Transfer Credit

To receive transfer credit, matriculated students must submit a request for pre-estimation of credit to the appropriate department/program using the online Transfer Credit System (see instructions below). Once the course is completed, students must submit the completed coursework for review by the department/program, before any credit can be awarded. 

Pre-estimation of credit is not a guarantee of final credit. Upon completion of the course, students must submit whatever materials the department/program has requested for review before the decision is made about granting credit or how much credit is given. So please remember to keep those materials!

Please note that during the regular academic year (fall and spring semesters) matriculated students may not transfer credits from work completed abroad unless they are participating in an approved study abroad program. Requests for transfer credit may be submitted for work completed abroad during the summer. 

Departments/programs may have additional forms or questionnaires that must be completed as well. Please check department/program websites for procedures related to transfer credit. Chemistry / Biochemistry requirements are listed here. 

Students must request that the host institution send an official transcript directly to the registrar’s office. 

  • Either electronic official transcripts or paper official transcripts are acceptable, so long as they come directly from the other school to the Swarthmore Registrar. (Transcripts passing through the student's possession will not be accepted for transfer of credit.)
  • Send official electronic transcripts to registrar@swarthmore.edu and mail paper transcripts to Registrar’s Office, Swarthmore College, 500 College Avenue, Swarthmore PA 19081.
  • By College policy, in order for work done elsewhere to be granted Swarthmore College credit, the letter grade for that work must be the equivalent of a straight C or better, but C or better grade does not in itself constitute Swarthmore accreditability.

Instructions

PRE-ESTIMATION OF CREDIT:

  1. Log in to the Student Transfer Credit Evaluation through mySwarthmore. Please make sure you are connected to VPN and that your pop-up blocker is disabled (instructions are available on the ITS website).
  2. Carefully read the “Important Tips for Transfer Credit” before entering courses.
  3. Under the “Add/Manage Courses” tab you can enter as many courses as you wish. Carefully enter all the requested information. 
  4. Upload relevant course information (usually the course syllabus) under the “Upload Documents” tab. Please use the “pre-estimation” document type, and try to combine all relevant documents into one single file if possible. Please do not upload zip files or links to a Google Drive folder. Do not use any “special characters (accent marks, etc). Courses cannot be pre-estimated without supporting documentation. 
  5. Once you have uploaded the relevant documents, the Registrar's Office will first review the information, and then forward everything to the departmental credit evaluator. This means that the courses are not viewable for the department immediately after you have uploaded them. Please allow for some processing time. You can review progress of the pre-estimation process on the “Add/Manage Courses” tab, by scrolling down to “Update and Review Transfer Courses”.

FINAL CREDIT:

  1. Log in to the Student Transfer Credit Evaluation through mySwarthmore. Please make sure you are connected to VPN and that your pop-up blocker is disabled (instructions are available on the ITS website).
  2. In the online Transfer Credit Evaluation System, choose the "Upload Documents" tab and upload all the relevant final course documents; examples of relevant final documents are exams, lab reports, papers, etc. Please use the “final” document type, and try to combine all the documents into one single file. Please do not upload zip files or links to a Google Drive folder.  Do not use any “special characters” (accent marks, etc).
  3. Once you have uploaded your documents, go to the "Add/Manage Courses" tab and scroll down to "Upload and Review Transfer Courses" page. Please check off “Student Indicated Course Completed,” and "Final Course Material Uploaded"  for all courses you wish to seek credit for. You might need to scroll to the right to see these columns.
  4. After steps 1-3 have been completed, the Registrar's Office will review the information, and then forward everything to the departmental credit evaluator for final credit review. This means that the final course documents are not viewable for the department immediately after you have uploaded them. Please allow for some processing time. You can review progress of the final credit process on the “Add/Manage Courses” tab, by scrolling down to “Update and Review Transfer Courses”. 
  5. Once approved for final credit by the department, the Registrar's Office can process the credit as soon as they have received the official transcript (see instructions above). The credit will then appear on your Swarthmore transcript. Any questions about this last step can be direct to the Registrar's Office.

What is Transfer Credit?

Technically, Swarthmore doesn't transfer credit. We award credit for work done elsewhere, and we casually call this transfer credit. The Transfer Credit System is intended for students who wish to earn Swarthmore credit for work done during:

  • Summer school in the U.S.
  • Summer school abroad
  • Study in the U.S. during a semester leave of absence

Please check here if you would like to transfer high school credits.

Please check here if you are a prospective transfer student seeking to learn more about transfer credit for prospective students. 

Feel free to reach out to us with any questions you may have.