Students Transferring to Boston University

Of the courses required for the History major, at least seven must be taken at Boston University: the core methodology course (CAS HI 200), the two seminars (any CAS HI 400- or 500-level course), and four additional courses at the 200 level or above.

See the BU Admissions website for more information on submitting courses from your previous institution for transfer credit.

Current Students Taking Courses at Other Institutions

Current BU students who intend to take courses at another institution must seek approval for transfer credit before they begin their studies at the other institution.

To obtain approval for courses to be taken at an institution within the United States, first review the University Registrar’s policy on transfer course equivalency for current students. Then, procure a Transfer Credit Approval Form from your home college’s undergraduate advising, affairs, or records office.

For CAS students only: College of Arts & Sciences Transfer Course Equivalency Request Form

To obtain approval for courses to be taken at an institution outside the United States, review the BU Study Abroad Office’s External Programs process. Once your program has been approved by the Study Abroad Office, take your External Transfer Credit Form to the relevant academic departments to have your individual courses approved for transfer credit.

Procedure:

To receive transfer credit for a History course, send the appropriate form (either domestic or external), together with a class syllabus, to the History Department for evaluation. The Director of Undergraduate Studies will examine the request and, if approval is granted, sign the form, which then may be picked up by the student. Please allow up to two weeks for approval.

NOTE: A course syllabus is mandatory. When we review a course syllabus to evaluate its equivalency to courses in our department, we want to know 1) how final grades are determined and 2) how the workload compares with courses in our department. We will accept a recent or future syllabus for the course, but we do need it to be a complete syllabus, including the following information:

  • a grading breakdown (e.g. 15% midterm exam, 25% final paper, 10% class participation, etc.)
  • a list of required textbooks
  • a schedule of reading assignments

If your syllabus does not include this information, we will return it to you with a request for more information.


Core Curriculum

CAS CC 101 and CAS CC 102 together count for CAS HI 101 (with a grade of C or higher). CAS CC 201 and CAS CC 202 together count for CAS HI 102 (with a grade of C or higher).

College of General Studies

Students who complete the following College of General Studies courses with a grade of C or higher will receive HI credit towards the major.

  • SS 102 is equivalent to HI 102
  • SS 103 is equivalent to HI 101
  • SS 104 is equivalent to HI 102
  • SS 201 is equivalent to HI 176
  • SS 202 is equivalent to HI 2XX

Metropolitan College

No more than four MET HI courses may be counted toward a History major. No more than three MET HI courses may be counted toward a History minor. In order to count a MET course toward a specific distributional requirement a Departmental Petition must be submitted along with the course syllabus to the Director of Undergraduate Studies for consideration. MET courses do not fulfill the seminar requirement of either the History major or minor.

Advanced Placement

Students who received a score of 4 or 5 on the Advanced Placement examinations in history receive credit as follows:

  • CAS HI 098 for the European History Examination
  • CAS HI 099 for the American History Examination
  • No credit is given for the World History Examination.
  • NOTE: These courses cannot count toward the History major or minor, and are to be used as general credits toward graduation.