| CAS Students: Be sure to review the CAS and University requirements for transferring credits. Note: transfer courses do not earn BU Hub units. |
Non-CAS Students: Be sure to review your college’s policy as well as the University policy on transferring credits. Note: transfer courses do not earn BU Hub units. |
Neuroscience students: To use a transfer course to fulfill a neuroscience major requirement, for example, Physics, you need to take a class that is equivalent to the specific course requirement here at BU, i.e PY 105. However, if you want to count something as one of your 5 electives, you will have to first get a course equivalency from the appropriate department (i.e. Neuroscience, Psychology, Biology, etc.) using the steps below and then if it does not equate to a currently accepted elective (i.e. you get NE 3** elective credit instead of NE 333) you may submit a Department Petition to have it fulfill a neuroscience elective.
Step 1: Check the BU Database
- Check the BU transfer equivalency database to see if your proposed transfer course has already been evaluated by BU.
- If your proposed course is listed with the exact course number you need, you will receive the equivalent course credit after you take these steps:
- Email your college (CAS students: fill out this form) that you plan to take this pre-approved transfer course.
- Successfully pass the course per college guidelines.
- Have the institution mail your official transcript to the Credit Evaluation Department at 881 Commonwealth Avenue, 2nd Floor, Boston, MA 02215.
- If your course is not listed in the BU equivalency database (or is listed with a different course number than you need), go to the Next Steps section below.
- More information on the Transfer Credit Process.
Next Steps
- Fill out the Transfer Course Equivalency Form.
- Obtain a full course syllabus* including the weekly lecture topics and textbook information. If the course has a lab, you must also submit a full lab syllabus including the weekly lab topics and lab manual information.
- Submit your transfer form and syllabus to the appropriate department for review i.e. Psychology for PS courses, Physics for PY courses, Math for MA (for NE courses: email to Jillian Nichols)
- Once the transfer course has been reviewed, you will receive an email with the evaluation decision. Please allow up to three weeks for this process.
- After successfully passing the course per the BU college guidelines, have the institution mail your official transcript to the Credit Evaluation Department at 881 Commonwealth Avenue, 2nd Floor, Boston, MA 02215.
* Submitting only a course description will NOT be sufficient for evaluation; a complete syllabus is needed. You may need to contact the external instructor or department directly to obtain a copy of the full syllabus.
Study Abroad Credit
- To request BU study abroad neuroscience courses be counted toward your major, use the Department Petition. You must submit a full syllabus for each course (lecture and lab topics/schedule, textbook info., etc.).
- For study abroad programs outside BU, review the Transfer Credit Approval Process webpage for detailed instructions on how to transfer credits from your study abroad program.
Note: You will want to receive approval for study abroad courses before going abroad to confirm that your courses will count toward your major.
Transfer Credit Appeal
If you feel there has been a mistake in the evaluation of your transfer course, fill out the Transfer Credit Appeal Form. Submit the form and the course syllabus to the appropriate department (for Neuroscience courses: drop off or email to Jillian Nichols (jilliann@bu.edu) in the Neuroscience Office, 2 Cummington Mall, Room 212).
Please note: Transfer course evaluations are carefully considered. Your appeal may be denied if the original evaluation is found to be accurate in regard to the course’s topics and level.
