Chapter Four
Grades and
Credits
T he University of Washington awards numerical
grades rather than letter grades. An elective pass/
no-pass system called S/NS is available, although required
courses may not be taken S/NS. A student may arrange to
take an incomplete in a course, and, with the agreement
of the instructor, has up to one year to make up the
remaining work. A student may repeat a course only
once, with permission; both grades are recorded and
included in the grade-point average.
Students receive their grades online in MyUW, and can
also view their unofficial transcript there. Starting the
second week of the quarter there are a variety of
restrictions on dropping and adding courses.
In This Chapter:
Grades that appear on the transcript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Dean’s List and Baccalaureate honors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Notations that appear next to grades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Grade reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Transcripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Transfer evaluations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Grade information available from the
Student Database & EARS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Grade information available on the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
See also: www.washington.edu/students/#GRADES
34 Adviser’s Guide 2007
GrAdes ThAT AppeAr on The Students may sign up for the S/NS option in web
TrAnsCrIpT registration. Students are permitted to switch to and
from S/NS through the seventh week of the quarter.
After the seventh week of the quarter, no changes are
numerical grades allowed.1
Since summer 1976, the UW has been awarding nu- A student may take any number of courses S/NS in a
merical grades instead of letter grades, on a scale of given quarter. A total of 25 UW S credits may apply
4.0 to 0.0. Thus, instead of a B, a student may receive toward the 180 credits required for a degree.
a 3.3, or a 2.7. Consult the URL above for more infor-
mation about the letter-grade equivalents of number Credit/No Credit-only courses
grades. Before summer 1976, the letter grades of A, B, If an instructor or department wishes to offer a course
C, D, and E were assigned. on a pass/no-pass basis only, the course is designated
as “credit/no credit only” (CR/NC only) in the Time
pass/no-pass grading options Schedule. Since CR/NC is not a student option, the
student does not request it when registering. CR/NC
S/NS courses may be counted toward requirements and
A student who selects the Satisfactory/Not Satisfac- there is no limit on the number of CR/NC credits that
tory option for a course must do 2.0 work or above to can count toward a degree. Neither CR nor NC af-
receive an S and credit, while a 1.9 or lower receives fects the student’s grade-point average.
an NS and no credit for the course. Neither affects
the grade-point average. The instructor is not notified Incompletes
that a student is taking a course S/NS; the instruc- If a student completes almost all of a course but is
tor submits a numerical grade as usual, which is con- not able to finish the required work by the end of the
verted by the Registrar into S or NS. This conversion quarter, s/he may arrange with the instructor to take
happens several days after grades are initially posted, an incomplete in the course. In most cases, the stu-
so students can see their numerical grade in MyUW dent meets with the instructor to request the incom-
for several days before it is removed and an S or NS plete (the instructor may refuse), and together the
posted. Advisers can view the numerical grade using student and instructor determine how the remaining
the Student Database and the SRF317 screen, where work will be made up. An “I” grade will appear on the
the numerical grade remains. grade report.
Students may not count S/NS courses toward any grad- Normally, the remaining work for the course is com-
uation requirements, including basic skills, breadth, pleted before the end of the next quarter and the in-
major, or minor requirements. S/NS courses may structor submits a grade. In some instances, the in-
be counted only toward “electives,” the free-choice structor will ask a student to sit in on the class the
courses needed to achieve the 180 credits required following quarter in order to make up the incomplete.
for graduation. In such cases, the student should never reregister for
Courses in the Academic English Program (ENGL the course. Instead, the instructor submits an incom-
100A, 100B, 100C, 101A, and 101B) may not be taken plete removal form at the end of that quarter.
S/NS. If a student requests S/NS grading in an AEP Incomplete makeups are added into the GPA for the
course, the grade will be changed back to the numeri- quarter in which the “I” was received, not the quarter
cal grade by the English Language Program Office.
Courses taken to remove admission deficiencies may 1 At the time s/he applies for graduation, a student may
be taken S/NS. petition the Graduation and Academic Records Office to
have a grade changed from S/NS to regular grade if the
course is needed to satisfy graduation requirements. The
student may also petition if a grade is needed in a course
required for admission to a major. Under no circum-
stances may regular grades be converted to S/NS after
the deadline.
Chapter Four: Grades and Credits 35
in which the work is finished. The grade is posted next X grades
to the “I,” which is not erased.
An instructor may submit a grade of “X” for a student
Deferral of an incomplete if for whatever reason the student’s grade is not avail-
able when the grades for the class are submitted. The
The instructor may write a note to Graduation and student does not receive credit for the course until a
Academic Records deferring removal of the incom- numerical grade is turned in. Also, if an instructor has
plete for up to one year from the end of the quarter not turned in any grade by the time grade reports are
the incomplete was assigned; or the instructor may printed, an “X” will be recorded until the grade is sub-
arrange for the “I” to be changed automatically to a mitted. If the instructor never turns in a grade, the
specified grade if no other grade is submitted before X remains on the transcript. The GPA is not affected
the stated time. If the incomplete is not made up and and no credit is granted.
a grade turned in by the end of the next quarter (sum-
mer excluded, even if the student attends) and no no-
hyphenated courses
tice of deferral has been submitted, the incomplete
will automatically be converted to a 0.0 in the next There are two types of hyphenated courses. In some
quarter. The instructor can change the 0.0 to a grade hyphenated sequences, credit and grades are not
by submitting a change-of-grade card any time within granted until the hyphenated sequence is completed
the one-year limit. (e.g., ENGL 104-105); in these sequences, a grade of
“N” is recorded for the first quarter. The N is erased
Academic probation and incompletes and a grade entered in its place only upon comple-
After the quarter is underway, a student will not be tion of the sequence. In other hyphenated sequences,
retroactively dropped by an incomplete removal in an a grade is recorded for the first quarter and the stu-
earlier quarter, but a student may be retroactively put dent is not actually required to complete the second
on probation. quarter.
Incompletes left at graduation Withdrawals
If a student receives an incomplete the quarter in Withdrawal from a course during the third through
which s/he graduates and the course is not needed the seventh weeks of the quarter (the Late Course
for the degree, the incomplete does not automatically Drop Period, one drop/year allowed) is called the An-
convert to a 0.0 the next quarter. If a grade is submit- nual Drop, and is recorded as a “W” with the week of
ted, such an incomplete can be converted to a grade the withdrawal also indicated; for example, “W3.” The
in the very next quarter after graduation, but if the withdrawal does not affect GPA.
conversion hasn’t occurred by then the incomplete If a student drops all his/her courses (withdraws for
will remain permanently as an “I”. If the incomplete is the quarter) after the second week of the quarter, the
converted to a grade in the quarter following gradu- courses are listed on the transcript each with a “W”
ation, the grade is not added into the student’s final grade, and the date of the withdrawal is noted.
GPA.
Course withdrawals made during Registration Peri-
The old incomplete system ods 1, 2, 3, and the Unrestricted Drop Period are not
recorded on the transcript. No withdrawals except
Before summer 1976, a student was allowed up to two
hardship withdrawals (or complete withdrawal from
years to remove an incomplete, and an incomplete
the quarter) are allowed after the seventh week of the
was never automatically converted to an E. Since it is
quarter.
now too late for any such incompletes to be converted
to grades, they will remain permanently on the record
as incompletes. They will never be converted to 0.0s.
hardship withdrawals
Hardship withdrawals, when granted (see Chap-
ter 3: Registration), are recorded with a grade
of “HW.” HWs do not affect the student’s GPA.
36 Adviser’s Guide 2007
deAn’s LIsT And Grades for repeated courses
BACCALAureATe honors
First repeats
The UW posts quarterly and yearly high-scholarship The first time a student repeats a course, both the
notations on the transcripts of students who have original and the repeat grades are calculated into the
earned a 3.50 GPA for at least 12 graded credits each student’s cumulative GPA. The two grades are not av-
quarter. eraged together. If the student earned credit the first
Baccalaureate honors (summa cum laude, magna time the course was completed (i.e., the grade was 0.7
cum laude, cum laude) are earned by students who or above), no credit is earned when the course is re-
complete at least 90 UW residence credits (including peated.
at least 60 graded credits) and achieve the minimum
GPAs for honors set each year. Freshman, Sopho- Second repeats and beyond
more, Junior, and President’s Medals are also awarded Beginning Winter 2005, if a student is allowed to re-
each year. For more information see: peat a course more than once, the grade is recorded
www.washington.edu/students/gencat/front/deans_List.html on the student’s transcript but is not calculated into
the student’s GPA. If the student previously earned
repeating courses credit for the course (i.e., one of the previous grades
was above 0.0), no credit is earned when the course is
A student who registers for and completes a course repeated.
(with a numeric grade, including 0.0, Incomplete, S or
NS, or CR or NC), and then in a later quarter registers previous repeated-course policies
for the same course again is said to be repeating the
course, unless the Course Descriptions website indi- From autumn 1985 through winter 2005, students
cates that the course can be repeated for credit. were not restricted from repeating a course more
than once. The grade for the second and any subse-
Since autumn 1985, an undergraduate student is al-
quent repeats was recorded as X and was not included
lowed to repeat a course once, with departmental
in the student’s grade-point average. If, however, the
permission, regardless of the original grade. Begin-
student had not yet received credit for the course and
ning in winter 2005, repeat registration is controlled
had now earned a passing grade, the grade was re-
by the way the class is coded on the Curriculum In-
corded as CR rather than X, and the student received
quiry (SRF 200) screen in the SDB. The relevant field
credit for the course toward graduation. This change
is located in the lower right corner of the screen. For
(from grade to X or CR) was made some time after
example:
grades were posted, so the grade was visible briefly on
the student’s online grade report in MyUW.
From winter 1983 through summer 1985, an under-
graduate student was allowed to repeat a course once,
Y means that repeat registration is allowed, N that it and only if the original grade was below 2.0. Both
is not. In this example, repeat registration is allowed grades remained on the student’s transcript, and both
in Periods 2 and 3, but not in Period 1. A department were calculated into the student’s GPA. Before winter
may override this restriction by registering a student 1983, students were allowed to repeat any course any
using the SRF 104 screen. number of times. At the student’s request, only the
Starting in winter quarter 2005, no student may re- most recent grade was computed into the student’s
peat a course more than once unless given permission GPA, and a diagonal line was drawn through earlier
by the department offering the course. If a student at- grades.
tempts to register for a course a third time, the regis-
tration system will respond with a message that the repeats and Incompletes
course has been previously repeated and the student A student who takes an incomplete in a course should
is not eligible to register for the course again. A de- never reregister for the course as a way of making
partment may override this these restrictions by reg- up the incomplete, since s/he will then receive two
istering a student using the SRF 104 screen.
Chapter Four: Grades and Credits 37
grades—one for the incomplete conversion (0.0, un- ment. For students in the College of Arts and Sciences,
less the instructor submits a grade), and another for the first quarter of a student’s language of admission is
the reregistration. Both grades will stand and be com- considered duplication. The course and grade received
puted into the student’s GPA. Instead, the student are posted on the transcript, but neither the credit nor
should make arrangements to complete the work for the grade counts in the student’s totals.
the course with the original instructor. In some cases,
this may mean the student will sit in on the course in /D
a subsequent quarter, even with a different instructor, The notation /D for Deduct is posted by the grades of
so long as the original instructor agrees to submit an courses when the grade counts in the student’s GPA
incomplete removal grade. but the credit does not count toward graduation. The
notation is used mainly for 100- and 200-level ROTC
noTATIons ThAT AppeAr courses taken prior to autumn 2007 and ESL courses
taken summer 1993 or later.
neXT To GrAdes
Special notations are posted next to the grades of re- Transcript notations
peated courses. Although this may change during the On printed transcripts, the notation /R is posted next
2007-2008 school year, the Student Database System to any repeat (1st repeat, 2nd repeat, etc.) taken winter
(SDB) currently carries different notations than print- 2005 or later, and when a student takes the first quarter
ed transcripts. of her language of admission. /DR, as defined above,
only appears on printed transcripts for first repeats
sdB notations prior to winter 2005. /D is used on transcripts in the
same way as in the SDB.
/DR = grade counts in GPA; credit is not earned
(1st time repeat)
/R = grade does not count in GPA; credit is not GrAde reporTs
earned (2nd time repeat and beyond; 101 in
Students obtain their grades online in MyUW. A sam-
language of admission for A&S majors)
ple of the quarterly grade report is shown on the in Fig-
/D = grade counts in GPA; credit is not earned ure 1. The following paragraphs explain the grade and
(ESL courses) credit information on the report.
/DR Graded Credits Attempted is the number of credits
used to calculate the quarterly grade-point average.
When a student repeats a course, the notation /DR for This figure will often differ from Total Credits Earned,
Deduct-Repeat is posted by the second grade. The no- as some courses count toward graduation but not to-
tation indicates that the grade counts in the student’s ward the grade-point average, or vice-versa, as shown
GPA but the credit is not added to the credit total— in the table on page 38.
because the student has already earned credit for the
same course. (If the student’s previous grade was 0.0 Grade Points Earned is obtained by multiplying the
no notation is made, and both the credit and the grade number of credits for each class by the grade received.
count.) Thus, for GERMAN 103 as shown in the sample, 5
credits times a grade of 3.7 yields 18.5 grade points.
/R Grade Point Average is obtained by dividing the grade
If a student enrolls in and completes a class a third points by the graded credits attempted. In the sample,
time, neither the credit nor the grade counts. If the 66.5 ÷ 17 = 3.91 GPA.
grades for the two previous attempts were both 0.0 and In this way the grades for each course are weighted,
the student passes the course on the third try, credit is so that a 4.0 in a 5-credit course affects the GPA more
earned but the grade still does not count in the GPA. than a 4.0 in a 2-credit course.
The /R notation is also used when a student completes In the Cumulative Summary, the Graded Credits At-
the first quarter of the foreign language the student took tempted, Grade Points Earned, and Grade Point Aver-
in high school to meet the UW’s admission require- age include only UW credits.
38 Adviser’s Guide 2007
Credits, GpA, and Full-time status
Type oF C ourse CounT ed In ToTAL CounTed In GrAded *CounTed
CredITs eA r ned CredITs ATTempTed ToWArd FuLL-TIme
(CounTs ToWArd (CounTs In G pA) sTATus (12 Cr/q Tr)
180)
regular graded course, grade yes yes yes
0.7 or above
regular graded course, grade no yes yes
0.0
S/NS yes, if S no yes
CR/NC yes, if CR no yes
ESL (ENGL 100, 101) no yes yes
100- and 200-level ROTC no yes yes
(prior to autumn 2007)
100- and 200-level (begin- yes yes yes
ning autumn 2007) and 300-
and 400-level ROTC
1st quarter of the foreign no no yes
language of admission (A&S
majors only)
MATH 098 no no yes
prerequisite completed no yes yes
after a course later in the
sequence (e.g., MATH 120
after MATH 124) (math,
chemistry, and foreign lan-
guage only)
**duplicate courses no yes yes
first repeats ***no yes yes
second repeats and beyond ***no no yes
credits taken in repeatable no yes yes
courses (e.g., DANCE 104)
beyond the maximum allow-
able credit
*Courses that don’t count toward credits earned generally don’t count toward the 36 credits/year required by Financial Aid.
Students should consult a Financial Aid counselor.
**Situations in which credit is not allowed for both of two courses. Credit for first course counts toward graduation; credit
for the second course does not.
***Unless no credit was previously earned.
Chapter Four: Grades and Credits 39
Fig. 1. sample grade report
40 Adviser’s Guide 2007
TrAnsCrIpTs At the bottom of the list of transferred courses is
posted the total number of transfer credits allowed.
Advisers can view and print unofficial transcripts “Total credits allowed” is what may count toward a
from the Transcript tab in EARS. Students can view UW degree; “total credits earned” may include lower
and print their unofficial transcript in MyUW. division transfer credit in excess of the 90 credits nor-
On the next page is a sample unofficial UW transcript, mally allowed.
also known as an advising worksheet. Beginning in the 2006-2007 school year, the Summa-
The unofficial transcript begins with the high school ry of Transfer Credit section changed from “2-year”
GPA, the high school core admission requirements, and “4-year” to “lower division” and “upper division”
and the levels of math and foreign language reached credits. This is a result of a 2005 policy change de-
in high school. Any admission deficiencies should be signed to treat transfer credits equally whether they
posted here. In the sample, the student completed no came from 2-year or 4-year institutions. For more,
fine arts in high school, and so is deficient. (Since the see the Graduation chapter.
fine arts requirement is ½ unit the deficiency is actu-
ally ½ unit, but the program can’t print ½ so it appears extension and advanced placement credit
on transcripts as 1 unit.) Below transfer credits are listed any C-prefix corre-
SAT scores may also be posted, along with any holds spondence credits, extension credits that do not count
on the student’s record. as residence credit, and advanced placement (includ-
ing AP, IB, and credit-by-exam) credits earned. These
Transferred courses credits are referred to collectively as “extension cred-
its,” and their total is separate from the transfer total.
Transferred courses, if any, are next. The courses are
listed by college; the colleges are listed in numerical UW Online Learning courses
order by college code rather than chronological order.
The transfer record is printed only on unofficial tran- UW Online Learning (DL) courses are not recorded
scripts, and not on official transcripts. as extension credit, but are instead recorded in the
main body of the UW transcript. Grades in DL cours-
The dates of attendance at each college are given, es are included in the student’s UW GPA. DL courses,
along with the courses, credits, grades, total credits however, do not count as residence credit.
earned, and GPA for each.
Any course that transfers as the equivalent of a UW uW courses
course is listed separately with the UW title of the
After the list of transferred and extension courses,
course and the grade. Letter grades are converted to
each quarter of coursework at the UW is posted. On
numerical grades. Courses not the equivalent of any
the first line of each quarter’s entry the student’s ma-
UW course are listed as “X” credit (see Transfer eval-
jor at the time is indicated, as well as the student’s
uations, page 43). If an entry represents more than
class; 1 = freshman, 2 = sophomore, etc. Below each
one course, “CR” is entered instead of the grades.
quarter’s courses are two lines of information about
The student’s transfer GPA is calculated from all the the quarter’s credits and grades. Below this are two
grades in transferred non-vocational courses, not lines of information about the student’s cumulative
only from the transfer grades recorded on the unof- credits and GPA.
ficial UW transcript. Note on the sample transcript
Near the end of the transcript is a cumulative credit
that the transfer GPA is 3.68, even though the posted
summary. In our example, “UW credits attempted”
grades would imply a higher GPA. This is because the
is 2 credits more than “UW graded attempted.” This
grades for the 10 credits of MUSIC 1XX are not dis-
is because the student has a 2-credit CR/NC course
played individually, but are included in the calcula-
that counts in the student’s credit total but not in the
tion.
student’s GPA.
At the very end of the transcript is the student’s cur-
rent program, if the student was registered for the up-
coming quarter when the transcript was printed.
Chapter Four: Grades and Credits 41
Fig. 2. Sample unofficial UW transcript
42 Adviser’s Guide 2007
Fig. 3. sample Transfer Credit Worksheet
Chapter Four: Grades and Credits 43
TrAnsFer evALuATIons Identifying transfer courses that count
toward uW requirements
The Office of Admissions does the initial evaluation
of credits transferred to the UW from other institu- Courses from Washington state community colleges
tions. Advisers may further evaluate or re-evaluate may be identified in the “Req” column in the sample
credits in certain circumstances; see below for more. above or the “UW Equivalencies” columns in EARS if
Evaluations are not completed for postbaccalaureate they are identified by Admissions as counting toward
or nonmatriculated students. a basic skills requirement or Areas of Knowledge.
Courses transferred from other colleges are translated Courses transferred from Washington state com-
into equivalent UW course numbers by Admissions munity colleges will be assigned equivalencies—and
Specialists in the Office of Admissions. All courses the appropriate basic skills and AoK designations—
transferred from Washington state community col- based on the Equivalency Guide at www.admit.washing-
leges—if the transcript was received electronically— ton.edu/BeforeYouApply/Transfer/Plan/EquivalencyGuide.
are evaluated electronically. Credits from four-year These equivalencies have been established by the
and out-of-state institutions, and from Washington appropriate UW departments, and typically should
state community colleges that were brought in on pa- not be changed. Under some circumstances, how-
per transcripts, are evaluated by hand (see page 42). ever, advisers may change (for an individual student)
a designation that appears in the Equivalency Guide,
Whether it was completed electronically or by hand,
after discussing the course’s content with the student.
transfer credit evaluations are available to advisers in
For example, a special offering of a course that is usu-
EARS. In addition, EARS displays the raw (unevalu-
ally I&S may qualify it as an NW. Also, if a student
ated) transcript for credits that were received elec-
has earned a transfer associate degree, s/he may be
tronically. Paper copies of transcripts that were not
able to count certain courses in different ways; see the
received electronically are sent by Admissions to the
“Transfer Associate Degree Agreement” on page 44
appropriate department for the student’s paper file.
for more.
X credit For courses transferred from four-year or out-of-
state institutions, Admissions Specialists determine
If a course does not seem equivalent to anything in equivalency based on the information available to
our curriculum, it is evaluated as “X” and placed un- them. When talking with a student, an adviser may be
der whichever department seems most appropriate able to discover additional information that will aid
(e.g., WOMEN 1XX if the course was 100-level at the in identifying the appropriate equivalent course and
sending institution, 2XX if 200-level, etc.) Courses basic skills and AoK designations.
may be combined; in the hand-written example, sev-
eral music courses are listed as MUSIC 1XX, 10 cred- Advisers should use the SRF330 screen, the Transfer
its total. Credit tab in EARS, or DARS exceptions to post AoK,
English composition, W course, Q/SR, and foreign
Interdisciplinary courses, academic courses for which language designations whenever necessary. Also, de-
there is no corresponding UW department, and trans- partment advisers can adjust course equivalencies for
ferable vocational courses (i.e., “restricted credit”) are courses in their department. If they aren’t posted, the
listed as UW 1XX, etc. Vocational courses have no courses will not be assigned properly when a DARS
grade listed, as the grades are not calculated into the report is run.
transfer GPA. On the hand-written evaluation above,
the 15 credits of UW 1XX in the first course list must For definitions of Visual, Literary, and Perform-
be vocational, because no grades are listed. In the sec- ing Arts; Individuals and Societies; and The Natural
ond course list there is another UW 1XX that is an World, see:
academic course, because it has a grade listed. www.washington.edu/uaa/gateway/advising/degreeplan-
ning/gebsraoknow.php
44 Adviser’s Guide 2007
X-credit courses already recognized by DARS Note, however, that an adviser may add another Area
Some transfer X-credit courses are already recognized of Knowledge notation to any course from these de-
by DARS as applicable to Areas of Knowledge. Advis- partments. For example, if a student transfers a RELIG
ers do not need to post V, I, or N notations for trans- 1XX course that was a literature course on the Bible,
fer X-credit courses in the departments listed below. that course will automatically count toward I&S, but
can be posted by the adviser to count toward VLPA as
VLPA well. (As always, a course that can count toward more
than one Area can be counted by the student toward
ART DANCE
one Area or the other, but not both simultaneously.)
ART H DRAMA
C LIT LING Q/SR courses
CL AR MUSIC All MATH and STAT courses of at least 4 credits
(except MATH 120) count toward the Q/SR require-
CLAS ment, so they need not have a Q posted.
I&S W courses
AAS PHIL W courses are not identified in the Equivalency Guide,
AES POL S but should be marked W on the transfer evaluation if
ANTH RELIG identified as writing-intensive on a Washington state
community college transcript.
ARCHY SIS, SISA, SISAF,
SISCA, SISEA, Advisers can post Ws on any transfer course that ap-
CHSTU
SISJE, SISLA, pears to meet UW’s criteria for a writing-intensive
ECON SISME, SISRE, course. A summary of the criteria is at:
HIST, HSTAA, SISSA, SISSE www.washington.edu/uaa/gateway/advising/
HSTAM, HSTAS, SO JU degreeplanning/writreqs.php#criteria
HSTEU
SOC The Transfer Associate Degree Agreement
LAW
WOMEN The Transfer Associate Agreement applies to students
LSJ
who graduate in the following schools and colleges:
MHE Architecture and Urban Planning, Arts and Sciences,
Business Administration, Education, Medicine, Nurs-
NW ing, Ocean and Fishery Sciences (Oceanography ma-
AMATH FISH jor only), and Social Work. If a student entered the
ASTR GENOME UW with a transfer Associate of Arts or Associate of
Sciences degree from a Washington community col-
ATM S GPHYS lege, there will be notations in the upper right corner
B STR MATH of the hand-written transfer evaluation and on the
BIO A MICROM unofficial transcript just under the name of the com-
munity college.
BIOC OCEAN
This agreement allows students who transfer to the
BIOL PHYS UW with a transfer associate degree to count trans-
BOTANY Q SCI ferred courses toward the Areas of Knowledge re-
CHEM STAT quirement if they appear on the general education
lists of their community colleges, even if the courses
CSE ZOOL
do not appear on UW Areas of Knowledge lists. If any
ESS portion of the breadth requirement must be complet-
ed after transfer, students must use the UW AoK lists
for the remaining courses.
Chapter Four: Grades and Credits 45
In the hand-written sample evaluation, the student’s Credits
10 credits of PHIL 2XX would normally be counted
as I&S by DARS, with no notation required. North Semester credits
Seattle Community College, however, allows students All transferable credits are translated into quar-
to count some philosophy courses as either humani- ter credits (if necessary) and listed on the transfer
ties or social sciences. Because the student has com- evaluation. Semester credits are multiplied by 1½
pleted an associate degree at NSCC, the UW adviser to obtain quarter credits; thus, a 3-credit semes-
could post one or more of the PHIL courses as VLPA. ter course transfers in as 4½ quarter credits. For
The student could then choose to count the courses the purposes of applying such courses to general
toward either Area at the UW. education requirements, round the half-credits up;
Most of the instances of this rule occur in history, phi- a 4½-credit course, for example, is rounded up to
losophy, and journalism. For a listing of how Wash- 5 credits. However, when counting credits toward the
ington state community colleges allow their students 180 credits required for graduation, do not round up
to count these courses, see www.washington.edu/uaa/ either individual courses or the student’s credit total.
gateway/advising/transfers/trans_knowledgetransfer.php
NOTE: Exceptions to the Transfer Associate Agree- Transferable credits
ment are courses that do not transfer for credit, Eng- The total number of transferable credits is indicated
lish composition courses, and first-year foreign lan- at the bottom of the form as Total Transfer Credits
guage courses used to satisfy the College of Arts and Recorded; below that is the total number of credits
Sciences’ foreign language requirement. Even though allowed toward the 180 credits required for gradua-
community colleges may count these courses toward tion from the UW.
their general education requirements, A&S students Students are allowed to count only 90 lower division
may not count them toward UW’s Areas of Knowl- transfer credits toward a bachelor’s degree. If the
edge requirement. student transfers more than 90 lower division trans-
For more information about the Transfer Associate fer credits, the excess is not “lost.” All transferable
Degree Agreement, see www.washington.edu/uaa/gate- courses can be used, as they apply, toward basic skills,
way/advising/transfers/trans_ada.php breadth, or major requirements. Also, departments
may allow a student to apply more than 90 lower di-
mATh 098 vision transfer credits in certain circumstances. For
more, see the Graduation chapter.
MATH 098 (formerly MATH 101), if taken, is listed
with the transferable courses but “0” is listed in the Students whose admission to the UW was deferred to
credit column. The grade received is listed in the a later quarter because UW was fully enrolled were
grade column. MATH 098 is listed because it is an ad- generally allowed to continue at the community col-
mission requirement for students with a high school lege for another quarter and transfer an additional 15
math deficiency, and because MATH 098 or a passing community college credits. Consequently, you may
placement test score is prerequisite for registration in see some students who were allowed to use up to 105
MATH 111 and 120. community college credits toward their 180.
First-quarter foreign languages Extension credits
On the reverse side of the transfer evaluation form
UW students in majors in the College of Arts and
are recorded any extension courses or credit-by-exam
Sciences are not allowed credit for the first college
courses the student completed before enrolling as a
quarter of the foreign language taken in high school.
matriculated student at the UW. A copy of this may
However, if such a student completes the first college
be sent to advisers along with the transfer evaluation.
quarter or semester of the language before transfer to
the UW, credit is allowed. Vocational credits
Most vocational courses are not transferable. Stu-
dents who enter the UW with a transfer associate
degree, however, are allowed up to 15 credits of vo-
46 Adviser’s Guide 2007
cational courses. Admissions Specialists mark these Nonmatriculated credits
courses “RC” (for restricted credit) on the original A nonmatriculated student is one who has not been
community college transcript, and post them as UW regularly admitted to the UW to pursue a degree pro-
1XX. The grades in these courses are not included in gram. UW credits taken by nonmatriculated students,
the transfer GPA, and are not posted on the transfer including UW Extension credit courses, are recorded
evaluation. Only students who enter with a transfer on a UW transcript and included in the student’s UW
associate degree are allowed to transfer vocational GPA. (C-prefix UW distance learning courses, how-
credits. ever, are recorded as extension credit; see below.) Af-
ter a student becomes matriculated and completes 45
Updates residence credits, any credits previously completed as
The course listings and credit totals are revised as ad- a nonmatriculated student, including UW Extension
ditional transcripts are received. Copies of the origi- credit courses, can be counted toward the require-
nal evaluations are sent to Undergraduate Advising; ments of a degree. No petition is required.
copies of any revisions are sent to the student’s major
department. Cross-campus credits
Courses taken at a UW campus other than the one
Grades granting the degree are recorded on the UW tran-
A grade-point average is calculated for the transfer- script and included in the UW GPA. If taken after the
able courses from each college. In general, the transfer student matriculates they count toward the 45-credit
GPA is calculated using only the grades in transfer- matriculation requirement but do not count as resi-
able courses, including any “E”’s. Vocational-technical dence credit.
courses are not included in the transfer GPA. If several
courses are grouped on one line on the transfer evalu- Transfer credits
ation, “CR” is entered in the grade column. Although Transfer credits are credits taken in residence at an-
not all grades are listed, the student’s transfer GPA is other institution of higher education, then accepted
based on the grades in all transferable courses. by the UW after admission to the UW.
Many, but not all students who complete an associ-
ate’s degree transfer 90 credits. In the sample evalua- Online learning credits
tion on page 42, the AA is posted even though only 84 C-prefix UW online learning courses, and online
credits transferred. The UW does not transfer a num- learning courses transferred from other colleges, are
ber of courses that community colleges count toward recorded as extension credit. C-prefix courses are be-
associate’s degrees at community colleges, including ing replaced with DL courses. DL courses are record-
PE in excess of 3 credits. ed on the UW transcript and count in the UW GPA,
but do not count as residence credit.
Types of credit
Extension credits
Residence credits Extension credit includes all credits that are neither
Residence credits are credits earned by a UW student residence credits nor transfer credits. This includes:
at his/her home campus (Seattle, Bothell, or Tacoma). C-prefix online learning (correspondence) credit
Residence credits at the Seattle campus include regu- Advanced Placement credit from CEEB AP
lar day and evening courses, Evening Degree Program exams, from International Baccalaureate exams,
courses, and credit courses offered by UW Extension. and UW advanced placement credit
The C-prefix and DL-suffix distance learning courses of-
fered by UW Extension do not count as residence credit. Credit by examination (challenged courses)
UW courses taken by UW students on drop status also Armed Forces Training School credit
do not count as residence credit. (Students on drop sta- UW courses taken while on drop status
tus can take UW courses, registering through UW Ex-
tension, but the courses are recorded as extension credit
and are not included in the student’s UW GPA.)
Chapter Four: Grades and Credits 47
GrAde InFormATIon AvAILABLe srF330—Transfer Courses
From The sTudenT dATABAse & eArs The courses transferred by the student from the col-
lege requested are listed on this screen. Advisers use
this screen to identify transfer courses that count to-
srF301—Transcript Inquiry
ward graduation requirements by posting, for exam-
This screen provides views of the student’s transcript, ple, a V for VLPA.
either the whole transcript or a selection of courses.
This information and posting ability is also available
For example, an adviser can request to see only the
on the Transfer Credit tab in EARS.
courses completed in the student’s major, or only
courses taken S/NS, or only the student’s last 45 cred-
its. A grade-point average is calculated for each group
srF320—extension Credit and
of courses requested. This screen can be used, among Credit-by-exam
other things, to quickly calculate the student’s GPA in The screen lists any non-residence extension credit
the major department. earned by the student. Extension credit includes cor-
A static version of the unofficial transcript is available respondence, AP, credit-by-exam, and UW Extension
on the Transcript tab in EARS. Evening Credit Program courses taken by students on
drop status.
srF310—student Academic summary
One line of information appears for each quarter in GrAde InFormATIon AvAILABLe on
attendance at the UW. The information provided The InTerneT
includes quarter and year, class, major code, GPA,
scholarship status, credits attempted, credits earned,
and grade points. (To see a list of the courses taken in Grades and uW Transcripts
a particular quarter, enter an “X” in the space by the www.washington.edu/students/#GrAdes
quarter/year and send; the SRF317 screen will appear.) The Grades section of the Student Guide consists
The SRF310 screen also shows official “transcript mainly of text taken directly from the General Cata-
comments,” such as graduation petitions approved log on topics such as the UW grading system, incom-
and foreign-language proficiency tests passed. pletes, repeating courses, and low and high scholar-
The academic summary is also available on the Over- ship.
view tab in EARS.
myuW
srF317—quarter Transcript Inquiry myuw.washington.edu
This screen provides a list of the student’s courses, MyUW is the student’s portal to the UW’s online
credits, and grades for the quarter requested. The nu- student services. In MyUW students can view their
merical grades received in S/NS courses are visible on grade reports, unofficial transcripts, DARS audits,
this screen and on SRF100A. and University account balances. The student’s regis-
tration date is posted in MyUW, and students access
srF325—Transfer summary web registration through MyUW.
This screen provides a list of all the colleges the stu-
dent has previously attended, and the number of
credits transferred from each to the UW. To see a de-
tailed list of the courses transferred from a particular
college, enter an “X” in front of the college name and
send; the SRF330 screen will then appear.
This information is also available on the Transfer
Credit tab in EARS.