When students take classes from other schools either before or after being admitted to Chapman University, they must go through the process of transferring the classes for their previous school. However, this process has shown to be confusing for many students depending on a variety of factors, like if a student is studying abroad and taking general education classes at a community college.

Fashion Castillo is a junior public relations, advertising and entertainment marketing major. This past year, Castillo transferred to Chapman from Biola University and struggled moving over several of the classes she had previously taken.

The main problem she faced was trying to get her classes previously taken to count for Chapman’s general education and upper division classes. She mentioned that it took her almost all of summer break to figure out all of the details of transferring her classes.

“My advice for someone trying to find out what credits transfer over from other universities would include being super diligent in your research and following up with people,” Castillo said. “There was not a very clear answer when coming to Chapman about which of my classes would transfer over, and I mostly had to hope for the best when it came to my major-specific and general education classes.”

Chapman’s Articulation Office determines the transferability of courses from outside institutions. The office offers transfer credit policies and guidelines that detail more information on moving credits over to the university. 

The persisting problem of transferring classes to Chapman also applies to study abroad programs. However, this process differs from transferring credits as a current or transfer student.

Amanda Palacios, a junior integrated educational studies major, spent the previous semester studying abroad at Sogang University in Seoul, South Korea. She has recently been struggling with transferring the credits that she has taken at this university to Chapman. 

Palacios explained how she went through the Center for Global Education department to get her classes abroad approved and did so before leaving. She then returned to campus this semester to an email stating that she had not gotten three classes approved. However, she had a previous email she received proving that they had been approved. 

“I feel like transferring credits from my abroad program should not have been as stressful as it was,” Palacios said. “It was unnecessarily difficult and stressful to confirm my approved courses  with the department when I returned to Chapman.”

Patty Michelsen, the associate registrar for Chapman, explained that students often have questions about transferring classes or the policies for doing so. She suggests that they reach out to Articulation for help.

“What I like to say is if a student ever has a question, (they can) email our office,” Michelsen said. “If the student has or has not taken the class, if they have a question about any of the policies or if (the policies) apply to the student, we want them to reach out to us.”

Students who are interested in transferring outside course credits to Chapman are advised to look at the Transfer Evaluation System (TES) website to look for pre-approved classes from a list of colleges and universities. Through Transferology, students can see how courses will transfer from another institution and find replacement courses for Chapman classes to be taken at different schools.

Michelsen explained that when students email, Articulation can then send PDF handouts of step-by-step instructions on how to find courses that will transfer to Chapman by using Transferology along with other resources.

Students can email articulation at articulation@chapman.edu and visit their office in person in the Bhathal Student Services Building at 150 W. Sycamore in Orange.