Registrar Study Away Transfer Credit

Please review the following information on transfer credit policies at Amherst College as it will effect how courses taken abroad will be reviewed for transfer credit.

In order for courses taken abroad to be accepted for transfer credit and count towards the completion of your Amherst College degree, the courses must meet the following criteria:

• Courses must fall under the liberal arts category as defined in the “Liberal Studies Curriculum” of the College Catalog
• Coursework should not duplicate or substantially overlap your prior work completed
• Courses counting towards fulfilling a major must be approved by the major department
• Courses taken for pass/fail are not accepted for credit
• Internships and online courses are not accepted for credit
• Courses earning a letter grade below a C will not be accepted for credit
• All courses taken with the intent of using those credits towards the total courses required for graduation at Amherst College must be approved by the Office of the Registrar before enrollment is finalized. Students must submit a request for course approval via the online webform.
• If you return from Study Away with a deficiency because you have not successfully completed your coursework, you must contact your class dean to discuss how any necessary courses may be made up

A full time course load at Amherst College consists of four courses which is equivalent to a minimum of sixteen semester hours of credit per semester. While you are abroad, you must earn at least fifteen semester hours of credit in liberal arts courses creditable at Amherst each semester you are away in order to keep up with your current class standing. If you will be attending a college on the quarter system, you will need forty-eight quarter hours of credit for the academic year to earn the equivalent of eight courses at Amherst. Statements from other institutions that three or four courses are a full load are not always applicable to conversion to Amherst College.  If you directly enroll in a program overseas, understand that the crediting system will be different from Amherst's credit system and you may need to take more than four classes to be fully equivalent in terms of credit.

Please request that an official transcript be sent to the Registrar’s Office upon completion of your program. The mailing address for these transcripts is Office of the Registrar, Amherst College, P.O. Box 5000, Amherst, MA  01002-5000. Official electronic transcripts may also be sent directly from the institution to the Registrar’s Office using the following email address: registrar@amherst.edu. You will not receive credit for your work until an official copy of your transcript is received. 

Readmission from an educational leave is granted automatically when you successfully complete the approved program of study.  If you don't complete the program of study successfully, you may have to make up the credit deficiency before you return. If you anticipate a deficiency, please contact your class dean immediately.  We expect that students on educational leave will return to the College at the time they originally indicated when they left. If your plans change, you must inform your class dean as soon as possible.