Trinity Western University supports the goals of students seeking transfer credit, and desires to maintain a transfer friendly stance towards students. The University reserves the right to accept only courses that comply with the academic standards established by TWU and with the requirements for graduation.
Details
TWU will approve courses for transfer upon receipt of an official transcript. Various individual transfer credit maximums and restrictions are detailed in the Admissions and Registration section of your Academic Calendar.
If you are an incoming student who has never attended TWU, the transfer credit evaluation of your declared transcripts begins automatically once you are admitted to TWU. You must declare all previous academic history during the application process and no transfer credits will be granted if they are not declared prior to your admission to TWU.
If you need support with your credits, you are encouraged to reach out to your admissions counsellor.
Transfer Credit Limits:
- A maximum of 9 credit hours of upper-level courses may be transferred to a student’s major.
- A maximum of 6 credit hours of upper-level courses may be transferred to a student’s concentration.
- A maximum of 3 credit hours of upper-level courses may be transferred to a student’s minor.
Current Transfer Credit record
You can find your Transfer Credit Record through the Student Portal, under My Account. Please note, it is important that you bring your Transfer Credit Record with you to all advising sessions, as it is the only document that lists any waivers or caveats regarding your transfer credit.
Procedure
Documentation should be submitted as part of your application with your admissions counsellor.
Timeframe for evaluation completion
The approximate wait period upon a full submission of required documents and official transcripts is four weeks. The time frames for the completion of your transfer evaluation may vary due to when all required documents are submitted and the volume of applications. TWU transfer credit specialist will keep you informed during the evaluation process.
You have One Year to send all the required syllabi and complete your transfer credits.
Definitions
Below are some common terms used in the procedure of transfer credits:
Syllabi
A syllabus includes a detailed outline of the course including exams, papers, textbooks, materials, professor, etc.
Syllabi should be from the year and semester that a student took the course. The following checklist outlines the contents of a course syllabus. One common delay factor in course evaluation is your course syllabus not containing the required information on the checklist. We highly recommend you review your syllabus against this checklist before sending your transfer evaluation requests. Submitting complete and detailed course syllabi for all courses will expedite TWU’s evaluation of your transfer credits.
- Name of the transferring institution
- Semester and year the course was taken
- Course code (e.g. GEOG 1120)
- Course title (e.g., Introduction to Physical Geography)
- Number of course credits (semester hours)
- Course description
- Course learning outcomes and/or objectives
- Course outline – list of topics covered in the course
- Required reading materials – textbooks
- Criteria for course evaluation – distribution of marks (workload)
- Length of time/hours allocated to complete the course
- Course instructor information
- Other info: e.g., Course attendance policy, other instruction, etc.
Specific/direct Credit
Specific credit is when a course is a direct equivalent of a specific TWU course. Substantial information about the content of the courses (ie. a syllabus, which should include a detailed outline of the course including exams, papers, textbooks, materials etc) is required for our faculty evaluators to conduct the evaluation for specific TWU credits.
Unassigned and General Credit
Unassigned credit is when a course falls under a TWU faculty (ie. MATH, ART, HIST) but does not have a specific/direct course match. Unassigned credits are listed as ‘[DEPT] #00 level transfer credit’. Some examples are as follows: ‘BIOL 200 level transfer credit’, ‘ART 100 level transfer credit’,
General credit (GENS) is when a course does not quite fit into a faculty, but TWU acknowledges that it is academically sound and may receive elective credit. General credits are listed as ‘GENS 300 level transfer credit’.
Unassigned credits and general credits may always apply to your general elective credits. Unassigned credit might be acceptable to apply towards some program requirements, but students will need to speak to their academic advisor for that determination.
General and Unassigned credit may not fulfill the requirement for specific courses or prerequisites or apply towards TWU core requirements unless specified with a waiver on the student’s Transfer Credit Record. They do, however, contribute to overall hours earned which may be used to enter 2nd, 3rd or 4th year courses.
There is no limit to how much general or unassigned credit makes up a student’s transfer credit.
Block Transfer
A group of unassigned credits that transfer as general lower-level credit only. A block is just a convenient way to list a larger number of credits from an outside institution that do not receive any specific credit at TWU.
Waivers
A Transfer credit waiver is when unassigned credit is granted, but the requirement for a specific course is waived. Example: “ART 100 level transfer credit (3), waives ART 181”.
Waivers meet TWU Core requirements. So, in the example above, a student would be waived from ART 181 as a program requirement or the Aesthetic & Performance Inquiry requirement in the Core.
ENGL waiver exception
Some English courses transfer to TWU as unassigned credits and with a Literary (LIT) or Composition (COMP) waiver. The course must be listed as “ENGL 100 level Lit Waiver (3) Literature waiver for ENGL 103 or 104” or “ENGL 100 level Comp Waiver (3) Composition waiver for ENGL 103 or 104”.
A LIT or COMP waiver may apply towards the Academic Research & Writing Core Requirement. Please note that if a student has two ‘COMP’ waivers, only one may count towards the core requirement and the other will just receive unassigned credits:
LIT + LIT = waive ENGL 103 + 104
LIT + COMP = waive ENGL 103 +104
COMP + COMP = ONLY waive ONE, ENGL 103 or 104
Have further questions? Please click here to submit a request for us to assist you.