Petitions & Core Transfer Credit

The core curriculum rules and course lists for each Catalog are developed by faculty committees and approved by the Faculty Council, UT System, and Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. We take these requirements very seriously and enforce them strictly for students in all majors.

In accordance with 19 Texas Administrative Code §4.28(j), courses taken in residence will only satisfy core requirements when listed as a core curriculum course in the Catalog under which a student plans to graduate. UT does not generally accept in-residence coursework in substitution for core requirements.

Transfer credit may, however, be accepted to fulfill core curriculum requirements. An explanation of the rules governing this process follows.

Initial Evaluation of Transfer Credit

Coursework completed at other institutions is evaluated by the Office of Admissions to determine whether it may transferred to the university for credit. The Office of Admissions is responsible for assigning a specific UT course number (e.g. M 302), general credit within a particular field of study (e.g. M 3HRS), or general elective credit (e.g. ELV 3HRS) to all acceptable transfer work. This evaluation initially determines how transfer credit may be counted toward core, major, and elective requirements at the university. For example, the core math requirement would automatically be satisfied by transfer credit evaluated as a direct equivalent to M 302, which is a core math course at UT Austin, but not by transfer credit evaluated as generic M 3HRS or ELV 3HRS.

Students whose transfer work has been evaluated in such a way that it does not automatically satisfy a core or major requirement that the student believes it should satisfy have two recourses: (1) petition the Office of Admissions to re-evaluate the transfer credit to assign a specific UT course number that will satisfy the requirement, or (2) petition the appropriate academic affairs office to count the transfer credit (as evaluated by the Office of Admissions) toward the requirement by substitution. See below for more information about each of these options.

Note: Before submitting any petition, students should check the Interactive Degree Audit system to see how their transfer and in-residence credit is currently being applied toward core and major requirements.

Transfer Credit Re-Evaluation (Office of Admissions)

Students who believe that their transfer credit has been evaluated incorrectly (e.g. should be considered the direct equivalent of a UT course but was not) may submit a petition for re-evaluation of transfer credit to the Office of Admissions. Transfer credit evaluated as a direct equivalent to a specific UT course number will function essentially as it would if taken in residence, i.e. it will automatically be available in the degree audit system to satisfy appropriate core and major requirements.

Credit by Substitution

Transfer credit accepted in any form by the Office of Admissions (directly equivalent to a UT course number, general credit within a field of study, or general elective credit) may be used to satisfy core or major requirements by substitution if approved by the appropriate academic affairs office. In the case of major and elective requirements, substitutions must be approved by the student’s college or school. In the case of core curriculum requirements, all substitutions must be approved by the School of Undergraduate Studies.

Students may request a core curriculum substitution by submitting a petition for core curriculum accommodation to the School of Undergraduate Studies. Please read the instructions on the form carefully and consider discussing your options with an academic advisor before submitting the petition. Transfer coursework proposed to satisfy a core requirement is evaluated based on the Student Competencies of the core area to which the student proposes that it apply.

The petition coordinator in the School of Undergraduate Studies is available to consult with you at any point in the process:

Erin Collins
School of Undergraduate Studies
Flawn Academic Center, Room 411
1 University Station, G8000
Austin, TX 78712

Phone: (512) 232-8406
Email: erincollins@austin.utexas.edu

Core Credit from Texas Public Institutions

In accordance with 19 Texas Administrative Code §4.28, transferred coursework that is not evaluated as a direct equivalent to a UT core course and not approved for credit by substitution will still be automatically counted toward appropriate core curriculum areas if transferred from another Texas public institution that considers the course part of its core curriculum. Students who complete the core curriculum at another Texas public institution are deemed to have satisfied the entire core curriculum at UT Austin.

Before submitting a petition, check the Interactive Degree Audit system to determine whether transferred work has been automatically applied to your core requirements.

More Information

The Office of Admissions maintains a number of resources that may be helpful to students transferring credit to UT:

• Automated Transfer Equivalency System – helps you to determine how your transfer credit from another Texas institution will be evaluated by the Office of Admissions.
• Common Transfer Credit Issues – helps you to understand and avoid typical difficulties in using transfer courses to fulfill UT degree requirements.
• Transfer Credit Policies – a complete discussion in the Transfer Admission section in Chapter 2 of the General Information Catalog.
• 2008-2010 Core Curriculum Transfer Guides – for coursework completed at Austin Community College and other Texas community colleges.