Please note: This is NOT the most current catalog.
Transferring to St. Olaf
TRANSFER STUDENTS (STUDENTS INITIALLY
ENTERING ST. OLAF)
All students transferring to St. Olaf from other colleges or
universities should be aware of quantitative restrictions on
transfer work subsequently taken after matriculation at St.
Olaf. The number of additional transfer credits allowed is
printed on the degree audit.
Credit for work done at other accredited colleges
or universities, if satisfactory in grade and applicable toward
a liberal arts degree, will be allowed toward a bachelor’s
degree at St. Olaf. An “accredited college” means a
liberal arts institution and excludes vocational, technical, business
and correspondence schools. The credit granted for such work is
provisional, subject to the completion of one year of satisfactory
study at St. Olaf. Transfer students should seek admission to St.
Olaf by contacting the director of admissions.
During the admissions
process, the registrar will provide the applicant with an evaluation
of transfer credit, evaluated on the basis of official transcripts.
Several important regulations apply:
- A student must complete a minimum of 17.00
credits at St. Olaf or through St. Olaf programs.
- Only courses graded at C or higher at the original institution
will be given credit through course transfer.
- The actual grades earned at other institutions
are entered on the student’s
St. Olaf record, but are not included in the computation of the St. Olaf
grade point average.
- A St. Olaf course is equivalent to 4.00
semester or 5.0 quarter credits (hours). At least three semester
or four quarter credits (hours) are required for “course-for-course credit” toward
a particular requirement. A course worth fewer than three semester
or four quarter credits cannot by itself satisfy a
St. Olaf General Education requirement. A course must meet the normal requirements
of a minimum of 36 class contact hours to qualify for St. Olaf credit. See
scale under “Transfer Courses” below.
- Students wishing to apply a transfer course toward a major
or a concentration should consult with the department chair or
program director how the courses will fulfill a requirement.
- Course equivalencies are granted through
transfer within certain credit ranges. A transfer student should
refer to the scale printed under “Transfer
Courses” below.
- The college does not accept P or S grades from other institutions.
- College Board Advanced Placement credit will be considered
if the transfer student provides St. Olaf with the original
scores.
- Transfer students should become familiar
with the college’s
S/U policy. Since St. Olaf permits only six out of the minimal
35 full credits required for graduation to be taken S/U, students
who are transferring more than six courses to St. Olaf from another
school may have the allowable number of permitted S/U courses
reduced by scale. This scale will be recorded by the registrar
on the evaluation of transfer credit form returned to the transfer
applicant during the admission process.
- The 24-graded-course requirement is reduced
by scale for transfer students; consult the “Graded and Ungraded Courses” reduction
scale below.
- Music ensemble participation credits (band,
choir, orchestra, etc.) and intercollegiate athletic participation
are not awarded transfer credit.
- Transfer students who have previously received
college credit for courses taken in high school or college
courses taken while in high school should be aware of the college’s policies: see “High School Credits Applied
to College” above.
TRANSFER COURSES (ALREADY ENROLLED
ST. OLAF STUDENTS)
St. Olaf students considering transferring courses to St. Olaf
from other colleges should be aware of quantitative restrictions
on transfer work.
In most cases, after students have matriculated at
St. Olaf, they may subsequently transfer only 4.00 courses from
other colleges or universities to St. Olaf for degree credit and
only two (2) courses may count toward General Education requirements.
The specific number allowed is found on the student’s degree
audit.
If students earn the allowed transfer courses through
non-St. Olaf, off-campus programs after matriculation, they may
apply these courses toward a major or concentration or as elective
credits (if they receive pre-approval from the registrar and the
appropriate St. Olaf department chair or program director). But
such non-St. Olaf, off-campus courses cannot be applied to General
Education requirements. Course credits earned on St. Olaf off-campus
programs or through inter-registration with Carleton College are
excluded from these restrictions.
For St. Olaf students planning to transfer external
credits within the quota limits, the procedures are:
Students must check with the registrar before making plans for
non-St. Olaf courses. St. Olaf students planning summer school
courses at another institution, and St. Olaf students enrolling
for a semester/quarter or more in other colleges/universities
in anticipation of transferring credits to St. Olaf must file a transfer of
credit form (available at the registrar’s window) for advance approval.
The student is given a copy of the approved form as a receipt; the registrar
retains the original.
Note that a department chair or program director
may sign the approval form without reference to the student’s
transcript, present record, or future plans. In other words, a
non-St. Olaf course is pre-approved for transfer only on its liberal
arts merit as an elective or as a credit fulfilling a specified
requirement. The student alone is responsible for understanding
the appropriateness of the transfer credit to the particulars of
the curriculum including the residency requirement, the repeated
course rule, the major, the graded course policy and the college’s
graduation requirements as a whole. Again, restrictions on the
amount of transfer course credit are printed on each student’s
degree audit. The St. Olaf faculty has set 36 class contact hours
as the minimum instruction time required for a full course to transfer
to St. Olaf.
Several important regulations and procedures apply:
- Only courses from an accredited college or
university are accepted by St. Olaf.
- A photocopy of the relevant pages of the
host college’s
catalog must accompany the transfer of credit form when it
is submitted to the department chair or program director for
approval. The chair or director may also request the class
schedule, course outlines or syllabi.
- A student cannot apply to a St. Olaf General Education
requirement or toward a major any course worth fewer than three
semester or four quarter credits.
- Grades below C cannot be transferred to St. Olaf. Grades
from other schools are entered on the St. Olaf record.
- Correspondence courses, internships and/or
independent study courses taken through another college or
university are not accepted as college credits transferable
to St. Olaf. Students taking “Extension School” courses
at the University of Minnesota or elsewhere must check with the registrar.
- Off-campus work through another college/university
must be evaluated by the registrar in advance and is subject
to the limitations stated under “Off-Campus
Programs (Non-St. Olaf Sponsored)” in this catalog.
- In order to assure credit transfer, an official transcript
reflecting the completed course work at the host college/university
must be sent by that institution directly to the St. Olaf registrar.
- Juniors and seniors planning transfer work from other institutions
should be aware of the St. Olaf residency and senior residency
requirement.
- If a St. Olaf student has previously taken
work on a semester or quarter system, all credits on such systems
will be combined and converted into St. Olaf course credits
using the scale below, or an expanded scale available at the
registrar’s window.
- If credits were earned under both a semester credit system
and a quarter credit system, each system is converted individually,
using the transfer course scale, to St. Olaf course credits.
Once the conversion has been made, the course credits are added
together to determine the total number of course credits transferred.
- Courses of less than four weeks in length (regardless
of the number of class contact hours) and courses that are essentially
workshops, camps, summer theater, guides, summer jobs, assistantships
and travel programs are not transferrable as St. Olaf credit.
- Internet-television-VCR-media-based (distance learning)
experiences are not transferrable as St. Olaf credit.
- Students should use the following transfer course scale.
Transfer Course Scale: Semester and Quarter Credits
Converted to St. Olaf Courses
0-3 qtr. crs. or 0-2 sem. crs. = 0 St. Olaf course
4-7 qtr. crs. or 3-5 sem. crs. = 1 St. Olaf course
8-12 qtr. crs. or 6-8 sem. crs. = 2 St. Olaf courses
13-18 qtr. crs. or 9-12 sem. crs. = 3 St. Olaf courses
19-23 qtr. crs. or 13-16 sem. crs. = 4 St. Olaf courses
24-29 qtr. crs. or 17-19 sem. crs. = 5 St. Olaf courses
30-34 qtr. crs. or 20-23 sem. crs. = 6 St. Olaf courses
35-40 qtr. crs. or 24-27 sem. crs. = 7 St. Olaf courses
41-45 qtr. crs. or 28-30 sem. crs. = 8 St. Olaf courses
46-50 qtr. crs. or 31-34 sem. crs. = 9 St. Olaf courses
Because transfer courses may reduce a student’s
requirements under the 24-graded-course rule, interested students
should consult the reduced graded course scale under “Graded
and Ungraded Courses” in this catalog.
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