Okay, so I’m currently attending a Top 5 LAC. My school requires 32 credits to graduate. Each course you take only counts for one credit. I currently have 13 completed (three semesters completed, aka a sophomore).
However, I’m looking at a lot of colleges I’m looking to transfer to and their credits seem to work differently.
For example, Stony Brook requires 24 credits to transfer. But, I’m pretty sure that those 24 credits don’t equate to 24 credits at my current school. Do I need to convert my credits or something? Someone please help me understand this. Thanks!
You are correct that the credits at your LAC are not the same as semester or quarter hour credits at other places. Each place has its own way of dealing with credits. Your LAC’s 32 total credits to graduate is probably 4 classes each semester, am I right? If you were at a place that awarded semester hours, then chances are that each of those four classes would have been four semester hours for a total of 16 semester hours of credits each semester.
It looks like Stony Brook requires 24 semester hours to be considered a transfer applicant. That would be two semesters at what the federal financial aid system sets as minimum full time enrollment of 12 semester hours - often four classes at 3 semester hours each. This makes 24 semester hours the equivalent of a full year of undergraduate studies. When classes normally are 3 semester hours, often students take five courses each term for a total of 30 each term, and about 120 semester hours to graduate.
You don’t convert your credits. The places that you apply to do. They have their own conversion formulae that can vary a bit from one place to another. To get an estimate of what your credits might transfer as, request an official copy of your own transcript. It may indicate somewhere the formula that your LAC uses to convert semester and/or quarter hours to its own system of credits.
As an approximation, between 3.7 and 4 is probably the right multiplier. My D’s program requires 128 credits to graduate, which is exactly 4:1. She’s in an engineering program, which tends to have a heavier work load. Most majors at her school require 120, which would be 3.75.
24 credits to transfer probably means after Freshman year - most schools are 14-16 credits as a Freshman. Your work to date almost certainly that threshold.
The typical semester hour system has 120-128 credits to graduate. This means 15-16 credits per semester to graduate in eight semesters. (Minimum for full time for FA is 12 per semester, but doing that will require extra semesters.)
Since your school apparently has students take 4 courses per semester, an approximate conversion is that one course probably converts to 4 credits in the semester hour system. However, the receiving college has the final say in the conversion.