I just submitted a transfer application where I gave this answer for one of the questions:
“How many college credits will you have earned when you enroll at the college to which you are applying?
Answer: 15 - 29
"
I’m in my second semester of junior year and have earned 22 credits prior to this semester because my university’s credit system is different (1 course = 1.0 credit), so I answered the question based on that (2 credits from HS and 20 in college). I triple-checked and searched for information online about this, and even my transcript literally says that I have 22 credit hours earned, so I stuck to the “15-29” answer instead of choosing any of the other options.
But, after reading the fine print in the application I submitted, I saw this:
" NOTE: Students may only apply to the Explore Program for Undeclared Students if they will have 32 credits or fewer at the time of enrolling at Northeastern.”
Right…so, it looks like maybe they expected me to use another number.
I looked at my academic transcript again and it has this thing that says “Quality Points: 77.6”. I’m guessing that I should have maybe submitted an answer in that region instead of 15-29.
Is this a big deal? Should I contact Northeastern and notify them about this? What do I do?
The usual credit hours accumulated at college are based on number of hours per week you took a course, e.g., take an economics course for a semester, and class is an hour per day for three days of the week, the credit hours accumulated will be three. Thus, in an average semester, a student will likely accumulate 15 credit hours (or a little less or more), and the typical college will classify those who have completed under 30 hours to still be considered freshman.
I am personally unaware go any college that does what you mention by giving only one credit per course regardless of number of hours per week for the course. That possibly means that the colleges to which you are applying as a transfer may also be unaware of what your college does. That would suggest you should inform the colleges to which you are applying that your answer would be different under their credit hour system. Note the college may likely figure that out just by materials sent, including the offical transcript sent by your college showing courses completed and number of semesters you have attended, but you should still provide the correction, including to show you were not purposefully providing wrong information.