DOCTORAL
PROGRAMS
Transfer of Credit
Wharton Policy
Transfer of Course Credit Request Form
Credit for Graduate Work at Other Universities
Of the twenty course units of graduate work required for the doctoral degree, at least twelve units must be taken at the University of Pennsylvania. Students may receive up to eight units of credit for graduate work at other universities. Specific departments may set lower limits. A student who desires credit for previous course work should submit a written request to his or her Departmental Coordinator. That request should be submitted during the first year in the program. The Coordinator will decide whether to grant credit based on the standards of the previous work and its relevance to the student’s program. The Coordinator’s recommendations should be sent in writing to the Director and should be filed with the Wharton Doctoral Programs Office. The decision of the Coordinator is final, but it must be filed in the student’s folder in the DoctoralPrograms Office. The formal transfer of credit does not take place until the end of the first year of doctoral study.
Credit for Courses Taken in the Wharton MBA Program
Precisely the same rules as above apply to transferring credits from the Wharton MBA Program. Upon the Coordinator’s approval of MBA course work based on standards, relevancy, and departmental rules, a maximum of eight MBA course credits may be transferred. No MBA courses will be transferred with a grade below a High Pass. As above, the request for such a transfer should be submitted during the student’s first year in the Ph.D. Program.
University Policy
TRANSFER OF CREDIT
At least 12 course units of the total program required for this degree must be completed at the University of Pennsylvania; the balance may be transferred from other institutions, if the transfer is approved by the graduate group chairperson and the dean of student’s school. Such requests for transfer of credit may be made to the graduate group chairperson after the student has been enrolled for an academic year. No work done as an undergraduate, whether done at this institution or at any other, will be counted toward a higher degree. (Graduate courses completed by undergraduates as part of submatriculation in a graduate group count as graduate courses and, therefore, may be counted toward graduate degree requirements.)* A graduate group may admit a student trained in the Schools of Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, or Dental Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania as a candidate for the Ph.D. degree. A maximum of 14 of the needed 20 course units may be transferred from work completed in the first two preclinical years of these schools. Such candidates must conform to the graduate faculties schedule and its rules regarding foreign languages, examinations, and doctoral dissertation. If eight course units or more are allowed for work in the Schools of Medicine, the student will operate under the five-year rule as described below, as though credit for a master’s degree had been given. Credit towards satisfaction of the minimum course requirements for a post-baccalaureate degree can be given for a maximum of four course units of work completed while registered in the College of General Studies.
***For More Information click on > Procedures for Transfer of Credit
*Submatriculation into a Wharton Doctoral Program refers to Wharton Undergraduates ONLY!