M. Transfer Students

The following regulations apply to students admitted to Yale College by transfer from other colleges and universities:

  1. Degree requirements In order to graduate from Yale College, transfer students must fulfill all the requirements for the bachelor’s degree. They must thus earn a total of the equivalent of at least thirty-six course credits, that total consisting of the number of credits awarded for their work at their previous institutions combined with the number of course credits subsequently earned at Yale. They must also complete the requirements of a major program in Yale College and fulfill the distributional requirements for the bachelor’s degree. Once accepted for admission, transfer students should consult with the director of the transfer program in order to ascertain their status with regard to the distributional requirements, especially the language requirement.
  2. Terms of enrollment at Yale Transfer students are expected to enroll in Yale College for the number of terms designated at the time of the final credit evaluation made of their work at previous institutions. Under no circumstances may a transfer student complete fewer than four terms of enrollment in Yale College or earn fewer than eighteen course credits at Yale. Transfer students are not eligible for the award of acceleration credit or for acceleration by use of acceleration credits.
  3. Transfer of credits A preliminary evaluation of transferable credits is made at the time of the student’s admission. Final determination of transfer credits is completed when all official transcripts from a student’s previous institutions have been received.
  4. Additional terms at Yale Students who must remain at Yale beyond the terms designated in the final determination of transfer credits must petition the Committee on Honors and Academic Standing for permission to do so. Such a petition will be considered only if it is impossible for the student to complete the requirements for the bachelor’s degree in the designated number of terms. See section A, Requirements for the B.A. or B.S. Degree, “Eight Terms of Enrollment.” A student given permission to enroll at Yale for an additional term, if the term represents more than the equivalent of eight terms of enrollment at the college level, is eligible for scholarship assistance from Yale for the additional term.
  5. Transcripts A transfer student’s Yale transcript indicates the institutions from which the student transferred to Yale, the number of course credits earned there, and the titles of courses taken. It does not list the grades earned at the transfer student’s previous colleges or universities. A transfer student who needs a record of studies completed before admission to Yale must secure a transcript from the previous institutions.
  6. Course credit from outside Yale Transfer students may receive up to two course credits for work completed outside Yale after matriculation and may receive credit for a Year or Term Abroad according to the guidelines of section Q, Credit from Other Universities, and section L, Special Academic Arrangements, “Year or Term Abroad,” provided that they enroll in Yale College for at least four terms, earning by attendance at Yale a minimum of eighteen course credits.
  7. Distributional requirements Transfer students are not bound by the distributional requirements for the first year, sophomore year, or junior year, but they must fulfill the distributional requirements for the bachelor’s degree. See paragraph 1 above. 
  8. Credit/D/Fail Transfer students have up to four opportunities to convert a course credit to the Credit/D/Fail option.
  9. Attendance at Yale before enrollmentOnce a student has been accepted for admission as a transfer student, the student may not attend Yale as an Eli Whitney student or a non-degree student before his or her first term of enrollment at Yale.