A student entering Northland College, after having attended a postsecondary institution for any length of time, must provide Northland College with official transcripts for all prior, postsecondary coursework. Transcripts must be sent directly from the postsecondary institution of origin electronically or through the mail. Hand delivered or emailed from the student are not considered official transcripts. Failure to provide official transcripts from all institutions attended will result in an administrative hold being placed on a student’s ability to register for courses at Northland.
The Registrar’s Office will prepare a course-by-course evaluation of the submitted transcripts to determine credit transfer. College-level courses from institutions accredited by a regional accrediting agency at the time the course work was completed as well as some work evaluated by the American Council on Education (ACE) will be considered for transfer. For more information, on the acceptance of ACE credit, see Military and Test-Out Options.
Courses completed at a postsecondary institution outside of the United States must be evaluated by an international evaluation agency prior to submission to Northland College. The official international course-by-course evaluation is paid by the student and must be made in advance of the evaluation. Contact the Registrar’s Office for information on approved evaluating agencies.
All courses are evaluated for credit transfer on a course-by-course basis, and a grade of C- or better must have been earned in a course for it to be accepted for transfer credit. Courses that are technical in nature are generally not accepted for transfer. Courses that are considered developmental, remedial, or do not count towards graduation at the institution where they were taken are generally not accepted. Internships taken at other colleges may transfer in as elective credit within a department but do not transfer in as internship credit at Northland.
Completed courses that do not have an exact equivalent at Northland may be transferred in as general elective credits or may not be accepted. Some credits more than ten years old may require approval from the appropriate Department Chair.
A maximum of 65 credits will be accepted from all junior or two-year colleges or any combination of junior or two-year colleges. There is no limit on the number of credits that will be accepted from an accredited four-year college or university; however, to earn a Northland College degree, a minimum of 30 credits must be earned at Northland College, including at least 20 credits in a student’s major field of study and six credits in a student’s minor field of study.
Courses that were repeated are counted only once. If a student is awarded transfer credit for a course and then repeats the course at Northland, the transferred course will remain on the student’s record; however, it will no longer count toward credits earned or graduation requirements.
In addition to a course-by-course evaluation, previously completed courses will be evaluated for possible equivalency to our general education requirements. These equivalencies will be listed on the transfer evaluation.
Students who have received an Associate of Arts or Sciences degree from an institution that required at least 32 general education credits and who completed their general education courses with grades of C- or better will have fulfilled a large portion of the general education requirements upon entry to Northland.
Transfer students planning to pursue teacher licensure will be required to meet certain state-mandated general education course requirements before they are eligible for student teaching. A personal interview with the Director of Teacher Education is strongly recommended for all transfer students planning to pursue teacher licensure.
Military
Transfer students with military training may receive college credit for this training as well as credit for studies completed at service schools, international institutions, and the United States Armed Forces Institute. Northland College grants credit for military training based on the recommendations of the American Council on Education. For more information, contact the Registrar’s Office.
Test-Out Options
Students may accelerate the earning of college credit through test-out programs. These programs offer the option of earning college credit in areas where the student demonstrates a sufficient degree of knowledge and understanding.
The test-out programs approved by Northland College are the following:
- Advanced Placement (AP) examination taken at the high school level (minimum score of 3 required to receive credit);
- International Baccalaureate (IB) program;
- College Level Examination Program (CLEP), available through Lake Superior College or designated testing centers throughout the United States (minimum score of 50 required to receive credit).
To earn credits for AP, IB, or CLEP examinations, an official score report must be sent directly to Northland College from the appropriate agency.
Northland College follows the recommendations of the American Council on Education in regards to awarding credit based on the scores earned on AP and CLEP exams.
A maximum of 30 credits from the test-out option may be applied toward a Northland College degree, and credits are not awarded for passing competency exams provided by other colleges.
For more information on test-out programs, contact the Registrar’s Office.
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