Transfer Students

Thank you for your interest in transferring to USD and majoring in Liberal Studies. You are encouraged to contact Program Director Margaret Daley, PhD, at mdaley@sandiego.edu or call the program office at (619) 260-4513 with any questions you may have. You are also invited to visit the USD campus and meet with the program director and a representative from the School of Leadership and Education Sciences to learn more about what we have to offer.

Information to help you get started:

USD Admission page has information about the general requirements for application by transfer students

Which classes will transfer depends on whether classes taken at your previous institution have been accepted by the various USD departments as equivalent. If not, then there is a process to go through by which each course you wish to transfer has to be looked at by the department involved to see if it includes the same course material. The transcript analysis takes place after a new transfer student has been admitted to USD. There is more information about this and a link to specific articulation agreements on the webpage provided above. It is extremely helpful to check the articulation agreement to make sure that as many courses as possible will count towards your Liberal Studies degree. Review required Liberal Studies courses.

There are several Liberal Studies major courses that cannot be substituted and must be taken at USD. When transferring, a good strategy is to take as many of the other core and preparation courses as possible.

Potential selection:

• FYW 150 – First-Year Writing
• MATH 115 – College Algebra
• Complete language requirement up to third semester competency – LANG 201
• HIST 117 – US History to 1870
• Lower division PHIL from list on "Course Requirements" tab
• Lower division THRS from list on "Course Requirements" tab
• Lower division Social Science course for core requirement
• Oral communication course for core requirement

The Liberal Studies major has the following rules for transferred credits:

• No courses can be taken pass/fail
• Any transferred course must be passed with a grade of C or higher

Transferring Credit for Liberal Studies Majors

How to petition for credit

For current majors intending to transfer course work from another institution:

Recall the following rules:

• No LBST Core courses may be transferred if listed as **NO SUBSTITUTIONS in handbook/bulletin
• No online courses
• No courses can be taken pass/fail
• Any transferred course must be passed with a grade of C or higher

USD students planning to take a degree requirement or elective at another university must follow the steps outlined in the online process on your MySanDiego portal, under My Academics / Transfer Credit Processing. Refer to the FAQ document posted there (Requesting Transfer Credit Approval.pdf) for the full explanation of the process.

Upon completion of the workflow, there is no guarantee that USD will approve the course you are interested in transferring. You must complete the following steps BEFORE ENROLLING OR TAKING THE CLASS to determine whether or not the course has been approved.

Two possible workflows may be initiated:
1) You may request 'Transfer Credit Petition' for approval of a previously articulated transfer course.
2) You may request 'Transfer Class Articulation' for review and approval for an external course not currently approved for transfer credit.

Note: Be sure to fill out the required information on the form completely. All the information about the course is located on the website of the university or college where you want to take the course. If any part of the form is not filled out the form will not be processed. Please note that many departments will require a syllabus before approving a new course from another institution.

Remember that you must have an official transcript from the external institution sent to the USD Registrar's Office upon completion of the class. If you do not put in this request your academic record will not reflect that you took the course.

Transfer Requirements

Courses taken as pass/fail are not accepted.

Only courses passed with a grade of C or higher are accepted for transfer.

All students are subject to USD's residence requirement which stipulates that the final 30 units must be completed at USD unless a waiver is approved by the Dean's Office.

The following changes to the transfer of credit policy are in effect during the Fall 2020 semester, the December 2020 special session, the January 2021 intersession, the Spring 2021 semester and the Summer 2021 semester:

• Online courses taken by students who are on an approved leave of absence from the university may be accepted for transfer of credit when they return to USD.
• Full-time, continuing students may transfer online courses from colleges and universities in San Diego County or their county of residence. In extenuating circumstances, courses from other schools may be approved by the Dean's Office.
• Online courses must otherwise meet the usual criteria for transfer of credit. Before signing up for a class off campus, please refer to the Undergraduate Catalog for further details on these regulations and contact the Dean's Office if you need clarification regarding possible waivers.