Important Information About Transfer Credit

Whether you are a first-year student or a transfer student, the College will be your academic home away from home for the next few years. The Registration and Records Office plays a key role in supporting the mission and goals of Elizabethtown College. We provide leadership for the College in interpreting academic policies and ensuring that all academic policies and requirements are applied consistently and fairly across all students. Our office helps ensure that the Elizabethtown College degree has integrity and is a source of pride for all who earn it.

To assist in your transition, we want to take this opportunity to highlight important information pertaining to our transfer credit and credit by examination policies. Please refer to our online catalog or our website dedicated to transfer credit policies.

Transfer of Credits

Transfer of Credits Students can transfer courses from institutions that are judged by the Registrar and the appropriate Department (in the case of courses for a major/minor/certificate) to be high quality, involve active delivery methods (ongoing exchange of ideas with an instructor), and are consistent with the mission and program goals of Elizabethtown College. Elizabethtown College transfers credits – but not grades or quality points. The course must be letter-graded with an earned grade of C- or better. The College does not accept courses taken Pass/No Pass (or Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory) at other institutions. Facsimiled, emailed, and student-delivered transcripts are not be accepted.

Transfer Credit for college courses taken during high school. The practice of a student being enrolled at two schools simultaneously (high school and post-secondary) is known as Dual enrollment. Please remember to have an official transcript, from the credit-granting institution, sent directly to the Office of Registration and Records at Elizabethtown College. A student will not receive duplicate credit through examination, or any other college courses taken before or after enrolling at Elizabethtown College.
Currently enrolled students who wish to transfer credits to Elizabethtown College must obtain permission in advance from the Office of Registration and Records . If a student elects to take a course without obtaining prior written permission, the College is not obligated to accept course for transfer. The Off-Campus Approval Form is the mechanism for gaining approval for off-campus study.

- Courses that are eligible to be repeated must be taken at Elizabethtown College and not at another institution as a transfer course. Please refer to the college’s “repeating courses” policy for more information.
- Students, who have achieved junior status (60 credits) through either work at Elizabethtown College or a combination of work at the College and another institution, should review the full transferable credits policy and transferability.

Transfer Students with Earned Associates Degrees

Transfer of Associate Degrees Candidates approved through Admissions with an earned associate’s degree, consisting of at least 40 corresponding general education credits from a regionally accredited college or university will be recognized as meeting all of the requirements of the Elizabethtown College Core Curriculum with full junior standing. The foregoing provision does not supersede curricular prerequisites or departmental program requirements established in the College catalog. Nor does it exclude the student from completing the signature learning requirement, or residency requirements, for completion of a bachelor’s degree. For more information, please contact the Office of Admissions.

Credit by Examination

Students, accepted for enrollment through our Admissions Office, may receive academic credit or advanced placement through examination. Credits earned through examination are transcribed, but not the grade, thus credits earned through examination are not calculated into the students grade point average (GPA). Students can earn up to a maximum of 32 credits through examination. A student will not receive duplicate credit through examination, or any other college courses taken before or after enrolling at Elizabethtown College.

Advanced Placement (AP)

Advanced Placement (AP) is a program created by College Board, which offers nationally recognized college-level curricula and examinations to high school students. Students who perform satisfactorily on a College Board AP Examination, earning a score of four or better, earn academic credit. Departmentally approved AP Examinations and their Elizabethtown College equivalent are outlined on the Office of Registration and Records’ website.

College Level Examination Program (CLEP)

Elizabethtown College participates in the CLEP program of the College Board accepting a score of 50 or higher in subject areas upon matriculation to the college. All CLEP examinations must be completed prior to the achievement of sophomore status (30 or more completed credits). In addition, any currently enrolled student must receive written approval from the Registrar, and their academic advisor, before completing the examination. Any student with advanced knowledge in the CLEP subject, earned at Elizabethtown College or another credit-granting institution, will be prohibited from earning transfer credit through CLEP examination. A complete list of CLEP Examinations and the Elizabethtown equivalent is available on the Office of Registration and Records’ website.

International Baccalaureate (IB) and Cambridge International (GCE)

Elizabethtown College recognizes International Baccalaureate (IB) for the purpose of admission, course credit, advanced standing or placement. Students do not have to earn an IB Diploma to receive academic credit. The college does not award credit for standard level (SL) examinations.

IB Diploma recipients, earning a total score of 30 or higher, will earn 32 credits (equivalent to sophomore status).
IB Certificate recipients receive credit (depending on the subject) for scores of five or better on higher level (HL) examinations.

Other course credits from institutions outside of the United States are evaluated on a case-by-case basis. For example, Cambridge International (Advanced Level or A-Level) examinations.

Students are required to request the organization to submit official transcripts and/or scores directly to the Office of Registration and Records.

For precise placement determinations, we may request a review of the course syllabus or examples of written work. If an accurate evaluation of foreign credentials is not possible, the student may be requested to secure, at their expense, a professional evaluation from a nationally recognized organization like World Education Services (WES), www.wes.org.

DSST, Previously DANTES

DSST, formally Defense Activity for Non-traditional Education Support (DANTES), exams are college subject tests taken to earn college credit for knowledge acquired outside of a traditional classroom. In accordance with the American Council on Education (ACE) recommendations , students taking DANTES - DSST exams earn credit by earning the ACE recommended minimum score of 400, or higher as determined by the department governing the course discipline.

English Proficiency Examination Scores

Elizabethtown College understands that our international students often speak multiple languages. We offer this group of students an opportunity to earn English as a Second Language credit through their English Proficiency Examination score.