Transferring Credits to Garrett College
Students may transfer credits into Garrett College (GC) from eligible post-secondary institutions. As part of the admissions process, students who have attended one or more institutions before transferring to GC submit an official transcript from each institution. Once all transcripts are received, transfer applicants will be permitted to schedule placement (if required) and new student advising. An appointment for new student advising serves as the transfer student’s request for evaluation of transcripts. The Office of Records and Registration (ORR), in conjunction with academic content experts, performs the transcript evaluation. Notification of credits accepted in transfer is sent to the student’s College email. Students are also informed of the results as part of their new student advising session. A student wishing to appeal the results of a transcript evaluation should first contact the ORR to discuss the evaluation. The student may subsequently request an appeal of the ORR’s decision by sending a written request to the Chief Academic Officer.
To the fullest extent possible, Garrett College seeks to maximize the transferability of courses and credits. The following regulations apply to the transfer of credits:
- Only official transcripts from post-secondary institutions accredited by an accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education are considered for evaluation. GC may also consider American Council on Education (ACE) recommendations, in conjunction with academic departmental review, to potentially award credit from non-traditional sources.
- Transcripts must be received directly by the Admissions or Records and Registration offices in a sealed, stamped envelope or by an accepted electronic transcript service. An electronic transcript forwarded from the student is not official; the service must send it directly to the college.
- Transcripts from post-secondary institutions outside of the U.S. must be translated, certified, and evaluated by World Education Services (www.wes.org).
- Only successfully completed undergraduate coursework will be reviewed. Failure, withdraw, incomplete, and in progress grades are examples of unsuccessful grades not eligible for transfer.
- Credits earned for remedial courses are not transferrable.
- Credits approved for transfer will be recorded on the student’s GC transcript.
- Grades for transfer courses are not recorded on the GC transcript and are not included in the GPA calculation. As such, in the case of a repeated course, credit earned via transfer does not replace a prior grade in the CGPA calculation.
- Credit hours for classes at a school operating on a quarter hour system are converted to semester hours. Each quarter hour of credit is worth 2/3 of one semester hour credit. Converted hours are rounded down to the nearest whole number.
- A maximum of 45 non-resident credits including transfer, military, etc., may be applied to a Garrett College degree.
- Degree-seeking students must earn at least 15 credits in residence at Garrett College.
- Certificate-seeking students must earn at least 12 credit hours of their program at Garrett College.
- Transfer coursework will be held to the same standards as native coursework. For example, if a native student must earn a grade of “C” or better in a required course, the transfer student shall also be required to earn a “C“ or better to meet the same requirement.
- With the exception of major-specific general education course requirements, courses meeting a general education requirement at the sending institution shall be applied to the same general education requirement at Garrett, even if an equivalent course does not exist at GC.
- Transfer students who already hold an A.A., A.S., or higher degree from an accredited institution of higher education will have their general education requirements deemed met by the prior degree, unless the general education course is a major-specific requirement. A student who transfers into GC and holds an A.A.S. degree may be required to complete any general education courses that are lacking from the A.A.S. degree.
- Students are accountable for the loss of applicable credits resulting from student’s decision to change academic programs of study.
Garrett College publishes course equivalency information in the Articulation System for Maryland Colleges and Universities (available online at https://artsys.usmd.edu). Development of course equivalencies falls under the purview of academic content experts and is based on the review and comparison of course learning objectives. Courses will be deemed equivalent if at least 70% of the course learning objectives are equivalent.
Garrett College follows the Maryland Higher Education Commission General Education and Transfer regulations, specifically Title 13B Subtitle 06 Chapters 01 and 02.
