Transferring Credits
Current Students
Are you a current University of San Diego student considering transferring credits from a community college or other university?
Stay on this page to learn about the requirements and how to transfer credits.
Prospective Transfer Students
Are you at another college or university and considering transferring to USD?
Please see Transfer Admissions for more information.
Transfer Credit Requirements
Review all 11 requirements below to see if your credits can transfer. Then, go down to our FAQ section to learn how to transfer credits.
Transfer courses from nationally accredited colleges or universities are approved on a case-by-case basis.
A maximum of 18 units may be transferred after you become an USD student. Up to 10 units may fulfill core requirements.
Each course is evaluated on the basis of student learning outcomes, regardless of delivery method.
Courses taken as pass/fail are not accepted.
Any transferred course must be passed with a grade of "C-" or higher.
All courses transferred to USD are for unit credit only and are not calculated into the USD GPA.
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.
Transfer courses will NOT be given First Year Integration or Advanced Integration Credit.
A transfer course is much more likely to be approved if there is a "reasonable parallel" to a course in the current program at USD.
Courses are evaluated based on learning outcomes. A similar title does not guarantee a course will be approved.
Be sure to get the transfer credit course approved before you register for it.
Credit Transfer Frequently Asked Questions
- Current students who are looking to transfer credits to USD should access the "Transfer Credit/Articulation" portlet of their "My Academics" page on their MySanDiego portal.
- In the portal, students will be able to search for course equivalencies based on outside institutions and by USD course number.
If a course is not listed among the ones already articulated and approved, students should use one of the following two forms to petition for transfer of credit:
- Transfer Class Articulation for courses completed after matriculation at USD. Note that the approval should be received prior to enrolling in a course at another institution.
- Pre-USD Transfer Course Evaluation Form for courses completed before transferring to USD.
To transfer credit from an international university or study abroad program, whether affiliated or non-affiliated, students should visit the International Center website or meet with an International Studies Abroad advisor.
If you have not declared a major or are majoring in the College of Arts and Sciences, you can reach out to the CAS Academic Advising Team to help with the process.
If you have a major within another USD school (e.g., Knauss, Shiley-Marcos, etc.), you should reach out to your academic advisor in that school.