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Transfer Guide


Online Transfer Guide

Transfer Credit Policies

Both you and your academic advisor will receive the Office of the Registrar evaluation of your college credit. Your advisor will not receive a copy of your previous college transcripts. If you have questions about the evaluation of your transcripts, contact the Office of the Registrar by email, or calling (540) 568-6281.
Understanding Your General Education Program Transfer Credit Evaluation

General Policies

Credits are accepted from institutions recognized by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers and accredited by a regional accrediting body.

Credit is accepted only if a student has earned a grade of "C" or better in a course. Credit is also generally awarded for credit, pass, honors or satisfactory designations when proof that the grade would have equaled a "C" or better is provided. Credit is not awarded for "C-" and lower grades or for credit earned through departmental examination.

Credit is generally accepted for course work if JMU has a similar discipline, department or school. If a student presents a course that is not equivalent to a specific course taught at JMU but is in an available department or school, it may be accepted as elective credit.

Credit is not given for "F," "no credit," "unsatisfactory" or any other grade that indicates unsatisfactory progress.

Credit is not given for elementary or accelerated/intensive elementary foreign language courses if the student has had two or more years of that foreign language in middle and/or high school.

Maximum Credit Transfer Toward Graduation

Under university policy there is actually no limit on the amount of credit that can be transferred to JMU.  However students must meet certain criteria to be eligible to graduate from JMU.  Please see our Graduation Requirements page for details.

Classification

The classification of students depends on the number of credit hours they have earned as follows.

  • Freshmen: fewer than 28
  • Sophmores: 28 to 59
  • Juniors: 60 to 89
  • Seniors: more than 89

Transferring Grades or Quality Points

While you enter JMU with credit for all transferable courses in which you have earned a grade of "C" or better, your grade point average does not transfer. Your cumulative grade point average becomes whatever you earn in course work completed at JMU. A student who may be eligible to graduate from JMU with honors is the one exception to this policy. If this is the case, the cumulative grade point average from other institutions will be combined with the JMU average to determine JMU honors.

Nontransferable Credits

The following courses are not transferable:

  • Terminal courses that are generally technical and vocational in nature
  • Remedial and sub-college courses that are usually taken to remove a high school deficiency or to remedy inadequate preparation for college-level work in a specific discipline
  • Courses in which a comparable discipline is not available at JMU
  • Most 300-or 400-level courses offered at JMU that were taken at the 100 or 200 level at a community college (there are a few exceptions)
  • College Level Examination Program (CLEP) courses, departmental and school examinations for credit.

Recording Credit

Advanced standing or transfer credit accepted by the Office of the Registrar is placed on your permanent record after you enroll at JMU.

Incomplete Transcripts

If you attend an advising session with your academic advisor before all of your transcripts have been received by the Office of Admission, you should list the courses that you have completed with a grade of "C" or better for your advisor and avoid taking courses required in that area until the entire transcript has been received and evaluated. It is your responsibility to ensure that all transcripts from former schools are forwarded to the Office of Admissions.

Credit for Service in the Armed Forces

If you are a veteran with one year of active military duty and have not previously received credit in this area, you may qualify for six credit hours of health and physical education credit. You will then also be exempted from JMU general education physical education requirements. However, students in teacher licensure programs must still complete HTH 204, Emergency Health Care, and HTH 370, The School Health Program.

Additional credit may be given for successfully completing selected service schools. This type of credit is based on recommendations in A Guide to the Evaluation of Educational Experiences in the Armed Services.

Veterans must submit a Report of Separation (DD 214).