transfer - Am I Competitive?

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Transfer applicants must be able to demonstrate that they are capable of successfully completing college-level work. Competitive applicants must have the following in order to be considered for transfer admission:

Note: You are a transfer applicant if you have taken college courses since graduation from high school (including students who are applying for a second undergraduate degree). Early College students and others who take college level courses while enrolled in high school ("dual enrollment") are considered freshman applicants for admission purposes.

Transfer GPA

In order to be considered for transfer admission your cumulative GPA for all college work previously attempted must meet or exceed the requirements listed for your desired major. This requirement varies by college or program (view the requirements by college or program here).

Transferable Credits

Transfer students must submit official transcripts from each institution they have attended. Transfer credit is granted for coursework with a 'C' or better grade, including coursework attempted at NC State through the Non-Degree Studies program. If there has been work completed at an institution outside of the U.S., official transcripts and an official "course-by-course" evaluation must be submitted from an accredited foreign credential evaluation service. The official evaluation must include course, grade, and credit equivalents in U.S. terms.

Qualifying scores for certain AP exams may be used to meet admissions course requirements. AP scores must be sent to NC State directly from the College Board - we will not accept scores forwarded to us or reported on transcripts. A complete listing of all course credit and placement offered to enrolled students for qualifying AP scores is described on the AP credit information page. Note: Transfer students receive course credit for AP scores on their university transcript one semester after enrollment.

Transfer Course Equivalency

The Office of Undergraduate Admissions is not able to evaluate an applicant’s transfer credits until after an application has been officially submitted and reviewed. A list of courses at other institutions that have transferred for credit to NC State in the past is available on our Course Equivalencies website. 

College level work must be completed at a regionally accredited institution to be considered for admission/transfer credit. Work completed in technical programs is not normally considered for transfer credit.

Admissions Criteria for each college

The following links will direct you to additional admissions criteria, which vary by major. This information should help you determine your admissibility as a transfer student and assist you in planning appropriate courses before you transfer. For a complete listing of majors please see the Registration & Records Degree Requirements page. You may also find it useful to refer to the Eight Semester Breakdown Display, which will show a suggested plan of study.

Agriculture and Life Science majors
Design majors
Education majors
Engineering majors
Environmental Sciences major
Humanities and Social Sciences majors
Management majors
Natural Resources majors
Physical and Mathematical Sciences majors
Textiles majors

If you do not meet the criteria listed for your desired major you should continue at your current school until you meet the appropriate GPA and course requirements. We do not recommend selecting an alternate major in the hope of later transferring into your preferred major.  If you enroll in a different major you will not be able to take courses in your preferred major because most upper-level courses are limited only to students officially enrolled in the program.   You would also be subject to on-campus transfer requirements, which are no less rigorous than the off-campus transfer requirements.

Non-Degree Studies

Alternately, you may wish to enroll at NC State as a part-time, non-degree student through Non-Degree Studies to complete the transfer requirements.  Applicants who have taken coursework through NC State University’s Non-Degree Studies (NDS) program must have earned at least a 2.0 GPA within NDS and must still meet the minimum cumulative GPA requirement. Students enrolled in NDS beginning with the Spring 2008 semester, must have 30 transferable hours to be considered for transfer admission. Also, in order to enroll in NDS, students must have their high school diploma for at least one year.

Minimum Course Requirements

Applicants who will not be 24 years old* before they enroll must meet UNC-system Minimum Course Requirements (MCR) at the high school level including:

A high school mathematics course higher than Algebra II is required for all applicants who graduate from high school in May 2006 and later.

Students who do not meet high school MCR will be required to complete 6 credit hours of the following at the college level:

A student can also meet MCR by completing the 44-hour general education core course requirement at a North Carolina community college, or complete an Associate of Arts, Associate of Fine Arts or Associate of Science degree at any regionally accredited institution.

Note: Foreign language proficiency is a General Education Requirement at NC State. Students may satisfy that requirement through completion of two years of a foreign language in high school (both years in the same language with a grade of “C” or better for each year). Students who have not fulfilled that requirement through high school work must complete foreign language coursework through the FL 102 level before graduation, either at NC State or by equivalent transfer coursework at another institution.

*All applicants must provide an official high school transcript, GED or Adult High School diploma, regardless of age.

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