<p>I can't seem to find this information online, but does anyone happen to know if we are allowed to surrender 3-4 semesters worth of credit voluntarily? Additionally, if we have enough credit to graduate are we allowed to apply for transfer as a sophomore? Or do colleges restrict transfers based on credits earned?</p>
<p>No, you can not surrender credits. You must submit all transcripts when you apply for transfer and it is then up to each individual college to decide which credits are accepted for transfer credit. Each college also gets to determine their own rules for whether or not a student is disqualified for having too many credits. What this generally looks like</p>
<p>1) Some colleges don’t care if you have 120+ credits already, but they often have a limit of how many credits will actually transfer (that number is usually between 60 and 90).</p>
<p>2) Some colleges will disqualify transfer students who have earned too many credits. That number is often anywhere between 60 and 120.</p>
<p>3) Each college has DIFFERENT rules, so find the policy for each college.</p>
<p>As for your question of being able to “apply as a sophomore” when you have a lot of credits–you need to apply with ALL your credits and the COLLEGE determines your transfer status…the COLLEGE decides whether or not you appear to be, by their rules of how they count credits, a sophomore or a junior or a senior or even a super-senior transfer. And like outlined above, each college determines if you qualify at all in transferring.</p>
<p>In brief, some colleges are very lenient about number of units, others are very strict. It varies.</p>
<p>Thank you. Would you happen to know what the default is if college websites do not specify whether they restrict transfers or not if they have between 60 to 120 credits. Is it implied that they can’t? I am talking with respect to top-tier (Ivy level) colleges, so just wondering if there is an unspecified default. Perhaps my searching capabilities are below average, but I cannot seem to find it on their websites.</p>
<p>There is no standard default and to assume a default leads to wasted time and effort in applying if you don’t qualify in the first place or tge school doesn’t fit what you want. You need to search college by college the detailed information.</p>
<p>A few notes–</p>
<p>Try the college’s official “academic regulations.” often these are listed in each year’s updated “student handbook” or “bulletin.” be sure to be reading the fine print for the most current year–try a web search on the actual college website with those key words (ie: bulletin).</p>
<p>You can also call the college itself.</p>
<p>Not to hijack this thread, but I have a question that kind of was inspired by this one. I claimed over 30 credits from AP Exams, but will be entering my sophomore year in the Fall. So I have ~60ish credits and will have ~75-90 by the time I (hopefully transfer). Will I be disqualified from applying for having so many credits from AP Exams?</p>
<p>^No. That should be fine [from checking on college websites].</p>
<p>And don’t feel that you’re hijacking the thread, as long as people are getting their questions answered it doesn’t really matter.</p>
<p>@annika- I will call them tomorrow. That is probably the best option.</p>
<p>Also, would you say that having more academic credits helps (or worsens) your chances for transfer admission to other Ivy-esque universities? On the same note, would having taken multiple graduate and masters levels courses by the time I transfer help (or hurt)?</p>
<p>In general, I have found by reading the boards that Ivies seem to prefer students that have about 2 years worth of credits or less for transfer students. However, because there are so few transfer students taken at the Ivies and the transfer rates are so low (2% - 10% in many cases) that I think the # of credits is one of the LEAST concerns of the adcoms… ECs, stand-out life stories, break-out essays, etc figure in much more.</p>