Thank you for considering transferring academic credit to Hamline. One of the most common questions is "How will my credits transfer?" We make every effort to have the transfer of credit process be a smooth one. Please review the information below on policies and processes. Please do not hesitate to contact the admission office if you have any questions!
Once a student has been admitted to Hamline University, a thorough review is made of his/her previous course work by the Office of Registration and Records.
Where appropriate, course work from other institutions will fulfill the requirements of Hamline's curriculum (the "Hamline Plan"). An evaluation of this review is mailed to admitted students as soon after admission as possible.
The following information details the process required to have a course considered for curriculum requirements or major/minor requirements that were not assigned that value during evaluation.
How to Have a Course Evaluated for Hamline Plan Credit
Obtain a copy of the course syllabus and/or a course description from your former school’s official course bulletin. You can usually find a description on the school’s website. If you no longer have the syllabus and the Registrar needs more information than the course description provides, you may have to call your former school to obtain a more complete description.
List the course(s) and the Hamline Plan credits about which you are inquiring.
Submit the memo, syllabus, and course description to Student Administrative Services (SAS), East Hall 113 (formerly Law and Graduate Schools building)
The SAS Transfer Articulation Coordinator, will review your courses and will email her response.
How to Have a Transfer Course Approved for Credit in Your Major or Minor
Obtain a copy of the course syllabus and/or a course description from the official course bulletin of the school where you took or plan to take the class. Download the form, Approval for Course Substitution in the Major or Minor, or pick up from Student Administrative Services, East Hall 113(formerly Law and Graduate Schools building). Have the course reviewed by your faculty advisor or the chair of the department. If the chair or your advisor in the major/minor department approves the course, he or she will sign the form.
Return the signed form to Student Administrative Services:
Hamline University Student Administrative Services
MS-1755
1536 Hewitt Avenue
Saint Paul MN 55104-1284
All students are responsible for the contents of the current College of Liberal Arts Bulletin. Academic policies, admission, financial aid and financial policy are also in this document.
You can visit the 2006-2008 CLA Bulletin in PDF format here.
Transfer of credit procedure and policy from the Bulletin is listed below:
Community College Transfers
The university welcomes students from community and junior colleges to transfer to Hamline for their final years of undergraduate work. In most cases, students who transfer to the university after having completed an associate degree or two years of comparable work will have acquired sufficient scope in their program to satisfy a large portion of the general education goals of the Hamline curriculum. A maximum of 96 quarter hours or 64 semester hours of work from two-year colleges will be accepted as transfer credit.
Community and junior college students who are planning to transfer to Hamline are encouraged to consult with the Office of Undergraduate Admission in order to correlate their coursework with Hamline’s curriculum guidelines.
To be considered for admission to Hamline, the applicant must have graduated from or be eligible to return to the institution from which he or she wishes to transfer and must have earned an overall grade point average of C (2.0) or better in all college courses completed. Students who have earned college credit after secondary school graduation apply as transfer students.
Students applying for transfer admission to the university must file the following credentials:
1. An application form completed by the applicant.
Students may apply online at
www.hamline.edu/cla/admission.
2. Official copies of college transcripts. Transcripts must
be sent directly to the Office of Undergraduate
Admission. Unofficial or student copies cannot be
accepted.
3. A teacher/advisor recommendation. Applicants should
file at least one teacher/advisor recommendation.
4. Official secondary school transcripts and test scores if
the applicant has completed fewer than 32 semester
hours or 48 quarter hours at the time of application
or has graduated from high school within the past five
years.
Four-Year College Transfers
Students planning to transfer to Hamline University from accredited institutions of collegiate rank should ordinarily transfer early enough in their college career to permit at least two full years of study at Hamline.
Students who have completed more than two years of study must schedule an admission interview with a member of the admission staff.
To be considered for transfer admission, students transferring from four-year colleges must provide the same information as described under Community College Transfer Guidelines. Official transcripts must be provided from all post-secondary institutions attended.
Transfer of Credit
The Registration and Records office, using official
transcripts from a student’s previous schools, works with
the faculty to determine the requirements met by transfer
work. Only transfer work from regionally accredited
colleges and universities will be considered for transfer.
Information about the accreditation of colleges/
universities in the north central region is available at
www.ncahigherlearningcommission.org. Transcripts and
other documents submitted from other institutions and
agencies are the property of Hamline University and will
not be reissued to applicants, students, alumni, or other
parties.
Classes will be evaluated on a course-by-course basis.
Courses must be considered college-level, relevant to a
liberal arts degree, and a student must have earned a Cor
above. If a course is taken as Pass/No Pass, and the
school awards a Pass for grades below a C-, a letter must
be submitted from the institution’s registrar indicating
the student would have received a C- or above before
transfer credit is awarded. Please note that acceptance of
credit may be for elective credit only; equivalency to
Hamline courses is determined by individual
departments. Students transferring credit will not receive
credit twice for similar courses taken at Hamline. Grade
point averages do not transfer.
A maximum of 64 semester credits may be brought in
from two-year colleges. Credit in narrowly vocational
courses is not transferable. Nursing, mental health,
chemical dependency, law enforcement, military and other
focused professional program credits are transferable up
to a limit of 32 semester credits if the course content is
suitable for a liberal arts program. 1.5 quarter credits
equals 1 semester credit.
Students must earn at least 56 semester credits at
Hamline in order to receive a Hamline degree (60 credits
at Hamline are required to earn Latin Honors). A
minimum of 16 semester credits in a student’s major
must be taken at Hamline. The credit amount of transfer
courses will not change if equivalency to a Hamline
course is granted (i.e. a 3 credit course granted
equivalency to a 4 credit Hamline course will remain at
only 3 credits).
Articulation manuals showing Hamline course equivalencies for local community colleges are available at:
www.hamline.edu/cla/admission/transfer/guide.html. These
articulation manuals are subject to change. Students earning credits at other institutions may be asked to provide copies of appropriate course catalogs or syllabi to assist in the evaluation transfer credit.
Transcripts from foreign schools must be submitted to an outside agency for processing before an evaluation can be completed. Two commonly used agencies are World Education Service (WES) online at www.wes.org or Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE) online at www.ece.org. These organizations usually charge students a fee for these services.
Hamline University enrolls students who participate in ROTC (Air Force ROTC at the University of St. Thomas and Army ROTC at the University of Minnesota). ROTC programs require enrollment at the University of St. Thomas or the University of Minnesota for ROTC sponsored courses. Hamline University does not accept ROTC credit toward a degree or curricular requirements as matter of academic policy.
Contact the registrar for additional information regarding registration policies.
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Students who have transferred in course work which they would like to have approved for their major or minor (which did not previously articulate as such) should follow these steps:
1. Obtain a copy of the course syllabus and/or course description from the official course bulletin of the institution where the course was taken.
2. Obtain a Course Substitution/Prior Approval for Transfer Credit form available online at
www.hamline.edu/registrar/forms or at the Student Administrative Services office.
3. Have the course reviewed by their major/minor advisor or the chair of the department.
4. If the chair or advisor in the major/minor department approves the course he or she will sign the form.
5. Return the signed form to the Student Administrative Services office.
Students who have transferred in course work that
they would like evaluated for Hamline Plan requirements (which did not previously articulate as such) should follow these steps:
1. Obtain a copy of the course syllabus. If a student no
longer has a copy of the syllabus he or she may have
to contact the former institution or instructor in order
to provide a more complete description of the course
than the course description provides.
2. Attach a memo to the syllabus listing the course and
the desired Hamline Plan designation(s).
3. Submit the memo and syllabus to the Student
Administrative Services office to the attention of the
Transfer Articulation Coordinator.
4. The Transfer Articulation Coordinator will work with
the faculty to review the course and will e-mail the
decision.
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