New Transfer Student Guide: Policies and Procedures

Note:The Undergraduate Record is the primary resource for all college and university rules.

 

Course Load/Allotted Semesters

Students entering as second-year transfers are expected to complete their degrees in six semesters, students entering as fourth-semester transfers in five semesters, and students entering as third-year transfers in four semesters. Neither Summer Session, January-Term, nor part-time enrollment is counted in your allotted full-time semesters. Many students enroll in these special terms to enrich or accelerate their curriculum.

The number of full-time semesters you are allotted will be noted in an advising letter emailed to your UVA email address later in the summer. READ AND SAVE THIS LETTER. Students are responsible for knowing their academic level and the number of allotted full-time semesters available to them.

Permission to enroll for an additional full-time semester is not automatic and rarely granted. You should not assume that you will have more than the usual number of full-time allotted semesters.

If you think you will need an extra time to finish your degree, you should schedule a meeting with Dean Ozment.

To graduate on schedule, you must carry an average of 15 credit-hours for each of your semesters here unless you unless you enroll in summer school or January term to earn additional credits.

College rules require that all students have a minimum of 84 credits before beginning their fourth-year (seventh-semester, including all prior transfer terms and test credits.)

You must always carry at least 12 credits, and, if you attempt more than 17 (recommended only in rare cases and never in the first semester), you must have special permission from Dean Ozment. In the event of illness, as certified by the Department of Student Health, or if financial hardship requires you to work more than 15 hours per week in order to support your education, your Dean may allow you to adjust your schedule to fewer than 12 credits.

Once the semester has started, you may change your courses, subject to the conditions and deadlines noted at Course Selection.

Transfer Credit After Matriculation

After you begin your enrollment at UVA, you may count towards your degree courses at another institution only if you have not already transferred the maximum 60.00 non-UVA credit-hours. 

Once you enroll at UVA, all area requirements must be completed at UVA, not by additional transfer credit.

If you arrived at UVA with fewer than 60.00 transfer and/or test credits, then you may enroll in additional transfer credit with prior approval. Permission to transfer additional credit is only granted if you have a 2.0 UVA grade point average.  As well, a 2.5 cumulative UVA GPA is required to study abroad.

Subject to these restrictions, courses completed elsewhere with a grade of C or better may be transferred toward your degree; the grades are not computed in your grade point average, nor are they recorded on your transcript. This rule applies to courses completed both before and after transfer. Students may not receive more, and may receive fewer, than the number of credits earned at the host institutions.

For more information, see Transfer Credit

Good Standing, Academic Probation and Suspension

Full-time students maintain a status of Good Standing if, at the end of a semester they complete at least 12.00 credits of graded work with at least a 1.80 semester average and with no more than one grade below C-. Students who fail to remain in Good Standing will be placed on Academic Probation and the cause will be noted on their transcripts.

Students placed on Academic Probation for two consecutive semesters will be suspended for one full academic year. A student who earns fewer than nine grade points in a regular semester is also subject to suspension, either at mid-year or the end of the school year.

To enroll for a fifth semester, you must have earned at least 54 credit-hours; to enroll for a seventh semester, you must have earned at least 84 credit-hours.

To remain in Good Standing, students who have completed four semesters of work must be in a major or have obtained written permission from Dean Ozment to defer declaring a major until the end of their fifth semester.

If you are a third-year student, failing to declare or defer will result in your access to SIS being blocked and loss of your course enrollment priority for the spring term. No student may enroll for a sixth semester without a major.

For more information about making satisfactory progress, see Academic Standing.

Requests for Exception to the Rules

With over 11,000 students enrolled in the College, we must, of necessity, have this rather detailed and formal set of academic regulations. If you need to request an exception to a rule due to mitigating circumstances, you should consult Dean Ozment as soon as possible. She will advise you if you may petition formally for an exception. For more information, see Academic Policies.

Next: Advising