This section provides a guide for transfer students in understanding how their course work from another collegiate institution applies to fulfilling UCI degree requirements. Transfer students should use this information in conjunction with the previous section, Requirements for a Bachelor's Degree. Transfer students are required to meet university, breadth, school, department, and major requirements described in the Catalogue. The courses and descriptions in this Catalogue may be used by prospective transfer students as a guide for selecting courses of similar content and purpose in their own institutions. No student who has taken a course which is accepted for credit by the Office of Admissions and Relations with Schools and which has been mutually determined with a community college as being acceptable toward completion of the UCI breadth requirement shall incur any loss of credit in satisfaction of the requirement.
Transfer students are strongly advised to check with the academic counselor in their prospective major or the Office of Admissions and Relations with Schools about courses that may be used to satisfy UCI requirements.
Students transferring to UCI must satisfy the UCI breadth requirement by completing either: (a) the current UCI breadth requirement, (b) one of the options listed in the Catalogue Rights section, or (c) the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum.
With the exception of students who complete the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum, transfer students should not feel that the breadth requirement must be completed prior to matriculating to UCI. The breadth requirement, which must be completed prior to graduation, may be satisfied by college-level courses appropriate to UCI offerings and may be met at any time during the undergraduate years, except in the case of the lower-division writing requirement, which must be completed within the first three quarters of residency at UCI.
I. Writing. The lower-division writing requirement is met by taking an approved one-year sequence in English composition. Courses used to meet the lower-division writing requirement must be completed with a minimum grade of C (or a Pass or Credit grade equivalent to C). Transfer students may not count any course designed exclusively for the satisfaction of Subject A toward the completion of the lower-division writing requirement. Any student entering UCI with only one semester or one quarter of English composition through which the Subject A requirement is fulfilled will not have satisfied any part of the writing requirement. Students enrolled at UCI may take only UCI courses in satisfaction of the lower-division and upper-division writing requirements. Continuing UCI students may not take summer courses at another institution to satisfy lower-division or upper-division writing requirements.
II. Natural Sciences. This requirement is met by (a) taking an approved one-year sequence in one of the following areas: general chemistry or basic physics; or by (b) taking two semesters or three quarters of approved courses in biological sciences or physical sciences with the exception of mathematics. These courses may or may not include a laboratory.
III. Social and Behavioral Sciences. This requirement is met by taking a year of approved work in any of the following areas: anthropology, economics, geography, linguistics, people and society, political science, psychology, social sciences, sociology, or social ecology. Students on the semester system may elect to take an introductory course followed by a second course in the same area or an introductory course from each of any two areas. Students on the quarter system may elect to take an introductory course followed by two courses in one area, or an introductory course followed by a second course in the same area plus an introductory course from another area. (History, for the purposes of the breadth requirement, is not considered a social or behavioral science but rather an area of humanistic inquiry.)
IV. Humanistic Inquiry. This requirement is met by taking two semesters or three quarters of approved courses in one of the following areas: classics, history, philosophy, humanities, English literature, comparative literature, women's studies, dramatic literature, or the history of art, dance, or music. Performance courses may not be used in satisfaction of this requirement.
V. Mathematics and Symbolic Systems. This requirement is met by taking two semesters or three quarters of approved courses in mathematics, computer science, linguistics, or logic.
VI. Language Other Than English. This requirement is met by (a) completing the third semester or fourth quarter of approved college-level study in a language other than English; (b) credit for four years of high school study, or its equivalent, in a single language other than English with a C average or better in the fourth year; (c) a score of 4 or 5 on a College Board Advanced Placement Examination in a language other than English; (d) a score of 620 or better on a SAT II examination in a language other than English, with the exception of SAT II: Modern Hebrew for which a score of 540 or better is required; (e) completion of an approved course of study in an Education Abroad Program; or (f) the equivalent as determined by an appropriate and available means of evaluation. If an appropriate means of evaluating competence in a non-English language of instruction does not exist, satisfactory completion, with a C average or better, of two years of formal schooling at the sixth grade level or higher in an institution where the language of instruction is not English will meet the requirement. Appropriate documentation must be presented to substantiate that the course work was completed.
VII. Multicultural Studies and International/Global Issues. This requirement is met by completing: one course in multicultural studies and one course on international/global issues. One quarter's participation in the Education Abroad Program (EAP) also satisfies the international/global issues portion of the requirement. Courses satisfying the multicultural requirement specifically address the history, society, and/or culture of one or more minority groups in California and the United States. Courses satisfying the international/global requirement focus on significant cultural, economic, geographical, historical, political, and/or sociological aspects of one or more foreign countries.
California community college transfer students may receive credit for the UCI breadth requirement by completing the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) prior to transfer. The IGETC consists of a series of subject areas and types of courses which, if completed prior to transfer, will satisfy the breadth and general education requirements at any campus of the University of California. Fulfillment of the IGETC does not satisfy the UCI upper-division writing requirement. Students who do not complete the IGETC prior to transferring to UCI must fulfill the UCI breadth requirement in its entirety.
Courses used to fulfill the IGETC must be completed with a grade of C or better. (Courses may also be taken on a Pass/No Pass basis provided Pass is equal to a letter grade of C or better.)
Lists of specific approved courses which may be taken in fulfillment of the IGETC are available from California community colleges and on the World Wide Web at http://www.assist.org/.
Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum
1. Language Other Than English: Proficiency equivalent to two years of high school study in the same language.
2. English Communication: One course in English Composition and a second course in Critical Thinking-English Composition.
3. Mathematical Concepts and Quantitative Reasoning: One course in mathematics or mathematical statistics which has a prerequisite of intermediate algebra. Courses on the application of statistics to particular disciplines are not acceptable.
4. Arts and Humanities: Three courses, at least one in arts and one in humanities.
5. Social and Behavioral Sciences: Three courses in at least two different disciplines.
6. Physical and Biological Sciences: One physical science and one biological science course; one must include a laboratory.
The University is committed to serve as fully as possible the educational needs of students who transfer from other California collegiate institutions. The principles covering transferability of unit credit and course credit are explained below and, unless otherwise indicated, are much the same whether transfer is from a two-year or a four-year institution.
The University of California grants unit credit for courses completed at other accredited colleges and universities when such courses are consistent with the functions of the University as set forth in the Master Plan for Higher Education in California. Equivalent advanced standing credit from institutions on the semester calendar may be determined at a ratio of one semester unit to one and one-half quarter units. (To graduate from UCI a minimum of 180 quarter units, equivalent to 45 UCI quarter courses, are needed.)
Community Colleges
A student may earn a maximum of 105 quarter units (70 semester units) at a community college toward a University degree. No further unit credit may be transferred from a community college, although subject, major, or breadth credit for courses taken will still be granted.
Students anticipating transfer to UCI are urged to consult with their community college counselors. The counselors, with the aid of that college's UC Transfer Course List Agreement (UCTCA), can advise students about California community college courses and units which will transfer to the University. In addition, staff in the UCI Office of Admissions and Relations with Schools can advise students about the transferability of courses. UCTCAs for all California community colleges are available on the World Wide Web at http://www.assist.org/.
Four-Year Institutions
Unit credit is granted for courses consistent with the University of California's functions and which have been completed in colleges or universities accredited by the appropriate agencies. While limitations of credit may be imposed in certain subject areas, these are consonant with the curricula for all students in the University of California. No defined maximum number of units which can be earned toward the degree is set for students transferring from four-year institutions. However, see the Residence Requirement in the UCI Requirements section.
University of California Extension
Extension courses prefixed by XB, XD, XI, XR, XSB, and XSD are granted unit credit on the same basis as courses taken in residence at any accredited collegiate institution.
Students intending to transfer Extension course credit for a degree at another college or university should verify acceptance of the course with that institution. Resident students of the University of California must obtain the consent of the dean of their school or college prior to enrolling for credit in an Extension course. Extension courses are not accepted as part of the residence requirements of the University. Grades earned in University Extension are not used in calculating the University grade point average.
Decisions regarding the acceptability of extension courses taken in institutions other than the University of California rest with the Office of Admissions and Relations with Schools. Decisions regarding the applicability of such courses toward specific degrees and majors rest with the student's academic dean.
The policies above refer only to the unit transferability of courses and are uniformly implemented on all UC campuses. Thus, courses which are determined by the University of California to be transferable are assured only of being granted elective course credit. The application of transfer work to specific course and major requirements is determined by the student's academic dean.
The Irvine campus makes every effort to eliminate all barriers to orderly progress from California community colleges into UCI's programs. To this end, courses from many California community colleges have been reviewed by UCI faculty and approved as acceptable toward meeting lower-division major or breadth requirements. Although course equivalencies for the breadth requirement may be liberally interpreted for purposes of transfer, courses to be applied toward school and departmental major requirements must be more precisely equated with UCI courses in unit value and in content.
Many California community colleges have entered into articulation agreements with UCI so that the specific application of their courses to UCI's breadth, school, and departmental major requirements may be readily communicated to prospective transfer students. By careful selection of courses, it is possible for students to satisfy some or all of the lower-division requirements of their intended program or school prior to transfer. It is recommended that transfer students complete as much of the lower-division breadth, school, and major requirements as possible prior to transferring to UCI. Articulation agreements are available on the World Wide Web at http://www.assist.org/.
Students are urged to consult community college counselors or the Office of Admissions and Relations with Schools for information on planning a program for transfer. Prospective transfer students with specific questions about course work in their major should contact the respective school or department at UCI.
