Transfer Credit

Middlebury College undergraduate students can apply for transfer credit for courses taken at other U.S. colleges and universities. The complete policy can be found in the Handbook. 

The basic criteria for a course to be considered for transfer to Middlebury are:

• Must meet in-person (ie no online or remote courses)
• Must be offered by a regionally accredited 4-year degree granting college or university
• Must be at least 4 weeks long
• Must meet for at least 36 classroom hours
• Must carry at least 3 semester credits or 5 quarter credits
• Must be standard grade mode (ie not Pass/Fail or Credit/No-Credit)

Pre-approval for courses taken in the U.S.

Students should obtain preliminary approval for any course for which they expect transfer credit before enrolling in it.  

1. Review transfer credit guidelines
2. Complete the Transfer Credit Application Form and obtain signatures from the appropriate department chair(s) — note that the chair’s signature is one step in the process and does not constitute final approval
3. Email signed form and supporting documentation (including a course description and/or syllabus) to registrar@middlebury.edu
4. The Dean of Curriculum will review the submitted materials before final pre-approval will be granted. The Dean ensures that the transfer institution, the course credit value, and other course details adhere to Middlebury College’s transfer credit guidelines.

Transferring Courses After the Fact

Students may pursue transferring courses taken before they enrolled at Middlebury or when the pre-approval process was not completed. 

College courses taken in high school and applied toward a high school diploma or in a college/high school cooperative program are not transferable. If your courses were taken on a college campus and they were not used toward the completion of your high school degree, they might be transferrable. The course(s) would still need to meet the basic criteria for transfer (listed above). If they were listed on your high school transcript, then you will need to request a letter from your high school guidance office to confirm that the courses were not used toward the completion of your high school degree. 

To transfer a completed course taken at a college or university:

1. Complete the Transfer Credit Application Form and obtain signatures from the appropriate department chair or program director, whose responsibility is to evaluate the transfer course content and determine whether the transfer course fulfills any degree requirements (i.e., academic distribution, cultures and civilizations, departmental major, etc.).
2. Email signed form and supporting documentation (including a course description and/or syllabus) to registrar@middlebury.edu
3. If your course was taken before graduating high school, include the letter from your high school guidance counselor
4. Request an official transcript to be sent directly from the college or university to be sent to the Registrar’s Office at Middlebury. Transcripts can be mailed or a secure PDF, but they must be delivered directly from the other institution to the Registrar’s Office at Middlebury. Grade reports, unofficial transcripts, faxed or hand-carried transcripts are not acceptable

The Dean of Curriculum will review the submitted materials for approval. The Dean ensures that the transfer institution, the course credit value, and other course details adhere to Middlebury College’s transfer credit guidelines. If approved, the transfer credits will be applied to the Middlebury academic record, but not the grade that was awarded.

Courses Taken During an Approved Study Abroad Term

Students must be approved by the Programs Abroad Committee in order to earn credit for courses/semesters abroad. Please see the Handbook and the Study Abroad Guidelines for full details.

If you are seeking major, minor, or distribution credit for any courses you took abroad, you should first check the Course Information Database to see if the course has already been approved for major/minor/distribution credit.

To apply a pre-approved academic distribution or cultures and civilizations attribute to your student record, you must contact the Registrar’s Office. To apply a pre-approved course toward your major, please contact the Registrar’s Office.

If the course is not listed in the Course Information Database, you can complete a Transfer Credit Application Form. Signatures are required from the appropriate Department Chairs. Transfer Credit Application Forms are not necessary to receive general credit. Completed forms should be submitted to International Programs.