Receiving Credits

In order to receive credit for your study abroad experience you must submit a number of documents to BU Study Abroad by the appropriate deadline:

Spring Semester: December 1
Fall Semester and Academic Year: June 15
Summer Semester: May 1

If the deadline falls on a weekend, materials are due the following Monday. Your Non-BU file will not be reviewed for approval until it is complete. Students who do not submit a complete file by the deadline will have to wait to have their credit evaluated on their return from study abroad. In such cases, there is no guarantee that credit transfer will be granted. You will be notified in writing by BU Study Abroad when your file is complete.

Your complete file must include all of the following documents:

• BU transcript (unofficial, issued from the Office of the Registrar)
• Completed Transfer Credit Approval Form
• Completed Address Form
• Completed Participation Policy Acknowledgment Form
• Copy of Program Acceptance Letter (or e-mail)

The most important step in registering for study abroad is careful consultation with your academic advisor about your plans. When you meet with your academic advisor, bring an unofficial transcript with you as well as the most complete program/institution information you have, including course descriptions and syllabi if available.

Discuss with your advisor the following questions:

• What requirements will course credit taken abroad fulfill? Major requirements? School or college requirements? Electives?
• Will you meet your residence requirements if you study abroad for a semester? A year? Does your major require that you spend a portion of your senior year in residence?
• If you have not completed all requirements before studying abroad, will you be able to do so while overseas? If not, will the courses you need be available at BU when you return?
• Are there courses in your major which you can only take at BU?
• How will you register for your return semester? Make arrangements to receive your advising code during your semester away. You will be registering via WebReg.

The Transfer Credit Course Approval Form must be completed in order to transfer credit to BU for courses taken overseas. On this form you will list the courses you intend to take overseas. In consultation with the appropriate staff and/or Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS), the credit hours to be earned and what kind of requirements (major, minor, divisional, related, elective) will be fulfilled will be determined. The appropriate signatures will indicate that BU will accept these courses as transfer credit once BU Study Abroad has received and evaluated an official transcript from an appropriate degree-granting college or university.

The course titles on the transcript must exactly correspond to those on the Transfer Credit Course Approval Form. Once abroad, if you take courses for which you did not receive advance approval, you will need to complete a Return Approval Form upon your return. Some students seek pre-approval for several alternate courses in order to avoid complications upon return.

Study abroad advising and course approval is handled differently depending upon your BU school or college. In all schools and colleges you must obtain a signature approving each individual course, the signature of your advisor and the signature of the Assistant Director for External Programs at BU Study Abroad.

How to obtain signatures:

• All language courses: All students should see the appointed foreign language advisor in the CAS Advising Center, CAS 105, for approval of any language courses. If you hope to transfer credit for advanced courses toward a major or minor, see your language advisor.
• CAS declared students: Consult an advisor in your department. Some departments have a designated study abroad advisor. The Transfer Credit Course Approval Form will also require the signature of the Directors of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) from the appropriate department for coursework outside the department of your major.
• CAS undeclared students: Advising for study abroad is conducted in CAS 105. The same signature procedure applies to undeclared students as outlined above for CAS declared students.
• SMG students: See advisors in the SMG Undergraduate Program Office, Room 102, 595 Commonwealth Avenue.
• COM students: See academic counselors in Room 113, 640 Commonwealth Avenue.
• CGS students: You must successfully complete one semester in the BU college from which you intend to graduate before studying abroad. For course approval, consult the advising office of this college (not CGS).
• Other schools: See school advising center or dean.

Approved work completed on an external program earns transfer credit, not BU credit. Grades are not reflected on your BU transcript and are not calculated into your GPA. However, graduate schools will usually request all transcripts, including those from study abroad programs. When completing your Transfer Credit Course Approval Form, you should follow the guidelines below to compute your total credit.

Guidelines to computing total credits:

• Students who undertake the normal course load recommended by the sponsoring institution should expect to receive 15–16 credits for each semester of foreign study.
• Students who take a lighter load than is normal at the institution (at least 12 semester hours, however) will receive proportionately less transfer credit.
  
• No more than 18 credits can be transferred for one semester.

Transfer credits are given only for programs at a degree-granting foreign institution recognized by the host country’s ministry of education or for those sponsored by an accredited, degree-granting U.S. university. (No credit will be given for non-recognized programs such as language schools.)

No credit will be given for coursework taken at an institution where BU already sponsors a program (e.g., Instituto Internacional, Madrid; Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid; Università degli Studi di Padova, Italy; Technische Universität Dresden, Germany; Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador; University of Haifa, Israel — consult BU Study Abroad for a comprehensive list of our programs).

Criteria for credit approval:

• Students must carry a full course load during the academic year (12–18 semester credits or equivalent). This is especially important for students transferring Federal financial aid.
• Students must earn at least a grade of “C” or the equivalent in each course; credits will not be transferred for courses where students earn a “C–” or lower.
• Pass/Fail grades and audits will not be considered for transfer credit.
• No credit will be given for adult education or extension division courses.
• No credit will be given for courses taken at language schools.
• No credit will be given for courses not creditable at BU, such as home economics, fashion, prayer, etc.
• No credit will be given for courses that duplicate coursework already granted credit at BU.
• Students who will have completed their sophomore year before studying overseas may not study on a program sponsored by a community or junior college.
• Independent study may be taken overseas. However, it must be approved in advance by your advisor and evaluated for credit upon your return to campus.
• All students are urged to complete course requirements for any incomplete grades at BU before studying abroad, as these “I” grades could be changed to “F’s” during your absence. Check with your professor or college regarding requirements and related paperwork.
• Students who take an Ulpan course in Israel can receive a maximum of 4 credits, depending on the total contact hours. In some cases, these credits can be applied to another semester or summer to avoid excess credits during one semester.

Courses at most U.S. institutions operating on the semester system are granted either 3 or 4 credits. If you hope to have a 3-credit course count toward a major or distribution requirement, check with your advisor to make sure this is acceptable. If the sponsoring institution awards 3 credits for a course, BU will transfer only 3 credits for that course. Please remember that if you are participating in a program that awards 3 semester credits per course, you must enroll in at least four courses for a full course load.

For study abroad programs that operate on a quarter system, credits are totaled, then multiplied by 2/3 to obtain the number of transfer credits awarded under BU’s semester system.

Foreign institutions will have different systems for recording credit, and you will need to review this carefully with your advisor and BU Study Abroad before you study abroad.

An official transcript from your semester abroad must be sent to:
Boston University
Study Abroad
888 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02215
Attn: Assistant Director for External Programs

BU requires that students are in good academic standing in order to be eligible for transfer credit.

Many of the colleges and schools at BU have set additional GPA standards for study abroad transfer credit. Please be sure to consult with your college advising office for information about additional standards.