Transfer Credit Officer: Libby Saylor
All transfer credit, study abroad, or credit away requests for Summer 2022 and beyond, must be submitted through the XCAT 2.0 system: https://xcat.at.upenn.edu/
1. Credit for courses taken away from Penn is not automatic.
All courses are reviewed by the department on a case-by-case basis, through the XCAT system. It is each student’s responsibility to enroll only in courses that are as demanding as those taught at Penn.
2. For a course to be considered for credit, the following standards must be met:
• Instructors should hold an advanced degree
• The course must meet regularly (at least 30-40 hours over the term)
• The course must include a substantial reading component
• The course MUST require a significant written component (eight 250-word pages/2,000 words or more in total, not including title page, bibliography and/or images), and students must be able to demonstrate completion of that work.
3. All XCAT applications must include the course syllabus and the written component (TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH).
This syllabus must enumerate the course in full, including the lecture schedule, list of readings, exams, and all written assignments. In cases where additional documentation is necessary, students will be asked to provide copies of graded work by uploading to the XCAT request. Students should save all work completed for these courses.
When submitting a course to XCAT for approval, the application MUST include a PDF or .doc file of the course's written component (ie the paper, exam, etc.). If this supporting material is omitted, the request will be returned to the applicant.
4. Courses that do not meet the standards listed above will not be approved; these typically include:
• "Art appreciation" courses or other courses that remove art from its historical and cultural context
• Courses that are limited only to visits to a group of sites, monuments, institutions, and the like, but do not require class meetings, readings, exams, or papers.
• Courses that do not require substantial written work and substantial reading among others
5. Art History majors/minors must meet with the Undergraduate Chair prior to enrolling in Study Abroad program or in courses at other domestic institutions.
6. For majors, a limit of three study abroad/transfer credit courses, approved by the department, can count towards the major. With the approval of the Undergraduate Chair, and only if course content fully meets the relevant requirements, a major can count one of their three study abroad/transfer credits towards one survey requirement, one chronological distribution requirement, OR one geographic distribution requirement. The remaining two study abroad/transfer credits must be counted as electives. For minors, a limit of two study abroad/transfer credit courses, approved by the department, can count towards the minor. With the approval of the Undergraduate Chair, and only if course content fully meets the relevant requirements, a minor can count one of their two study abroad/transfer credits towards one survey requirement. The other study abroad/transfer credit must be counted as an elective.
7. Declared students cannot take major or minor courses pass/fail, here or abroad.
8. Please check with your Advisor in your School regarding the amount of credit you will ultimately receive on your transcript. Most often, if you have fulfilled our requirements, we are pleased to grant you 1 CU art history elective credit. However, credit values can vary from School to School.