University of Richmond

Transferring Courses

If you wish to transfer credits from a mathematics or computer science course taken at another college or university, keep in mind these criteria:

  • Credit may transfer only for courses that are comparable to courses offered at UR.
  • Coursework may be taken only at institutions accredited by a regional accrediting agency at the time the work is taken.
  • You must earn a grade of C (2.0) or better.
  • No transfer credits will be officially accepted or recorded until the UR Registrar's Office has received an official transcript directly from the records office of the college or university attended.
  • The transfer work approval form may be obtained from either the Registrar's Office (Sarah Brunet Hall) or the Department of Math & Computer Science (212 Jepson Hall).

Steps in the Approval Process

  1. Students must complete the transfer request form. Note that there is a unique form for either math or computer science courses.

  2. Either the math or computer science program coordinator reviews course requests via email and responds via email whether or not the course is approved. The math program coordinator is Dr. Lester Caudill. The computer science program coordinator is Dr. Lewis Barnett.

  3. If the course is approved, students must:
    • Obtain a transfer work approval form from either the Registrar's Office (Sarah Brunet Hall) or the Department of Math & Computer Science (212 Jepson Hall).
    • Complete the top portion of the form and attach to it a copy of the final email from either the math or computer science program coordinator.
    • Bring the form to the Department of Math & Computer Science (212 Jepson Hall), and leave it for either the math or computer science program coordinator to sign.
    • Allow a 24-hour turnover time for the signing to take place.
    • Once signed, pick up the transfer work approval form from 212 Jepson Hall and submit it to the Registrar's Office.
    • To complete the process, the Registrar's Office gives the student the yellow copy and returns the pink copy back to the Department of Math & Computer Science.

  4. If the course is not approved, students may need to communicate again with the math or computer science program coordinator by email or with a scheduled appointment to discuss other options.

  5. Students must earn at least a grade of C (2.0) in the summer course and have a copy of the official transcript sent to the UR Registrar's Office.

  6. Students who need symbolic reasoning (FSSR) credit for a course taken during the summer must read the guidelines below before selecting a course for approval.

Guidelines for Transfer Credit Approval

100-level Mathematics Courses
Symbolic reasoning general education credit (FSSR) is not available for courses equivalent to UR's 100-level math courses.  These courses were specially designed to meet the FSSR requirement. Many schools offer courses entitled "Finite Mathematics" which is similar in title to MATH 102 - Problem Solving Using Finite Mathematics. MATH 102 at UR, however, is not a standard finite mathematics course.  It has two parts:
  1. An introduction to sets and symbolic logic (the fundamentals of proving results)
  2. The application of these fundamentals to one particular area.
The area is dependent on the instructor. The goal of the course is to demonstrate "how a mathematician thinks" in the context of one particular area of mathematics - depth rather than breadth. A standard finite mathematics course generally emphasizes breadth rather than depth, having the exact opposite goal than MATH 102. Sometimes the same topics are covered in these courses, but they cover other topics as well, therefore not achieving the depth in one topic that is essential to MATH 102.

Calculus I and II
Symbolic reasoning general education credit (FSSR) is available for a standard calculus class. The approved course must be designed to prepare the student to pursue a major in mathematics. Such a course has fairly standard objectives across colleges and universities, objectives that mesh well with the requirements for FSSR credit.  Transfer credit requests will be evaluated with respect to two independent criteria:
  1. The course you wish to transfer must serve as an introduction to the mathematics major, even if the student does not intend to pursue a major in mathematics. Calculus courses for non-majors with titles such as "Calculus for Applications", "Calculus for the Social Sciences", "Calculus for the Biological Sciences", "Calculus for the Life Sciences" and "Business Calculus" will not be approved for FSSR credit.

  2. The course should have content equivalent to MATH 211 or MATH 212. For MATH 211 credit, this means that differential and integral calculus of exponential functions and logarithms must be covered in the course.  For MATH 212 credit, this means that Taylor polynomials and infinite series must be covered. The requirements listed here apply whether or not FSSR credit is being sought.

Computer Science Courses
The Department of Math & Computer Science does not grant credit for courses that are primarily applications oriented (for example, courses on using various Microsoft Office applications) or for web design courses. To receive transfer credit, an introductory computing course must be substantially similar to CMSC 150. Appropriate courses deal primarily with problem-solving through the writing of computer programs in some high level language such as Java, C, C++, Pascal, Fortran, etc.