Transfer Credit

STS welcomes transfer students to our program! Students may petition to apply coursework from institutions outside Stanford University to their major, provided the Registrar has already awarded transfer credit and that the coursework is relevant and/or equivalent to courses approved for the STS major. Please see here. All such petitions are subject to approval by the STS Program.

Obtaining University Approval

 

  • The guidelines for transferring courses to Stanford are located on the https://studentservices.stanford.edu/test-transfer-credit/transfer-credit.
    • Please check the transfer credit database to see if your institution and course are listed.
    • If you do not see your course listed, please submit an official transfer credit request form to the registrar's office to request a review. You must submit this form even if you do see your institution listed.
  • Completing these steps will add your units to a separate "transfer credit" section of your Stanford transcript. 
  • Your course(s) cannot be counted toward major requirements without this approval, so be sure to complete this step as soon as possible.
  • More information can also be found in the Stanford Bulletin Transfer Work

Obtaining Department Approval

  • You must be formally declared as STS major in order to submit a transfer credit petition as each petition is reviewed in the context of your approved individual curriculum package.
  • Students may add 1-3 transfer courses (subject to staff approval) to their curriculum toward their individual STS Concentration Area requirements. Transfer students with a substantial technical background are encouraged to consult with the SSO and STS Associate Director for a potential exception.
  • Transfer credit is generally not approved for Program Core or Concentration Core requirements.
  • Stanford must first award you transfer credit (see above).

Complete the STS Transfer Credit Petition Form

Once you have been given equivalency or general transfer credit for your courses by the registrar's office, you must submit a separate form for each course to be used towards the STS degree:

STS Transfer Credit Petition Form

Attach the following materials to the form

  • course description (generally found in the course catalog)
  • syllabus, including description of prerequisites, list of readings, term papers, and/or exams
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