Advanced Standing & Transfer Credit
Advanced Standing & Transfer Credit
Work satisfactorily completed at a regionally accredited collegiate institution is accepted for transfer provided it is academic in nature and is generally applicable toward a liberal arts program of study. A limited number of credits will be allowed for professional or vocationally-oriented coursework.
A record of all academic work undertaken in other collegiate institutions, including a record of correspondence and distance learning work and registration in summer sessions, must be presented to the Registrar by every student who has undertaken such work. Students who fail to provide such transcripts may be guilty of unethical conduct and may be subject to disciplinary action including suspension or dismissal from the college.
Is it not advisable to enroll in additional coursework, including extension and online courses, at another collegiate institution while the student is enrolled at Whitman College or in a Whitman College Off-Campus Study program. In the event a student wishes to be dual enrolled, they will need to obtain permission, in advance, from their advisor. The student will need to submit the Request for Approval of Transfer Credit (RATC) form to the Registrar’s Office prior to starting their non-Whitman course. Nothing in this rule makes the granting of any credit mandatory by Whitman College.
Whitman College grants no academic credit for work experience or internships per se. See the Academic Credit for Internships section.
A total of 70 credits of advanced standing transferred from other regionally accredited collegiate institutions is the maximum non-Whitman work creditable toward a bachelor’s degree. This includes 30 credits allowed on the basis of scores earned and approved by Whitman faculty on the Advanced Placement Test(s) of the College Board, Higher Level courses for the International Baccalaureate, and GCE (Cambridge International) A-Level Exams. Professionally and vocationally oriented course work is allowed up to 10 credits maximum. Running Start courses, or certain military service are also included in the 70 credit maximum. Credit earned exclusively from two-year colleges has a 62 semester credit maximum.
Each quarter system credit is worth two-thirds of a semester credit. Whitman does not transfer partial credit (anything less than 1 whole semester credit) and does not round up. The sole exception occurs when multiple courses from the same college are transferable to Whitman. In these cases, the fractional credits are combined if the sum is at least one or more semester credits. These are then applied toward general degree credit requirements.
No transfer credit is applied toward a Whitman degree unless it is of average (D or 1.0 on a numerical grade scale, in accordance to Whitman’s grading scale) or better quality. Credit may be awarded for transfer work graded as Pass/Fail, but only if the original institution's minimum "pass" grade is equivalent to a D or better. However, Off-Campus Studies courses (courses taken outside the United States and on U.S.-based Partner Programs) must be taken for a letter grade or its numeric equivalent. Transfer credit will not be awarded for Off-Campus Studies courses graded as Pass/Fail.
Grades awarded by other institutions are not made a part of the student's Whitman record, except for grades awarded through Off-Campus Studies Partner Programs, which appear on the Whitman transcript, but are not calculated into the grade point average.
Students who have participated in one or more Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate courses, or GCE (Cambridge International) A-Level Exams must arrange to have their scores or transcripts sent directly to Whitman College by the institution awarding credit. These courses may be applied toward the 124-credit degree requirement and certain majors and minors, but may not be used to satisfy Distribution Requirements.
If there is a credit discrepancy for a similar course, the credit amount from the institution where the course was completed will be the credit total transferred. For example, if a course is completed for 3 semester credits at another institution, it will not be eligible to transfer to Whitman for 4 credits, even in the case where it is considered to be satisfying the course requirements of a Whitman course worth 4 credits. Conversely, if a transfer course is completed for 5 semester credits, 5 credits will be transferred to Whitman. A transfer course cannot be worth more than a Whitman course, so the additional semester credit(s) are likely to transfer as general degree credits to be used toward the 124 credits necessary to earn a Whitman degree.