Credit Evaluation
Upon your transfer to Northwestern, the Registrar's Office will evaluate your transfer credits. Once your transfer credits have been evaluated, you will receive an email message from the Registrar's Office that includes a link to your transfer credit evaluation. The evaluation shows:
- The total number of credits accepted from your former school;
- The corresponding Northwestern course numbers;
- Your progress toward meeting the Undergraduate Registration Requirement.
Application of Credits toward Specific Courses
If you receive credit for a course that closely approximates one taught at Northwestern, then the relevant course number will be indicated on your credit evaluation. If you receive credit for a course that does not closely match any Northwestern course, then just the department name and the course level (1XX, 2XX, or 3XX) will be indicated.
If you think your credits should have been articulated differently or have questions about the articulation, you should discuss this with a College Adviser in the summer prior to matriculation or early in your first term at Northwestern.
Application of Credits toward Degree Requirements
Entering Northwestern as a transfer student, some of the coursework from your prior institution may be designated during the initial transfer credit evaluation as applicable towards a general degree requirement. Usually this is when a transfer unit is recognized as equivalent to a specific Northwestern course that fits that degree requirement, but in a limited number of cases a general unit in a subject may be directed to a Foundational Discipline. The table below shows what general units become applied automatically (no petition needed).
| Transferred credit posted under this subject code; not equivalent to a particular course | Level | Applied to this Foundational Discipline |
| ANTHRO | 2XX or 3XX | Social and Behavioral Sciences |
| ASTRON | 1XX, 2XX, or 3XX | Natural Sciences |
| BIOL_SCI | 1XX, 2XX, or 3XX | Natural Sciences |
| CHEM | 1XX, 2XX, or 3XX | Natural Sciences |
| COMP_LIT | 1XX, 2XX, or 3XX | Literature and Arts |
| COMP_SCI | 1XX, 2XX, or 3XX | Empirical and Deductive Reasoning |
| ECON | 2XX or 3XX | Social and Behavioral Sciences |
| HISTORY | 1XX, 2XX, or 3XX | Historical Studies |
| HUM | 1XX, 2XX, or 3XX | Literature and Arts |
| MATH | 1XX, 2XX, or 3XX | Empirical and Deductive Reasoning |
| NAT_SCI | 2XX, or 3XX | Natural Sciences |
| PHIL | 1XX, 2XX, or 3XX | Ethical and Evaluative Thinking |
| PHYSICS | 1XX, 2XX, or 3XX | Natural Sciences |
| POLI_SCI | 1XX, 2XX, or 3XX | Social and Behavioral Sciences |
| PSYCH | 1XX, 2XX, or 3XX | Social and Behavioral Sciences |
| RELIGION | 1XX, 2XX, or 3XX | Ethical and Evaluative Thinking |
| SOCIOL | 1XX, 2XX, or 3XX | Social and Behavioral Sciences |
| STAT | 1XX, 2XX, or 3XX | Empirical and Deductive Reasoning |
You may petition for additional transfer coursework to be applied toward a foundational discipline and/or toward perspectives on power, justice, and equity. You can discuss this process with a College Adviser once the academic year begins; Complete an online form to begin the petition process.
Note that no courses need to be reviewed for the College Seminar requirement because this is waived for transfer students. The first part of the written and oral expression requirement, the First-Year Writing Seminar, is also waived. Students must plan to complete the second part of written and oral expression through designated coursework at Northwestern; you cannot petition for a transfer course to count toward advanced expression.