Psychology and Neuroscience majors and minors are permitted to take no more than two of their eight required courses at other universities. Courses must be approved in advance by the Chair of the Undergraduate Committee. In addition, the courses must satisfy all of the College regulations about transfer credits as found in the ORC. Additional information can be found on the ORC Regulations page. It is wise to seek approval for more than the number of desired courses because a particular course may end up being filled or canceled at the other university.
Transfer courses in certain cases can provide a good way of pursuing an interest that cannot be satisfied easily in our department. To take maximum advantage of such opportunities, however, they should be planned well in advance. Approval of courses for transfer credit is subject to the nature of the courses and the institution at which they are taken. Transfer courses may not be used to satisfy the upper level (50, 60, or 80) requirements for the major or minor.
The department does not offer credit for Advanced Placement. Students who wish to be considered for exemption from Psychology may take a placement test during Orientation. Our recent experience with high school-based AP Psychology indicates that fewer than 15% of students with scores of 5 on the AP exam have mastered material equivalent to a passing grade in Psychology 1 at Dartmouth.
Decisions regarding transfer credit in psychology are made by the Chair of the Undergraduate Committee, Prof. Catherine Cramer. Use the checklist for requesting transfers of credit with the other required materials:
Requests for transfer credit that do not include all the required information will not be considered. A course description from a course catalog is not sufficient, and requests that do not provide course syllabi will be denied. The complete package of materials should be delivered together, during regular business hours, to the PBS office during regular business hours (Room 103 Moore Hall, M-F 8am-noon and 1-4:00 pm). The Chair of the Undergraduate Committee will then review the paperwork and either approve or not approve your request.
There is no guarantee that requests for transfer credit will be approved.
Students who have received Advanced Placement credit for Statistics (Math 10) and who are considering becoming Psychology majors should take the PSYC 10: Methods in Psychological Science placement test during Orientation, which will be used to determine whether or not the student is exempted from Psychology 10 (Statistical Methods) and placed into Psychology 11 (Laboratory in Psychological Science).