Eligibility & Transfer Credit Guidelines

Who is Eligible to Transfer?

You may be eligible to transfer to Penn if you have completed between one and two years of transferable academic course work at another college or university 

Penn has a two-year academic enrollment requirement—meaning that at least one-half of the total number of courses you take should be completed at Penn to earn a degree, regardless of the number of credits you have completed at another university or college.  

Transfer Eligibility Guidelines by School 

• The College of Arts and Sciences accepts both second-year and third-year transfer students with up to two years of credit. 
• The School of Engineering and Applied Science typically only admits students with one year of credit to enter as second-year students. 
• The School of Nursing accepts students with up to two years of credit, however, all admitted students will enter Penn as second-year student regardless of their amount of prior credit. 
• The Wharton School typically only admits students with one year of credit to enter as second-year students. 

All students who are admitted to Penn—both first-year and transfer students—start their enrollment in the Fall, as we do not allow students to enroll mid-year.   

When to Consider Applying as a First-Year

• If you decide to leave college at the end of your first term, you may apply to the first-year class entering in the subsequent August.  
• If you are in a dual-enrollment program taking courses in college while still enrolled in high school OR if you are completing your senior year concurrently with your first year of college, you should apply as a first-year student. Penn does not grant credit for courses taken through dual-enrollment programs. 

Already Have a Bachelor's Degree?

If you have already earned a bachelor’s degree, you are not eligible to transfer to an undergraduate school at Penn, but we encourage you to explore the exciting opportunities available at the graduate level. 

How Does Penn Evaluate Transfer Credit?

After you matriculate to Penn, the official approval of transfer credit is granted by the department from which you are seeking credit. For example, if you are seeking transfer credit for a course in Biology, Penn’s Biology Department would review the course details along with your transcript and ultimately decide if your credit is approved. This process will repeat for each course that you seek transfer credit for.

Generally, in order for transfer credit to be awarded, the credits earned must meet the following criteria:

• be from academically- based courses taken at a regionally accredited institution
• bear a passing grade of a C or better  
• be similar in content and credit hours to the courses on Penn’s campus.  
• be taken for at least 40 contact hours each term

At Penn, credit is awarded in course units and the normal course load results in eight to nine course units each year. Courses taken for fewer than 40 contact hours each term won’t transfer but, when appropriate, will be combined with other courses to give credit.

If you want to determine whether your courses are likely to transfer before you apply, we encourage you to review course descriptions for your prospective department’s website and in the Course Register to see if classes you have already taken have equivalent courses available at Penn.  

Credits transferred from other institutions will become a part of your official record, but grades will not be placed on the transcript nor used in determining your cumulative grade point average.

At least one full year of transferable academic course work (8 semester courses or equivalent from a non-semester system) should be completed by the spring term prior to your enrollment. Summer coursework taken immediately before you enroll will not typically count toward the 8 transferable courses. 

When Will I Find Out How Many of My Credits Transferred to Penn?

A preliminary evaluation of your transfer credits will be available to you in your Penn Portal and is posted on a rolling basis. This is a preliminary evaluation of courses that may transfer, though it is not official and does not include current year spring grades. 

Official credit approval is determined by each academic department and this process will be available to you after matriculation. Official college transcripts including spring grades are required for this process.