Stanford
Student Services

Transfer Credit

Undergraduate Transfer Credit

Stanford may award credit for coursework completed at U.S. and international colleges or universities. Once approved, your transfer credits can count towards your overall university graduation requirements, major/minor requirements and other degree requirements. Grades are not factored into the Stanford GPA, or posted on the transcript, for transfer coursework. 

The conditions are very specific, so it is important that you are aware of all these requirements:

  • You must have completed the coursework at a regionally accredited institution in the U.S. or at an officially recognized international institution.
  • The coursework must be college-level and count towards a college-level degree. Courses counted towards your high school graduation requirements do not qualify. Life and work experience are not accepted for transfer credit.
  • The coursework must have substantial content overlap with Stanford coursework. A maximum of 20 quarter units may represent courses that do not parallel specific undergraduate courses at Stanford.
  • You must have received a “C-” or better grade. “Pass” grades are only accepted when that grade is equivalent to a letter grade of “C-” or better as confirmed by the transcript key, the institution website, or a letter from a school official. Your final grades for external coursework are not posted to your transcript and do not count towards your Stanford GPA. 
  • Your approved transfer credit is a maximum of 45 quarter units (or 90 units for transfer students), including advanced placement (AP) test credit.

For full information regarding transfer credit policies, please see the Student Policies: Transfer Work.

Each type of transfer credit request is processed differently. Please review the information below to determine the steps needed for each request:

  • How do I request general university credit and/or credit for general education requirements?

    • To request general transfer credit, submit the Transfer Credit Evaluation Request eForm in the Student eForms portal, available via Axess (My Academics > Petitions & Forms) and select from the appropriate drop down menu option. Units received as general transfer credit are not evaluated to satisfy departmental or Ways requirements.

      To request transfer credit to fulfill the WR-1, WR-2, or Language Requirement, submit the Transfer Credit Evaluation Request eForm in the Student eForms portal, available via Axess (My Academics > Petitions & Forms) and select from the appropriate drop down menu option.

      To request transfer credit already listed as pre-approved via the Transfer Credit Database please submit this help request once the course has been completed. Submission of the Transfer Credit Evaluation Request eForm is not required. 

      After review by the Registrar’s Office, approved credit is converted into quarter units, rounded down to the nearest whole unit, and posted to your student record. Transfer credit appears on your transcript only with the name of the institution and the total number of units awarded; no external course codes or grades appear, nor are they counted towards your Stanford GPA.

  • How do I request transfer credit for major/minor requirements?

    • In some cases, you may want to use work completed at another institution to fulfill requirements for your major or minor. As a first step, you should review the transfer credit procedures within your major/minor department. Only your department may determine if you can use an external course to meet your program requirements. Depending on your degree program, you may request this review either before or after taking the external course.

      After your department has confirmed your external coursework may be used, they notify the Registrar’s Office. For the Registrar’s Office to post the credit to your record, you need to send your official transcript (from the external institution) to the Registrar’s Office upon course completion. After the Registrar’s Office reviews your transcript, they will update your record accordingly.

  • How do I request transfer credit for Ways?

    • Pre-approval is required if you want to fulfill Ways requirements through transfer work. You must submit your request by the applicable deadline in the quarter prior to the term in which you intend to enroll in the transfer course, as defined on the Ways website. The possible transfer courses are reviewed to determine if they can be certified to fulfill Ways requirements. Courses must be taken for a minimum of 3 quarter units (2 units in the case of Creative Expression only) and must be taken for a letter grade. For additional information regarding the policy and process for requesting Ways credit via transfer credit, see the Ways website.

  • How do I request transfer credit for International coursework?

    • To request general transfer credit, submit the Transfer Credit Evaluation Request eForm in the Student eForms portal, available via Axess (My Academics > Petitions & Forms) and select from the appropriate drop down menu option. Units received as general transfer credit are not evaluated to satisfy departmental or Ways requirements. You must submit all of the information noted below along with the Transfer Credit Evaluation Request eForm. Note that all documentation must be in the English language (or have a certified English translation).

      • course syllabi for all requested courses
      • level of course work (transfer credit can only be awarded for courses that are equivalent to undergraduate level work)
      • institution's grading scale/system. Note: if a course has a 'P' or 'Pass' grade listed, then the grading scale must explicitly state what the minimum grade is to earn a passing grade. Pass grades are accepted only for courses for which the standard of passing is 'C-' (or better) quality work
      • minimum number of credits required to complete the undergraduate program at the institution (this must be from an official source, such as a course catalog) 
      • institution's credit system (quarter, ECTS, semester)
      • institution's accreditation (must be officially recognized)
    • Occasionally, this information (except for the course syllabi) is included with the official transcript. However, if it is not, you are strongly encouraged to purchase a third-party, course-by-course international transcript translation and evaluation service, as most of these services include all of the above-mentioned information. Some examples of these services are:

Submitting your Official Transcript

To consider and post transfer credits to your student record, the Registrar’s Office requires the official transcript from your external institution with all transfer credit requests. You should submit all official transcripts no later than the grading deadline of the quarter you're conferring your undergraduate degree or you may jeopardize your ability to graduate on time.

You can submit official transcripts using either of these methods:

  • E-transcripts — send to transfer-credit-transcripts@stanford.edu
  • Sealed paper transcripts — deliver via mail to the Student Services Center at 459 Lagunita Dr, Suite 4 Tresidder Memorial Union, 2nd Floor Stanford, CA 94305.

Stanford only accepts official transcripts via direct submission from the external institution; no transcripts received directly from a student are accepted.

Timeline

The Registrar’s Office evaluates external credit for students who have accepted an offer of admission and are fully matriculated at Stanford. Transfer credit requests for prospective students are not reviewed. Frosh admits should be advised that their transfer credit evaluation requests will not be reviewed until after the preliminary study list deadline of their first quarter. No pre-approval requests will be accepted prior to that date. The Registrar’s Office recommends that you do not submit transfer credit requests prior to the Autumn quarter of your sophomore year.

You should submit any requests for general transfer credit no later than the Final Study List deadline of the quarter you’re conferring your undergraduate degree. If you are applying for a Last Units Out of Residence status, please refer to the Special Registration Statuses page for more information.

Official transcripts for general transfer credit should be submitted no later than the grading deadline of the quarter you're conferring your undergraduate degree to ensure you will have the record on your transcript before you confer.

Transfer Credit Database

You can use this course equivalency database as a guide to review externally completed undergraduate coursework to determine transferability to Stanford University. The courses that appear in this database are approved by the Stanford University Registrar for general transfer credit toward an undergraduate degree. However, you should still submit an official transfer credit evaluation request form to request an official review/approval. Note that you are not guaranteed undergraduate transfer credit simply because a course appears in this database. Furthermore, you should consult with your individual departments and programs regarding transfer credit policies/procedures, as there may be additional restrictions regarding transfer credit.