If a student has taken courses elsewhere of rigor and subject matter comparable to or exceeding those of our graduate courses, she or he may petition the Graduate Committee to transfer credit, reducing the number of courses required for her or his graduate degree here at Dartmouth.
To pursue this option, the student should:
- Prepare an exhaustive dossier describing the external course (e.g., syllabus, textbook information, assignments, exams, and the student's grade).
- Obtain approval from the relevant subject matter experts at Dartmouth. (E.g., for an advanced OS course, having one of our OS professors say "yes, this equals our 258.")
The Graduate Committee will consider each request on a case-by-case basis, in the context of the student's performance in the previous course, the student's graduate program and the policies established by the Graduate Office. Per Grad Office rules, at most 3 credits may be transferred into the MS program and at most 6 into the PhD.
For approved courses, the student must then obtain and complete a "Transfer Credit" form from the Graduate Office.