Obtaining Transfer Credit

To apply for transfer credit for a Math Course, first obtain forms from the Office of Transfer Credit in 1 College Hall; you will need a form for each course you wish to transfer. Then email to transfer@math.upenn.edu. We will email you back information on making an appointment.
You should also read through our policies below, which will answer many questions about whether or not you can expect to receive transfer credit and/or AP credit.

Transfer Credit and Placement Exam Policies

Statistics Courses

We only deal with math courses - to get transfer credit for a statistics course please contact the statistics department (in Wharton) or perhaps the Office for Transfer Credit in 1 College Hall.

Calculus

Math 103, 104, 114, 115, 240, 241 are regarded as Calculus courses. Here are the various possible ways to obtain credit for a Calculus course at Penn:

(1) Take and pass the course here at Penn.

(2) You can receive Advanced Placement (AP) credit for Math 104 by taking the external AP exam administered by the College Entrance Examination Board and receiving a score of BC 5. Credit is possible in this way only for Math 104. If you qualify for advanced placement credit, you must have the Educational Testing Service send official score reports to the Office of Advanced Placement and Transfer Credit at 215-898-6080, or email transfer@admissions.ugao.upenn.edu. You can use Penn in Touch to check if the transfer credit has been awarded. If the credit has not been awarded by 6 weeks after ETS sent your scores, please call the Transfer Credit Office at 215-898-6080.

Foreign Exams: You can also receive credit for Math 104 by taking

1. The English A-levels (Cambridge version) with a grade of A together with special paper with merit
    or
2. The English A-levels (Edexel version) through Pure 6 with a grade of A
    or
3. International Bacc in Mathematics with Further Mathematics, score of 7

These are the only ways foreign exams can be used to obtain Math 104 credit. (We should mention that there is something called the "A-levels with further math" for which we don't give credit, and the IB with "Higher Level", which we dont give credit for. The one exception is the IB with "Higher Level" and the optional section (12-Analysis and Approximation) covering power series, which receives Math 104 credit - if you took this you will need to produce a syllabus showing your IB class covered this section. It is not possible to receive credit for Math 103 by passing an exam.

(3) Internal Placement Exam: The first week of each Fall and Spring semester the Math Department here at Penn offers exams in all Calculus courses (except for Math 103; credit for Math 103 can be obtained only by taking the course as in items (1) above or (4) below.) Check the undergraduate homepage or contact the math office the week before classes start for details regarding the time and location for these exams, and sign up in the Math Department office at DRL 4W1 by noon the day the exams are given. The content and level of difficulty of these exams are similar to the final exams given for the corresponding courses here at Penn. Syllabi and old exams for these courses can be downloaded from the Calculus Homepage of these courses. No calculators are allowed, but you can bring a two-sided 8.5 by 11 inch notecard with notes on it. If you pass one of these exams you will receive credit for the corresponding course, just as if you took and passed the course.

(4) Take a Calculus course, during the regular academic year (Fall or Spring semester) at another College or University, and receive a grade of C+ or better (Math 103) or C or better for any other Calculus course. Then make a request to see a transfer credit evaluator (see top of page) (Evaluators are unavailable between May 1 and August 24). When you see the evaluator you will need to bring a transfer credit form and also (if at all possible) a copy of the syllabus for the course you took and are seeking transfer credit for. If the syllabus of the course you took covers all the topics covered in the syllabus for a course here at Penn you will normally be given credit for it. If the courses are taken at a College or University on the quarter system, transfer credit is evaluated on a case by case basis.
Important Note: We do not give transfer credit for Calculus courses taken at other Colleges or Universities during the summer, nor do we give transfer credit for Calculus courses taken elsewhere over the web (even if they are taken during the regular academic year). Also, we do not give credit for any course taken abroad duriing the regular academic year. Taking such courses, however, may well be useful in preparing for the internal placement exam (item (3) above). If you would like to take such a course you may email transfer@math.upenn.edu to ask for advice on which summer course at your selected College or University would best prepare you for a given internal placement exam.

We also do not give credit for any course taken in high school, or for any course given at a College or University which is specifically designed for high-school students.

Note: If you pass a given Calculus class here at Penn, either through taking the class or passing an AP or placement exam, you can get credit automatically for all Calculus classes below that (but above 103), by filling out a form in the Math Office, DRL 4W1.

Math 170

Here are the various possible ways to obtain credit for Math 170 at Penn:

(1) Take and pass the course here at Penn.

(2) Take an equivalent course, during the regular academic year (Fall or Spring semester) at another College or University, and receive a grade of C+ or better. Then make a request to see a transfer credit evaluator (see top of page) .(Evaluators are unavailable between May 15 and August 24). When you see the evaluator you need to bring a transfer credit form (obtained from the Office of Transfer Credit in College Hall) and also (if at all possible) a copy of the syllabus for the course you took that you are seeking transfer credit for. If the syllabus of the course you took covers all the topics covered in the syllabus for Math 170 here at Penn you will normally be given credit for it. If the course was taken at a College or University on the quarter system, transfer credit is evaluated on a case by case basis.
Important Note: We do not give transfer credit for the equivalent of a Math 170 taken at another College or University during the summer, nor do we give transfer credit for courses taken elsewhere over the web (even if they are taken during the regular academic year). There is also no Internal Placement Test for Math 170.

Advanced Courses

We define an advanced Math course to be any course numbered 300 or higher. Here are the various possible ways to obtain credit for an advanced course at Penn:

(1) Take and pass the course here at Penn.

(2) Take an equivalent course (during the regular academic year or during summer session) at another College or University, and receive a grade of C or better. Then make a request to see a transfer credit evaluator by sending email to transfer@math.upenn.edu after August 24 (evaluators are unavailable between May 15 and August 24). When you see the evaluator you need to bring a transfer credit form (obtained from the Office of Transfer Credit in College Hall) and also (if at all possible) a copy of the syllabus for the course you took that you are seeking transfer credit for. If the syllabus of the course you took covers all the topics covered in the syllabus for a corresponding course here at Penn you will normally be given credit for it. If the course was taken at a College or University on the quarter system, transfer credit is evaluated on a case by case basis.

"Free" Credit

In some cases courses taken elsewhere which do not correspond to any particular course given here at Penn may be awarded a "free credit", which means they may be used to fulfill general credit requirements for graduation even though credit is not given for any specific Penn course. Free credit is never given for any course below Calculus (for example College Algebra or Pre-Calculus).