Undergraduate Advising

Transfer Course Evaluation

The following describes university and department policies related to courses taken at other institutions.

COURSE EQUIVALENCY

At USF, course equivalency is necessary for students who have to transfer mathematics credit from an institution other than USF. In general, transfer credit from Florida State Universities and Florida State Community Colleges who follow the Common Course Coding will NOT need evaluation since the course prefix and number already indicate the correct equivalency. However, previous evaluations by institutions other than USF Mathematics Department will not supersede our evaluations for all non-Florida State Institution transfer credit. All mathematics transfer courses are evaluated by professional faculty. Students must initiate this process by submitting their request for an evaluation to the Mathematics Department through the advisor.

All students (regardless of major) with Mathematics prerequisite course credits more than 5 years old may be required to provide course equivalency and/or take a competency test in the prerequisite course. The Mathematics & Statistics Department policy in cases like this is to ask the student to take a placement test called the College Level Accuplacer CPT (see USF Testing Services for taking it at USF). The student must receive the appropriate score on the competency test to receive pre-requisite credit. The competency test is similar to a final exam administered for the course. The outcome of the test will neither help nor hurt a student's GPA; it is merely a means to assess the student's ability to succeed in further mathematics courses.

SUBMITTING YOUR REQUEST

Step 1: Locate a copy of the syllabus or course catalog information for your transfer mathematics course.

If you do not still have a copy, you can contact your previous school and request one. Note: Many international institutions do not have the equivalent of a course syllabus. International students without a course syllabus must attach the equivalent of a course syllabus, including: institutional requirements for credit/course, textbook utilized, list of topics covered, amount of time spent on each topic, etc.

Step 2: Scan your syllabus into a PDF file or attach it.

Please scan all pages of the syllabus into one file. If you have more than one mathematics course for review, please scan each syllabus as a separate file. If you do not have access to a scanner, you can use the scanners available in the USF Library Learning Commons.

Step 3: Name the PDF file the same as the name of the course.

For example, if you took MAC 1105 College Algebra, please name the file “MAC 1105 College Algebra”.

Step 4: E-mail your syllabus/syllabi to your campus undergraduate advisor.

E-mail Subject: Math Course Evaluation

In the body of the e-mail include all of the following information:

  • Your name
  • Your U#
  • Name and state of each out-of-state or private school
  • For each school, include a link to the online catalog information
  • For each school, include a list of course names/numbers of the mathematics course(s) that you wish to have evaluated
  • Attach a scanned copy of syllabus to be evaluated. If you have more than one syllabus, you may submit all syllabi in the same email.

Step 5: Wait for an e-mail reply with the results of the evaluation.

It is common for this process to take up to 2 weeks and sometimes longer. Please be patient. However, if you have not received a response after 4 weeks, please send a follow up e-mail to campus undergraduate advisor. If your transfer course is approved, the college will receive a copy of the approval and will update your record to reflect the results. This can take up to 2 weeks (after the evaluation has been completed) to show on your SASS report.