the New Student Orientation, please contact your transfer institution to find out where the final transcript was sent before you contact the TCC to check on the status of your evaluation.
Please keep in mind that hundreds of transfer courses are evaluated on an ongoing basis throughout the entire year, not only for newly admitted students, but also for current W&M students seeking to transfer courses from other institutions. Due to the precise manner in which courses are evaluated by the TCC and W&M faculty, transfer evaluations will not be initiated unless the required course descriptions have been submitted. While the TCC will work diligently to have newly approved transfer credits posted to the transcript, it would not be reasonable to assume that transfer credits will be posted immediately. Therefore, you should allow 2 weeks before checking your transcript for new courses, especially during registration periods.
What happens when a course doesn't transfer?
Despite the best efforts of the TCC, there are unfortunate instances when courses do not transfer to W&M. Aside from correspondence, and other non-traditional courses, there are other types of courses that do not transfer to W&M, which include:
- Courses that are below introductory level W&M courses such as Algebra and Basic Math, Basic Writing, Introduction to Business
- Courses with grades below a 'C'
- Courses in professional, vocational or sectarian religious study programs
- Courses offered through departments or programs that are not available at W&M, such as Journalism, Engineering or Nursing
- Study skills, orientation, CLEP, ESL and credits granted for Military service/experience
- Credits granted for Varsity sports participation or through credit by examination
- Foreign language courses will not transfer if the equivalent courses were completed in high school. College level language courses equate to high school courses in the following manner: German 101= GER1 , German 102 = GER2, German 201 = GER3, German 202 = GER4.
Therefore, if GER3 was successfully completed in high school and German 102, 201 and 202 were required at the transfer institution, only the German 202 course would transfer. Native speakers of a foreign language, who take courses at the 101 through 202 level of their language, will not be eligible to receive transfer credit.
If you discover that credit was not granted for a course that is similar to a course currently offered at W&M, it is possible that the course description lacked vital information about the content of your course. When this occurs, you are encouraged to gather your course syllabus, text, tests or research papers, download a copy of the 'Transfer Credit Request form and schedule an appointment with the appropriate Transfer Credit Evaluator (TCE) when you arrive on campus. If the TCE approves your course, submit the completed Transfer Credit Request Form to the TCC in order for the credit to be applied to your transcript.
A note about foreign transfer evaluations
Foreign transfer work is evaluated in two separate departments. Students who have completed foreign coursework in their country of residence (eg. French Baccalaureate, German Abitur, or other University level course work) will be directed by the Office of Undergraduate Admission to instructions and an application on the Admission Office website for a preliminary transcript evaluation by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO). Obtaining this evaluation is the responsibility of the student. The results will be sent to the Office of Academic Advising where, in conjunction with departmental chairpersons, the number of transfer credits and course equivalents will be determined. Transfer credit evaluations will be mailed to students as soon as they are available. Course work completed through study abroad programs is evaluated through the Reves Center for International Studies. For information on how to obtain study abroad transfer credit, please visit the Reves website.
AP/IB Credits
Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate credit is granted according to W&M score requirements (under the Requirements for Degree-Placement, Credit by Examination and Transfer Credit section of the current Undergraduate Course Catalog). Any credit that may have been awarded through the transfer institution will not transfer to W&M. Students seeking AP or IB credit must have their official scores forwarded by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) directly to the Transfer Credit Coordinator. For IB scores, please refer to their web site at www.ibo.org. For AP scores, please refer to their web site at www.collegeboard.org/ap, or call (609) 771-7300. The College of William and Mary CEEB code is 005115.
Where to send your Official Scores or Transcripts
Student seeking transfer credit must have their official scores and/or transcripts mailed directly from the awarding institution (university, ETS, etc.) to the following:
The College of William and Mary
Office of the University Registrar
P.O. Box 8795
Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795
