Coterminal Course Transfers
Policy Summary
Coterm students may request to transfer Stanford courses between their undergraduate and graduate careers to meet degree requirements, subject to approval from both degree programs and the Office of the University Registrar.
Policy Statement
After accepting admission to a master’s degree program, coterm students may request transfer of Stanford courses from the undergraduate to the graduate career to satisfy requirements for the master’s degree and/or from the graduate career to the undergraduate career to satisfy requirements for the bachelor's degree(s). Transfer of courses between the undergraduate and graduate careers requires review and approval by both the undergraduate and graduate departments.
Courses taken three quarters prior to the first graduate quarter, or later, are eligible for consideration for transfer to the graduate career. Summer quarters, Flex Terms, and quarters spent on approved full-term leave of absence are not included in the quarters-back count. Although summer quarters and Flex Terms are not used to determine how far back a student may transfer courses, units earned in these quarters may be transferred.
No courses taken prior to the first quarter of the sophomore year may be used to meet master’s degree requirements. Individual programs have the discretion to set their own policy regarding course transfer for their coterm master’s students, provided that no student counts a course taken earlier than the first quarter of sophomore year. The program’s policy is stated in the relevant department.
Implementation Information
Course transfer requests should serve as a means to transfer courses between careers in order to meet degree requirements, not as a replacement for enrolling in courses on the appropriate career.
All course transfer requests must be submitted via eForms portal no later than the Late Application to Graduate deadline of the intended bachelor’s degree conferral quarter. Course transfers between careers are not possible after the bachelor’s degree has been conferred. Undergraduate credit from transfer courses or tests may not be transferred to the graduate career.
In the case of requesting a transfer of a course that has invoked the Repeat Policy, meaning the course is not eligible to be repeated for credit, students must keep both attempts on the same career. If the first attempt of a course occurs outside of the student's Quarters Back rule, both attempts of this course must remain on the undergraduate career. For students who take a non-repeatable class on their graduate career that they have already completed on their undergraduate career, these classes must remain on separate careers, lest it invoke the repeat policy. Once the repeat policy has been invoked, it will not be removed.
Students should visit the Coterm Course Transfer Student Service page for information about how to request a course transfer.
Exception Process
Exceptions to the university's Coterminal Course Transfer policy may be requested through the Student & Academic Services Student Exceptions Committee. Full details can be found at https://studentservices.stanford.edu/my-academics/access-resources-help/request-exception-academic-policy.
Contact Information
Academic Records, Enrollment and Grading, Office of the University Registrar