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Transfer Credit Information

Boston University Physics Department Transfer Credit Instructions

  1. Read over all forms and instructions carefully. Failure to submit the proper information will result in an automatic denial of your transfer credit. This can easily be avoided by reading our requirements for transfer credits.
  2. Select an equivalent course. Choose the Boston University course that best corresponds to the course you wish to take. Compare syllabus and course descriptions to help choose the best BU course.
  3. Submit the transfer credit application to Julia Elder, Undergraduate Programs Coordinator in the Boston University Physics Department, 590 Commonwealth Ave, Room 255, Boston, MA 02215. Be sure the form is completely filled out and that all syllabus material is attached. Applications are reviewed in groups by Professor Robert Carey, the Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Physics Department and can take up to a month to be processed.

You will receive notice from our department on our transfer credit when your application is reviewed. If you are approved, the Physics Department will send your paperwork on to the appropriate school. You wont need to do anything further with our office, however we do advise all students who have been approved to check their transcripts and CAS Records to ensure the credit is applied. If you are denied, you may re-apply. The Physics Office keeps copies of all applications both denied and approved for our records.

Physics Department Transfer Credit Policy

If your application material does not include a past or future syllabus for each course, which explains the topics and grading scale and includes the lab topics, the application is likely to be denied because of insufficient support. It is each student’s responsibility to retrieve the appropriate supporting materials, if not directly from the other physics department then from a teacher who taught the course at the other school.

The Physics Department will not print or gather any supporting materials for the students’ transfer credit applications. Syllabi must be attached to the transfer application, mailed to the Physics Office or dropped off in person. It is the student’s responsibility to show that they can gather the information on their own.

Please apply for transfer credits before you take the course. Do not assume that the course will be approved and fill out the application later, no matter what the circumstance. Course content can change, which is why we require the syllabus, so please be sure to submit your applications in a timely manner. Do not assume your application will be approved just because someone else’s was!!!

Transfer credit equivalence is only granted for external physics courses with labs. If the external course in question has a lab that students must sign up for separately, then you should list the course and the lab together on your application.

If you are taking a class at a college close to BU, there is a different form! There are rules about where you can take courses for transfer credit. Please refer to the Office of the Registrar for all rules and the proper form at 881 Commonwealth Ave, 2nd Floor.

Feel free to contact Julia Elder, the Physics Department’s Undergraduate Program Coordinator, at 617-353-7286 if you have any further questions.