Be aware that credit normally is NOT approved for coursework completed elsewhere while you are concurrently enrolled at UCSB. However, you can earn credit toward your UCSB degree for coursework you complete at other institutions during terms when you are not registered at UCSB. Read further for additional detail.
- Warnings
- Web Help Regarding California Community Colleges
- How Course Transferability is Determined
- Guidelines for Choosing Courses for General Education at other Institutions
- Intercampus Visitor Program
- Considerations about Prerequisites
Warnings
In our mobile society, it is sometimes hard to remember that institutions are not all alike. Since you are planning to earn a bachelor's degree from UCSB, it is very important to be aware of certain regulations.
Unit limits: You can earn no more than 105 quarter units (70 semester units) toward your UCSB degree in coursework from two-year (community) colleges. Once you have earned 105 community college units, you may still earn subject credit for additional work from a community college, but no additional unit credit will be awarded.
Also note that you may not be permitted to continue registering at UCSB beyond 200 units, so try to take transfer courses that will help you fulfilll degree requirements.
Simultaneous study: Consult the college advising office (1117 Cheadle Hall) if you plan to enroll in courses elsewhere while you are enrolled at UCSB. Very strict limitations affect what credit, if any, will be allowed for the transfer work.
Academic Residence: You must complete 3 regular terms in the University of California and the following while in residence at UCSB: 35 of your final 45 units; 27 upper-division units, 20 units of your upper-division major (NOTE: Students admitted prior to fall 1999 need 18 units of the upper-division major in residence at UCSB). If you are pursuing an academic minor, you must complete at least 12 units of the upper-division minor in residence at UCSB.
Course numbering: Course numbering systems are not universal. Within the University of California, courses numbered 1-99 are considered lower division; courses numbered 100-199 are upper-division; courses numbered 200 and higher are at the graduate level. This numbering system does not apply to most other institutions. Accordingly, if you hope to earn upper-division credit, you should take care to learn the numbering system of the school you are attending. (Note: by definition, all coursework at community colleges is lower division.)
UC Entry Level Writing Requirement (formerly called Subject A) and GE Area A: Once you matriculate at UCSB, you cannot satisfy the UC Entry Level Writing Requirement outside the University of California. Further, you will not be able to earn credit for English composition coursework that you complete elsewhere before satisfying the UC Entry Level Writing Requirement requirement.
GPA: Grades earned outside the University of California are not used in calculating your UC grade-point average. Accordingly, you cannot improve your UC GPA with non-UC transfer work, and you cannot use a non-UC transfer course as a legal repeat of a UCSB course for GPA purposes. If you wish to complete a course at a different UC campus and use it as a legal repeat of a course with an unsatisfactory grade at UCSB, you should consult the college advising office (1117 Cheadle Hall) before enrolling. Note: With one exception, courses taken through University of California Extension are likewise excluded from the GPA calculation and cannot be used as legal repeats of courses completed at UCSB. The one exception is UCSB courses completed by concurrent enrollment through Extension Fall 2000 or later.
Writing Requirement: Transfer work will not be accepted in satisfaction of the General Education writing requirement.
Exercise and Sport Studies/Physical Education: No more than 6 units of ES 1- (formerly PA 1-) or equivalents will be accepted toward your degree.
Sequence Courses: If you have already begun a course sequence at UCSB, consult the college advising office (1117 Cheadle Hall) before attempting to continue or complete the sequence elsewhere. When combining quarter system courses with those from the semester system, credit is deducted for duplication of material.
Credit Duplication: You must keep track of the courses you have already successfully completed and make sure that your new coursework is different or more advanced. Credit will be awarded only once for a particular topic. In foreign language and mathematics, you cannot earn credit for a course after you have already completed a more advanced course.
Major: You need the written approval of your major department and college on a petition if you want to apply transfer work to your major.
How Course Transferability is
Determined
The Office of Admissions determines transferability of coursework after you present an official transcript of the work. Although you will not have complete assurance before enrolling, we have prepared the following guidelines to help you avoid disappointment.
General guidelines for approving transfer credit:
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Courses must be completed at an accredited college or university and must be reported on an official transcript.
- Courses taken elsewhere must cover the same depth and breadth of subject as UC courses. Courses in traditional academic disciplines (e.g., science, literature, and social sciences) generally are transferable. The following are not transferable:
- Courses that are vocational, technical, or professional in nature (e.g., advertising, real estate, electronics)
- Remedial courses, such as trigonometry
- Personal enrichment (e.g., to how to use your personal computer).
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Each course must be listed and described in the college's catalog for the regular year. Courses taken through non-University of California extension programs are not always transferable. Within the University of California, UC Extension courses are transferable only if numbered 1-199.
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Credit will not be allowed for coursework substantially duplicating courses already completed. Credit will not be allowed for courses that are more elementary than those already completed in such disciplines as mathematics and foreign language.
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If you are planning to study abroad, consult the Office of Admissions.
Web Help for California Community Colleges
A handy tool is available if you are planning to take courses at a community college within California. On the web, go to www.assist.org to find information about:
- What courses are transferable to the University of California.
- Which courses you can choose to fulfill General Education Program Requirements.
- Which courses you can choose to fulfill requirements in the preparation for your major (not available for every major at every community college).
- Course-to-course equivalencies (not available for every course at every community college).
CAUTION: Credit will not be allowed for coursework completed elsewhere while you are also enrolled at UCSB.
Guidelines for Choosing Courses for General Education at Other Institutions
The information that follows is designed to provide the student who has already taken, or is planning to take, a course away from UCSB for the GE Program with some basic information about how each section is generally defined. Students are reminded that courses at California Community Colleges are already articulated and can be viewed at www.assist.org. Students may submit a petition to propose GE applicability in advance of enrolling in an off-campus course. Such a petition must include a course description and, ideally, a course syllabus.
General subject area requirements:
- Courses in Area A must be worth at least 3 semester units or 4 quarter units.
- Courses in Areas B through G must be worth at least 2 semester or 3 quarter units.
A. English Reading and Composition - Consult the college advising office (1117 Cheadle Hall) before enrolling. Remember that you cannot earn credit for transfer composition courses if you have not yet satisfied the Entry Level Writing requirement (formerly called Subject A).
B. Foreign Language - The third quarter or second semester course of a foreign language will fulfill this requirement.
C. Science, Mathematics, and Technology - The following types of courses are acceptable:- General or introductory biology, botany, zoology
- General or introductory physics
- General or introductory chemistry
- Astronomy
- Human anatomy or physiology
- Physical geography
- Physical geology
- Oceanography
- Calculus
- Computer programming in a structured language
- Statistics from a mathematics department
(to be transferable, courses in statistics must list intermediate algebra as prerequisite).
D. Social Science - The following types of courses are acceptable:
- American history
- American ethnic studies
- Archaeology
- Cultural anthropology
- Micro- or macroeconomics
- Regional (or cultural) geography
- American or comparative government
- Political theory
- General or introductory psychology
- General or introductory sociology.
E. Culture and Thought - The following types of courses are acceptable:
- Western civilization
- World history
- History of Western philosophical thought
- Introductory philosophy
- Philosophy of religion
- World religions
- Comparative religions
- Ethics (in a broad historical context; not contemporary moral problems)
Note: Transfer courses in art history are not automatically acceptable in this area, although those that are articulated to UCSB Art History 6A-B-C may be considered by petition.
F. Arts - The following types of courses are acceptable:
- Art history or appreciation
- Dance history or appreciation
- Drama (or theater) history or appreciation
- Film history or appreciation
- Music history or appreciation
- Introduction to acting for non-majors
- Fundamentals of Music
Note: Except for fundamentals of music and introduction to acting, studio and performance courses are not acceptable in this area.
G. Literature - Acceptable courses include surveys of literature in which several whole works are read. They may be works originally written in any language, but single-author courses normally are not acceptable (exceptions: Shakespeare, Chaucer, Milton, Cervantes, Hesse, Tolstoy, and Chekhov).
Special subject area requirements:
Ethnicity: Acceptable courses concentrate on the intellectual, social, and cultural experience and history of Native Americans, African Americans, Chicano/Latino Americans or Asian Americans or they present a comparison of the experiences of differing racial and ethnic groups in the United States.
Quantitative Relationships: Acceptable courses include calculus, physical geology with lab, astronomy with lab, chemistry with lab or physics with lab, and statistics from a mathematics department (with prerequisite of intermediate algebra).
World Cultures (formerly called non-Western culture): Acceptable courses deal with the beliefs, social customs, and cultural institutions of indigenous peoples of Africa and the Americas, Asia, and populations of the Middle East that do not follow the Jewish or Christian faith.
Writing: Transfer courses do not apply.
European Traditions: Required only for the bachelor of arts degree. Acceptable courses are those that are articulated to the following UCSB courses: History 4A-B-C, Philosophy 20A-B-C, Art History 6A-B-C. Visit www.assist.org to see which courses at California community colleges articulate to these courses.
Considerations about Prerequisites
At UCSB, prerequisites are enforced at registration. The computer used for this purpose will "know" if you have completed the listed prerequisite at UCSB, but it will not have information about your transfer work. Therefore, if you take courses elsewhere that you wish to use as prerequisites to courses that you plan to take at UCSB, you must do both of the following:
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Send an official transcript to the UCSB Office of the Registrar, and
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Bring your own copy of your transcript with you to campus to show to the department whose courses you wish to take. Staff in that department can then mark your record to indicate that you have fulfilled the particular prerequisite.
Other schools may also enforce prerequisites for courses. It is a very good idea to keep your records handy at all times.
Intercampus Visitor Program
The Intercampus Visitor Program enables qualified undergraduates at the University of California to take advantage of educational opportunities at other University campuses.
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Students may take courses that are not available at their home campus, participate in special programs, or study with a distinguished faculty member at another campus. However, most campuses place quite restrictive limitations on the courses that are open to intercampus visitors.
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As a participant in the Intercampus Visitor Program, you may enroll at another campus (called the host campus) for only one term. For possible exceptions to this limitation, consult the Intercampus Visitor Program coordinator in the Office of the Registrar for specific policies of each host campus.
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Students should consult the advising staff at UCSB in both the college and appropriate departments to determine how courses from the host campus may apply toward graduation requirements. Course descriptions can be found in the general catalog of the host campus and usually online.
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Students may also want to consult with an advisor at the host campus to find out if there are any special prerequisites or requirements for the courses that they plan to take.
To qualify as an intercampus visitor, you must be an undergraduate who has done all of the following:
- Completed at least one year of residence at your home campus, AND
- Maintained a grade-point average of at least 2.0, or the equivalent, AND
- Obtained the approval of the Dean or Provost, or designee, of the college or school in which you are currently enrolled.
