Special Notes for Transfer Students

Time limit for finalizing transfer credits

Transfer students must resolve any questions about transferred credits within one year of entering Mason. This includes courses from other institutions or credit by exam. This means that if you think you should have received more credit, or different credit, or if you need to have final transcripts or exam scores sent to Mason, follow up right away! Admissions is strict about the one-year cut-off. You'll find more information below about different issues you might need to follow up on.

Gen Ed/Mason Core waiver

Transfer students holding an AA, AS or AA&S degree from a Virginia community college that has a Guaranteed Admissions Agreement (GAA) with Mason may be eligible for a “General Education/Mason Core waiver.” This waiver releases a student from all University-wide Mason Core (previously known as "General Education") and CHSS general requirements EXCEPT for English 302 , foreign language (if not previously completed), and Synthesis (but Synthesis will be completed with HIST 300/499).  Qualifying for this waiver requires a specific minimum GPA at the community college as well as some specific coursework and application by the GAA deadline. If you think you qualify for the waiver, check your GMU transcript and degree evaluation to make sure the VCCS degree and the waiver are reflected in these records; if not, contact the Admissions Office at Mason IMMEDIATELY. Please email them at credeval@gmu.edu or visit the Office of Admissions on the 2nd floor of the Johnson Center.

Sending test scores to Mason

Record of your AP, IB, CLEP, or similar test scores do not follow you from one college to another. If you earned scores that entitle you to Mason credit or waive a requirement (see the credit by exam charts on the Admissions website), please follow up immediately to have these scores sent by the testing agency directly to Mason.

Checking for missing transfer courses

Please take some time to review your transfer equivalency worksheet in the Transcript section of your Patriot Web account. If you see any discrepancies - courses that you believe should have transferred but did not - contact Admissions at Mason IMMEDIATELY by emailing them at credeval@gmu.edu or by visiting their offices on the 2nd floor of the Johnson Center.

Getting course equivalencies re-evaluated

If you have courses that did transfer to Mason but inaccurately, there are two possibilities. If it appears to be a simple error - say, a STAT class transferred in as PHYS class - please contact Admissions right away at credeval@gmu.edu or by visiting their offices on the 2nd floor of the Johnson Center. If, instead, it appears that Admissions wasn't sure what the course equivalent was - say, you received credit for STAT--- when you think your course was equivalent to STAT 250 - you must complete a Transfer Credit Re-Evaluation Appeal Form (Go to https://www.gmu.edu/transfer/credits and scroll down to Transfer Credit Re-Evaluation Appeal Form.) and take it, with a course description and with syllabus if you can, to the department offering those kinds of courses.

Transfer student options for the Western Civ/ World History Mason Core requirement (students who transferred prior to Fall 2023)

Beginning in Fall 2023, there is no longer a Western Civ/World History requirement in Mason Core. Instead, there is a Mason Core Global History requirement. Transfer students may use HIST 125 (or, if they have junior or senior standing, HIST 394) to satisfy Global History. 

For students who have a Catalog Year prior to Fall 2023, they could use either HIST 100: History of Western Civilization or HIST 125: Introduction to World History to fulfill the Western Civilization/World History Mason Core requirement. However, a pre-Fall 2023 transfer student is eligible to fulfill this requirement by choosing from an alternative list of history courses. NOTE: If you have qualified for a Gen Ed/Mason Core Waiver (see above), this Mason Core requirement is already fulfilled.

Losing credit by unintentionally repeating a course

Sadly, we have seen this happen. If you take a course at Mason for which you have already received transfer credit, the new course will "overwrite" the credit for your transferred course. So please be careful! Study your transfer equivalency worksheet (in your Patriot Web account) and become very familiar with the titles of the courses already credited to you. Be especially careful if the content of a Mason course sounds similar to the content of a course you took elsewhere, even if the course you took elsewhere was titled something else.