Transfer of Credit (ToC) process and rules

For all students

When applying for PS credit for courses taken outside Tufts PS department, please follow this process.

1. Submit your Transfer of Credit (ToC) petition via Webcenter.
2. To receive PS credit for courses taken elsewhere, students must provide course syllabus or a comparable document containing course description, objectives, topics, readings, and assignments. Please note that your petition cannot be processed without this information. Short descriptions of the course typically contained in course catalogues found online are not sufficient.
   • If course syllabus is available online, include direct link to the syllabus in your Webcenter petition.
   • If the course syllabus is not online but you have it electronically, email the syllabus to PS department ToC representatives.
   • If you have course syllabus in hard copy only, you can either scan and email it, or you can submit hard copy to one of the PS department ToC representatives.
   • If the syllabus is in any language other than English, you need to supply English language translation (please translate all of the syllabus information except the reading list, and supply the translation as well as full syllabus with the reading list in the original language).
   • If you do not have the syllabus, make every effort to obtain a copy from the professor or the university. If this is impossible, please compile an unofficial "syllabus" yourself, including as much of the information as you can about the course, its objectives, topics, assignments, and readings. Email this document to PS department ToC representatives. Do not send papers you wrote for the course or lecture notes instead of, or in addition to, the syllabus.

Please also be aware of the following rules:

• Except for transfer students majoring in PS and IR (as explained below), Tufts PS department does not assign equivalency to transfer courses approved for credit (so, for instance, we will not denote a course as the equivalent to "Intro to Comparative Politics" or "Western Political Thought I). If your ToC petition is approved, you will receive either an upper or a lower level elective credit in political science. If you have any questions about how best to count this credit towards your Tufts degree, please consult with your academic advisor.
• We do not give PS credit for internships, EPIIC courses, or Experimental College courses.
• Within the ToC process at the Department of Political Science we only check and approve PS content of the courses, all other aspects of the ToC process (transcript status, number of credits assigned, etc) are handled by the registrar. All questions about these aspects of ToC process should be directed to the registrar.

For PS majors only:

Please keep in mind that in accordance with PS major requirements, you can count no more than two courses taken outside of Tufts PS department towards your PS major if the courses were taken beginning September 1, 2010, and that these courses cannot be used to satisfy any of the PS major requirements (they can only count as electives towards your major).

For Transfer students only:

• If you are a PS major who transferred to Tufts from another institution, you can count up to 5 courses taken outside Tufts PS department towards your Tufts PS major. You need to supply course syllabi for all the courses you are seeking credit for as specified above. The transferred courses can be used to satisfy foundation and distribution requirements for the PS major, but NOT the methodology or the advanced seminar requirements. Please note on your WebCenter petition that you are a PS major transfer student, and send course syllabi to both ToC representatives as well as to Transfer Students Advisor
• If you are an IR major who transferred to Tufts from another institution, you can petition to receive PS61 (Introduction to International Relations) equivalency for an introduction to IR course taken elsewhere. Please note on your WebCenter petition that you are a transfer student majoring in IR, and that you request PS61 equivalency. For any other PS courses taken elsewhere, only lower or upper level elective credit will be given as described above. Once you receive this credit, please consult with your advisor and/or the IR program office about how to count these credits towards your IR degree.

For PS minors only:

• Students minoring in political science can count up to two courses taken outside Tufts PS department towards their PS minor. These courses can be given sub-field designation to enable you to count them towards your PS minor. In order to receive credit and sub-field designation for courses taken elsewhere, please note on your web-center petition that you are a PS minor, and send course syllabi to both ToC representatives as well as to Minor Representative.

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