Transfer of Credits
Students attending Hamilton College programs (ACC-Beijing, HCAYS, HCJYF, NYSICCSI) do not need to have courses approved for transfer credit. Courses will automatically receive Hamilton credit and will appear on the Hamilton College transcript.
Courses taken pass-fail will NOT receive transfer credit. Grades must be equivalent to C or higher in order to receive transfer credit.
How to Choose and Pre-approve Courses for Transfer Credit
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When you have a list of courses available at your host university, choose twice as many courses for pre-approval as you will actually enroll in. This helps guarantee that you will be able to enroll in a full complement of pre-approved courses even if some courses conflict, are over-subscribed, or are not offered.
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Consider courses you must take (e.g., to fulfill a requirement for your concentration or minor), country-specific courses you want to take (for example, a national history or literature course), and courses that complement Hamilton course offerings (for example, courses in subfields of your discipline that may not be offered at Hamilton).
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Remember that Hamilton students are required to enroll in one course each semester in the language of any non-English speaking country in which they study (one course in Danish, Czech, Swahili, etc.).
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Choose courses that are substantially similar to Hamilton courses in terms of content. They may match a Hamilton course closely enough to be counted as its equivalent, or they may simply be rigorous, liberal arts courses in a discipline taught at the College.
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Be aware that Hamilton DOES NOT award transfer credit for non-liberal arts courses. Transfer credit is rarely awarded for courses in Business, Advertising, Management, Accounting, Law, or Journalism, or for "practice" courses such as television production.
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Any course in your concentration or minor must be approved by your Department Chair, even if you do not intend to count it as a requirement or elective.
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Independent study projects completed abroad will not receive transfer credit until they have been reviewed by Hamilton College faculty member upon your return.
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The quantity of transferred credit you receive is determined by a proportionality between the 32 Hamilton units required for a Hamilton degree and the number of units the transferring institution requires for a degree. For example, if a school requires 120 semester-hours for a degree, a course worth three semester-hours at that school is .025 of the total required to graduate. By proportionality, that three semester-hour course generated .8 of a Hamilton unit, because (.025)(32)=.8. The registrar uses this rule to evaluate the amount of transferred credit you will receive. NOTE that you may need to enroll for more than four courses in order to receive 4 Hamilton units!
Step-by-Step Transfer Credit Process
1) Choose courses following the guidelines above.
3) Attach information regarding the courses, particularly detailed course descriptions.
4) Seek signatures for courses in your concentration or minor, and in Math, Computer Science, Physics, Comparative Literature, and Foreign Languages. Other courses can be approved by the Registrar's Office when you submit your form.
5) Obtain your academic advisor's signature.
6) Turn in the signed petition and course materials to the Registrar's Office.
7) When you receive a copy of the approved petition, check to see that ALL courses have been approved. If a course has not been approved, you will not receive credit for it.
8) Verify the number of credit hours you will need to enroll in to receive 4 Hamilton credits. This will be specified on the form just below the course list. You may need to take more than four course.
9) Make sure you enroll for the proper number of credit hours when you arrive at your study abroad destination!
10) If you complete an independent study, bring the paper back to Hamilton for approval.
What if My Course Schedule Changes?
If you must choose new or additional courses when you arrive at your destination, be sure to follow the guidelines above: liberal arts courses in disciplines taught at the College and that seem substantially similar to Hamilton courses are the ones most likely to be approved.
Notify Kay Klossner (
kklossne@hamilton.edu) in the Registrar's Office as soon as possible that you need approval for a new course. Email her the course title, description, number of credit hours, and any other information you think is relevant. She will seek the necessary signatures and notify you whether the course has been approved.
Do NOT plan to wait for approval until you get back to Hamilton! Doing so risks not receiving Hamilton credit for your courses abroad.