Transfer Students

The school allows students to transfer from qualified institutions into the school at any year provided that it does not violate the university's general degree requirements.

The school has a rigorous procedure to evaluate courses for equivalency taken by transfer students and courses to be taken at other institutions.  Through the University’s transfer coordinator in the Undergraduate Studies office, the relevant school or department of the University evaluates the course for any University equivalencies and communicates its recommendation to the School of Engineering (cua-transfercredit@cua.edu). The School of Engineering will accept the transfer of courses taken at accredited colleges and universities in any discipline offered by the University, including engineering and computer science courses that are not laboratory-based or design-based, provided the relevant school or department of the University deems the courses equivalent to University courses and thus appropriate for transfer. The approval of the transfer of online courses is at the discretion of the chairperson and dean. The dean must provide final approval for all transfer credits.

Transfer Credit Maximums

Transfer students are limited in the number of credits that can be transferred to their degree program in the School of Engineering: at least half of all credits required for the degree must be taken at Catholic University. Courses taken through the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan area and courses taken within approved Catholic University study abroad programs are acceptable in meeting this requirement.

Department	Total Program Credits	Maximum Transfer Credits
Biomedical Engineering	132	66
Civil Engineering	131	65
Computer Science	123	61
Environmental Engineering	135	67
Electrical Engineering	123	61
Mechanical Engineering	130	65

Additional Requirements

• At least 30 of the last 36 credit hours must be taken at Catholic University. Consortium and CatholicU study abroad courses meet this requirement.

• If a transfer student does not receive credit for a course equivalent to ENGR 102, Intro to Engineering Design and Professionalism, they must either take ENGR 102 prior to reaching junior status, or substitute an extra program elective in place of ENGR 102. (ENGR 102 registration is open to students with first- and second-year status only.)
• Nine non-technical courses (including courses referred to "First Year Experience" courses) are degree requirements that must be met by transfer students. These courses are:
  • ENG 101
  • PHIL 201
  • PHIL 202
  • TRS 201
  • TRS 202A/B
  • PHIL 362
  • 1 Literature/Fine Art/Social Studies course
  • 2 Liberal Studies courses

Transfer Credit for Existing Students

Existing students in the School of Engineering who wish to take a course elsewhere (e.g., during the summer) must have pre-approval from their advisor and department chair. A student begins the approval process by completing an online form available on the Undergraduate Studies website, through which the student provides information about the course he or she wishes to take. The Transfer Coordinator determines whether any course entered on the online form has previously been evaluated for transfer equivalence at Catholic University, and if not, arranges for evaluation. Once all courses submitted by the student for approval have their Catholic University equivalents determined, the Transfer Coordinator provides the student with a form listing the equivalences, which the student must then have signed by his or her faculty advisor and submit to his or her department for processing. If the advisor and department chair approve the student to take the requested course(s) elsewhere, the department notifies the dean’s office, which notifies the Transfer Coordinator of the approval.

Once the student has completed the course(s) elsewhere, a transcript is submitted to the Transfer Coordinator. If the Transfer Coordinator has a record that a course was pre-approved and the transcript shows a grade of C- or better, the Transfer Coordinator posts the transfer credit for the course in question to the student’s record. Note that a student will not receive credit for a course if the pre-approval form was not signed by the student’s faculty advisor and processed by the student’s department (even if that same course was approved for transfer credit for other students).

During any semester (fall or spring) when registered for courses at Catholic University, a student may not simultaneously register for courses at other institutions except for through the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area.