First of all, welcome! (or welcome back!)
If you have transferred from another university or college, you probably have been granted transfer credit for some of your courses. Normally you receive information about your transfer credit at the time of advising so first refer back to your original advising documentation.
Now, a little explanation of your transfer credits! They count towards the courses as specified in your transfer credit letter.
For example, you may have completed an introductory biology course at another institution. Your transfer credit letter may state that this previous course is being credited as BIOL 1001. That means you will have satisfied the course requirement of BIOL 1001 for your degree and may take courses that require BIOL 1001 as a prerequisite.
Keep in mind, on your degree progress report, transfer credits may not have been entered into the system yet and may not show up. So even if your transfer credit letter states that a course requirement has been completed it may not be registered and your program progress will show “not satisfied” even though it is. Please be patient, each course must be entered manually!
Further, because of this, you may not be able to enroll in a course that requires a prerequisite that you have satisfied with a transfer credit! In this case, please write to biology@yorku.ca. State which course(s) you wish to enroll in and specify which transfer credit(s) you have. They will help you enroll in your desired course(s)!
Some points that Biology transfer students should be aware of:
- If you have been given BIOL credits at the 1000 level, but NOT a course credit exclusion for BIOL 1000/1001, you will have to take BIOL 1000/1001.
- If you have been given BIOL credits at the 2000 level, but without course credit exclusions, you will be required to complete the entire second year core. For example, If you have credit for BIOL 2XXX 3.0 it means you have 3 BIOL credits at the second year level that will count towards your major credit totals but is not equivalent to any York course.
- Transfer credit for a course in statistics may not be used as part of the second year core, nor as a Biology credit, if course credit exclusion for BIOL 2060 3.0 has not been granted (for example you may receive MATH credit rather than BIOL).
- We suggest you make an advising appointment at least a year before graduation to ensure that all degree requirements are met.
- Courses at different institutions vary in terms of content, breadth and depth. You may have a course credit exclusion for a York course but still be missing some background, and/or may have completed a course elsewhere that overlaps with one or more York courses but not to a great enough extent to warrant a course credit exclusion.
- If you feel a course was not properly assessed, you may request a re-assessment. Contact the transfer credit office (Registrar, Bennett Centre) for the form and procedure.
If you have outstanding questions please feel free to book an advising appointment. Be sure to bring copies of your transfer credit information and advising documents when you come.