Transfer Students and Advanced Standing

Students may have credits that can be applied to their degree at Western. Once a student is accepted to Western, the Admissions Office will assess their transfer credits. If you are transferring to Western for a September start date, your credits will be assessed in June. When they are done, it will be visible to you on Student Center. Once you can see that your credits have been assessed, you may contact our office prior to registering to determine course equivalencies for prerequisites and program planning. 

Transfer students from another university or college will be admitted to Year 1 if less than 3.0 credits are transferred. Students with 3.0 or more transfer credits will be admitted as an Undeclared Senior Student (typically in Year 2). Students wishing to enter a BMOS module or any other Honours program must complete 5.0 credits at Western to be eligible. 

NOTE: You must accept your offer and have your transfer credits assessed by the Admissions Office before our counsellors can advise you. Once assessed, you will find your transfer credits on your Student Center homepage under My Academics. Select the link titled "view transfer credit report".

While you are waiting for your credits to be assessed, check out the OWL site set up specifically for you at https://owl.uwo.ca/portal. This site will have updates and announcements, along with a Transfer Guide and Presentation that we ask you to review prior to consulting with a counsellor. You can access this site with your UWO login credentials.

If you are transferring from a Canadian University or College, to prepare for your appointment we ask that you collect your course outlines/syllabi for all transfer credits. This will need to be submitted when you set up your appointment.

Advanced Standing

The Admissions Office will determine eligibility for advanced standing. Examples of students who may qualify for advanced standing include: students who graduated from CEGEP; students with an International Baccalaureate (IB); and students who completed Advances Placement (AP) courses in high school. Any questions about the process and/or your eligibility for advanced standing should be directed to the Admissions Office.

Some students with advanced standing will be considered first year students. Still, having advanced standing may award you first-year courses that can be used toward your module requirements. For instance, if you are awarded a general transfer credit for Introductory Psychology it could count as one of your five required first-year courses to enter a Psychology Major. If your advanced standing credit is coded as TRN, this means the Admissions Office has assessed it to be a general credit in a specific subject. These credits will count toward your total, but if you need to use one of these credits as a prerequisite or as a module requirement, you need to have it evaluated for equivalency.

Evaluating Courses for Equivalency

How do I know if I should have my transfer credits evaluated?

⇒ If you received any TRN credits (xxxxTRN) credits that may be relevant to your module/program.
⇒ If you did not receive credit for something you think you should have (Math credit)
⇒ If you think you received the wrong transfer credits

How do I have my credits evaluated?

Obtain full electronic course outlines for the courses you want evaluated. Syllabi can be obtained from your previous institution. Academic Calendar descriptions are not acceptable for assessment.

Course outlines should include the following information:

      1. Name of previous institution
      2. Year the course was offered
      3. Course number and title
      4. Outline of course objectives
      5. Detailed outline of the course content
      6. Hours per week of lecture and/or lab, seminar or studio work
      7. Evaluation method and grading scale
      8. Textbook list and assigned readings
      9. Prerequisites, corequisites or exclusions
      10. Course credit value

Save each outline as its own PDF file and name it with the course code from your transcript. Contact the appropriate Social Science Department with the course outline and request an evaluation. For courses that are not offered through Social Science, you can submit the request through our Help Portal.

Monitor your Student Center for updates. Make sure you make your requests as soon as possible to avoid delays with registration.

NOTE: It can take from 6-8 weeks for courses to be evaluated and updated on your Student Center.

Internal Transfers from Brescia, Huron and King's

A degree conferred by Main Campus must accurately reflect the learning outcomes intended and achieved by those courses that form a Main Campus module. Students wishing to transfer from one of the Affiliates (Brescia University College, Huron University College, King’s University College) will be required to complete the majority of courses used to fulfill their Main Campus module through Main Campus.

Example: A student who transfers to Main Campus to pursue a Specialzation in Finance, a module that consists of 10.0 credits, will be required to complete at least 5.5 of those modular credits through Main Campus.

Students transferring from the Affiliates are encouraged to contact Social Science Academic Counselling to discuss eligibility. You can reach us through our Help Portal.