Applying Transfer Credits to Your Degree

While many courses may be eligible for transfer to Penn State, not all transfer courses may be applicable to your degree.

Unofficial Transfer Credit Review for Academic Planning

When you submit transfer credits to Penn State, a Transfer Credit Specialist will complete an unofficial review to consider how your credits might apply to your intended undergraduate degree. The Transfer Credit Specialist will provide you and your academic adviser with a transfer credit check sheet that includes the course and credit requirements for your program of study and your approved and/or pending transfer credits. The check sheet will help you and your adviser develop an academic plan and decide which courses to schedule and when to schedule them.

Official Evaluation of Transfer Credits

Any transfer credits you submit will be reviewed and may require further evaluation, depending on whether the courses have been previously evaluated by Penn State. Learn more about how to find out whether a course has been previously evaluated by Penn State.

If you submit courses that have not previously been reviewed by Penn State, these courses will be placed in a pending status. If you would like them to be reviewed by faculty to determine whether they are applicable in your intended program of study, you must submit syllabi for evaluation.

Providing Syllabi to Meet Specific Degree Requirements

Depending on your degree program and the credits you would like to transfer, your Transfer Credit Specialist may request syllabi that must meet more specific requirements, and the request may pertain to courses that are no longer in pending status on your transfer credit report.

Some degree programs require a syllabus that is from the semester in which you completed the course. Others will consider syllabi from other semesters if the Course Code and Course Title match the transfer course on your record.

Providing Requested Syllabi to Your Transfer Credit Specialist

If a syllabus meeting specific requirements for the semester, course code, course title, or other details is requested, you will need to provide it directly to your Transfer Credit Specialist. There is no deadline to submit a syllabus to your Transfer Credit Specialist; however, any further evaluation of your course will be delayed until the syllabus is provided.

Faculty Review of Requested Syllabi

Your Transfer Credit Specialists will send the syllabus you provided to the academic department for further review. The time it takes to receive an official decision varies by the academic department and the time of year. Your Transfer Credit Specialist will contact you via email to confirm when they receive your syllabus and you will also be notified after an official decision is made.

Obtaining Syllabi

To obtain each syllabus, you may need to contact the course instructor or the department chair at the institution where you completed the course. View our tips for obtaining syllabi for additional recommendations and an example of a syllabus.

Time Passed Since Credits Were Earned

Credits from a previous institution are eligible to be transferred to Penn State no matter how much time has passed since the credits were earned. However, for the credits to be applied to your degree program, some programs require credits to have been earned within the last 10, or in some cases 5, years. Additional information about minimum requirements for transfer credits is available on our Bringing Transfer Credits to Penn State page.