Policies Regarding Chemistry Courses Taken at Other Institutions for Wesleyan Credit

Not all general chemistry or organic chemistry courses taken at other institutions will satisfy the criteria for transfer credit to Wesleyan. It is the students’ responsibility to find an acceptable course(s) and to have the course(s) preapproved by the Chemistry Department. Below are general guidelines for requests for transfer of credit for general and organic chemistry.

For Transfer of Credit:

  • The instructor of the equivalent Wesleyan course (CHEM141 or CHEM142 for General Chemistry and CHEM251/252 for Organic Chemistry) for the current academic year must approve all transfer of credit requests.  Such approvals are solely at his/her discretion.
  • Permission should be requested before the course is taken.  The student should submit:
    • the "Permission to Transfer Credit From Another College or University" form available on the Dean's Office website,
    • the title, author(s), and edition of the textbook used in the course,
    • the syllabus for the course, including which specific chapters of the textbook are actually covered in the course,
    • the length of the lectures,
    • the total number of actual class hours, excluding time taken for examinations, and
    • the name and contact information for the course instructor.

These materials must be compiled by the student and sent to the faculty member currently teaching the equivalent Wesleyan course; simply sending a copy of the syllabus or a link to a course website is not sufficient.

  • The student must achieve at least a B- to get credit for the course.
  • Courses taken elsewhere may not be counted toward a chemistry major or minor at Wesleyan (except by special petition to the Curriculum Committee of the Chemistry Department).
  • The Chemistry Department will not normally accept an online chemistry course for Wesleyan credit.