Arts & Sciences Transfer Specific Credit Policy

Courses to be considered for transfer credit will be reviewed only once a student has applied to Emmanuel and have been accepted to the College.

Students transferring into Emmanuel's Arts and Sciences degree program do not have a limit on the number of transfer credits that the College will accept for transfer. This is to ensure that if the student changes majors from the original intended major, that any previous coursework may apply to fulfill appropriate degree requirements. However, all Arts and Sciences students must meet all of their degree requirements for graduation, including the College Residency Requirement.

Arts and Sciences students must complete 64 credits (typically 16 courses) and 50% of the major and any minor or certificate, at Emmanuel College to graduate with a Bachelor's Degree from Emmanuel College. Courses that meet the criteria for transfer credit and earned a grade of C (2.0) or better will be transferred into Emmanuel College.

Once matriculated, students who have transferred into Emmanuel College are eligible to complete one course for every full year the student will be enrolled at Emmanuel. Courses that are completed through approved Study Abroad programs via the Office of International Programs or courses completed via the Colleges of the Fenway cross-registration process post matriculation are considered "in-residence."

New transfer students will be assigned class standing according to the following completed/accepted credits:

Freshman - 0-31 accepted credits
Sophomore - 32-63 accepted credits
Junior - 64-95 accepted credits
Senior - 96+ accepted credits

Arts + Sciences Transfer Students-Reading your Transfer Evaluation

Transfer students who have been formally accepted to Emmanuel College will receive a transfer evaluation for all previous college level coursework completed at post-secondary institutions. Incoming freshmen with previous college-level work will receive an evaluation of course equivalency after depositing at Emmanuel College.

Courses are reviewed individually based on course descriptions and/or syllabi. Only those courses on a post-secondary transcript will be evaluated for equivalency and credit. Accepted students can typically expect to receive their transfer credit evaluation within 2 weeks of acceptance to Emmanuel. Any missing documentation may delay the completion of the transfer evaluation and may impact the student's eligibility for financial aid based on expected class standing. In addition to the transfer evaluation, all accepted transfer students will receive a Transfer Evaluation Key explaining the transfer credit policy and components of the Bachelor's Degree requirements.

The transfer evaluation will list the student's intended major as indicated on the Common Application. Coursework is reviewed keeping in mind the student's intended major. Courses that may apply toward intended major requirements are reviewed by the appropriate departmental faculty member if the course has not already been reviewed and documented in our database. All other courses are reviewed for general requirement fulfillment and free elective applicability.

The anticipated graduation date is calculated on the sole basis of numeric credits accepted for transfer. Due to the varying requirements for each major and concentration, the student's ability to declare a double major or double minor, and Emmanuel's course offering schedule, the anticipated graduation date based on major program can be difficult to determine. Thus, this date is based solely on the numeric credit earned and students should work with their academic advisor in developing their plan of study by semester to graduation. In calculating this date, we assume students will complete 16 credits (four 4-credit courses) per semester and factor in the transfer credit accepted until the student has reached 128 credits. Students who will have 124 credits at the end of a semester when factoring in their transfer credit and 16 credits per semester, will have that graduation term listed on their transfer evaluation with a note on the evaluation indicating that the student will need to successfully complete one semester with 20 credits (or complete a summer class) in order to reach the 128 credit minimum for graduation for the date indicated on the transfer evaluation. The anticipated graduation date is not a guaranteed date of graduation. Any course withdrawals, failures, grades below C- (for major courses) or course repeats (resulting in a net gain of zero credits), or course offering schedule may result in a longer time to completion, despite enrolling in 16 credits in a semester.

The transfer evaluation will list the student's coursework at the previous institution(s) including course number, course title, credits and grade earned. The evaluation will also list the Emmanuel course number equivalency (or "bucket course number" requirement fulfillment), general requirement (Area of Knowledge-AOK or Essential Value- Social Justice (SJ) and Diversity and Multiculturalism (DM)) fulfilled if applicable, and credits awarded by Emmanuel College. Courses listed as "NO*CREDIT" are not accepted for transfer as they do not meet the criteria for transfer credit at Emmanuel College. Courses that do not have a direct Emmanuel equivalency at Emmanuel, but may fulfill a requirement other than general free elective credit have been assigned a "bucket" course number. Please refer to the Transfer Course Number Key for Non-Emmanuel Equivalent Courses document for an explanation of the requirement that specific "bucket" course numbers will fulfill.

Those courses that fulfill a general requirements will be noted on the transfer evaluation. Courses that have a direct Emmanuel equivalent will have the general requirement designation listed immediately following the course number and in the DOK column on the transfer evaluation. Those courses that meet the criteria for fulfilling one of the Domains of Knowledge, but do not have an exact course equivalency at Emmanuel will receive the "bucket" course number associated with requirement (ex. VCI*REQ) and have the designation listed in the AOK column. To understand the criteria for courses that fulfill the General Education Curriculum Requirements document.

GENERAL EDUCATION CURRICULUM (For Students Matriculating Fall 2021 or later):

The following requirements comprise the General Education Curriculum at Emmanuel that all students must complete:

Writing RequirementOne - (1) Course of Each

ENGL 1103 Intro to Academic Writing - (Or equivalent if transferring in course via AP, IB or College Course)

Writing Intensive (WI) - Typically 2000 or 3000-level course completed after ENGL 1103 and before senior capstone

Essential Values - Four (4) Courses: Two (2) from each Value. May overlap with an AOK Course.

Diversity and Multiculturalism (DM)

Social Justice (SJ)

Areas of Knowledge (AOK) - One (1) Course each, unless otherwise noted. AOK courses cannot overlap with another AOK course.

Ethical Reasoning (ER)

Historical Inquiry (HI)

Language and Culture (LC) - One course if continuing in a language, two courses if beginning a new language

Literary Inquiry (LI)

Quantitative Reasoning (QR)

Religious Inquiry (RI and RICT) - Two (2) courses, of which one (1) course must be in the Christian Tradition designated as (RICT)

Scientific Process- Natural Sciences (NS and NSL) - Two (2) courses of which: One (1) course must have a lab component designated as (NSL) (2 hours or more weekly distinct from lecture section)

Scientific Process- Social Sciences (SS) - Two (2) courses, with each course from a different discipline (department prefix)

Visual and Creative Inquiry (VCI)

The comment section of the evaluation will explain certain facets of the evaluation including, why certain courses may not have been accepted, that certain courses are under further review with the major departments and an updated evaluation will be forthcoming, suggestions on next courses to complete to fulfill requirements (i.e. student completed SOC*1101 (SS) equivalency in transfer credit, so the student should take a course designated as (SS) from a department other than Sociology to fulfill the two course Social Science requirement from two different disciplines), or indicate that additional information is needed. Students who have comments regarding submitting syllabi, should submit a course syllabus from the term and course section they completed the course (or course in progress) as soon as possible as the course reviewed was determined an equivalency couldr not be determined based on course description alone.

Courses that may be eligible to fulfill Essential Values or Writing Intensive Requirements: While a specific course at Emmanuel may fulfill an Essential Value of Social Justice or Diversity and Multiculturalism or the Writing Intensive, the respective Emmanuel course was approved by the Curriculum Committee after evaluation of the Emmanuel course's syllabus and the individual assignments and content. Courses for transfer credit that may be applicable for the Essential Values or Writing Intensive requirements may require the submission of a syllabus from the course section and term the student completed at the transfer institution for Emmanuel to evaluate for its appropriateness to fulfill the requirement.

Credit will be officially posted to the Emmanuel College record upon the student's matriculation at Emmanuel for courses with final grades on an official college transcript. Any courses that are in progress at the time of the evaluation and then are not completed (course withdrawals or grades below C) may impact the student's originally noted anticipated graduation date and financial aid.

Students with outstanding final official transcripts from any previous institution attended will have a registration hold placed on their records preventing their second-semester registration at Emmanuel until the official transcript is received.

Transfer Student Credit Resources:

If you are applying to Emmanuel and have questions concerning transfer credit, please email admissions [at] emmanuel.edu.