Process for Duke Students

The courses you take for transfer credit on study away are added to your record upon your return, so long as you follow the instructions for getting a course approved and reconciling your transfer credit.

Graduating? Your graduation date can be affected if study away transcripts are not received and credit transfers are not completed by specified graduation deadlines.

STEP 1: Obtain Course Approvals for All Courses

It is your responsibility to secure a course approval—preferably before you go, but even if you are abroad—for every course for which you plan to request transfer credit.

See: Course Approval Process

STEP 2: Take Enough Credit to Equate to a Full Load at Duke

Neither underloads nor overloads are permitted. Take the normal load—not the minimum load—at the other school in order to transfer a full load back to Duke.

See: Course Load

STEP 3: Earn Transcripted Grades of C– or Better

Even though your transfer course grades will not factor into your Duke GPA, the Registrar will only award credit if you have met the following requirements:

• Courses must be taken for a grade. You cannot take a course Pass/Fail.
• You must earn the U.S. equivalent of a C– or higher in the course.
• The course can’t be a duplicate of a course you’ve already taken.

If you earn below a C-, your course grade will be recorded on your Duke transcript as TNC (transfer no credit). TNC courses will not be factored into your GPA.

STEP 4: Request a Transcript

• Credit cannot be added to your Duke transcript until you provide a transcript.
• Generally, programs will not send a transcript automatically, you have to request one.
• Contact the institution and request that an official transcript reflecting your courses and final grades be sent by email to GEOTranscripts@duke.edu. 

Transcripts may also be sent by postal mail to: 

Global Education Office
Duke University
Box 90057
Durham, NC 27708-0057 USA

STEP 5: Await Confirmation

• GEO staff will work with the Duke University Registrar’s Office to transfer your course credits to your Duke transcript.
• GEO will follow up with you by email if further clarification is needed and/or when the process is complete.
• In DukeHub, a placeholder “REG 100 Study Away” will appear until your courses have been approved.
• Once approved, your transfer courses should appear in DukeHub with a “TR” or “TR*” designation.

FAQ for DUKE STUDENTS

How will the credits appear on my Duke transcript?

Grades earned on transfer credit courses will not be factored into your Duke GPA. However you still have to take the course for a grade and earn the U.S. equivalent of a C– or higher in order to receive credit. 

Credit towards graduation will be designated with the letters “TR.” Courses that do not count towards the 34 credit graduation requirement will be designated with “TR*”.

Study away courses taken for transfer credit will appear on your Duke transcript in accordance with the type of approval granted for the course:

1. Duke Equivalent Approval: Your transcript will display the title of the equivalent Duke course as listed in the Duke Undergraduate Bulletin.
2. Elective Approval: Courses that have no exact equivalent at Duke will be shown as transferring back as electives. Your transcript will display the approving department name and either 100/300 to indicate a lower/upper level elective. (e.g., PUBPOL 300)

How will my study away transcript be interpreted?

• When the Global Education Office receives an official sealed transcript from your study away program, we compare it with the GEO Approved Course Database.
• Credit is only awarded for those courses that appear BOTH on the transcript and in the Approved Course Database.
• For details about how courses are added to the GEO Approved Course Database, see: Course Approval Process.

What happens if there is a credit discrepancy?

When the credit value recommended at the time of course approval differs from the transferable amount calculated from the transcript, you will get credit for the lesser of the two.

• For example, if the course is approved at Duke as one (1.0) course credit (usually equivalent to three, four, or five semester-hours), but the transcript indicates that the course was two semester-hours, you will earn only one-half (0.5) course credit for the course.
• Likewise, if the transcript indicates that a course could count for two (2.0) course credits, but the course is approved at Duke for one (1.0) course credit, you will earn only one (1.0) course credit for the course.

Process for Non-Duke Students

When you enroll in a Duke-In study away program, you will be registered at Duke as a non-degree student and you will receive credits and grades as if the courses had been taken on Duke’s Durham, NC, USA campus. Upon successful completion of the program, grades and credits are posted to your Duke transcript.

Request Course Description

It is your responsibility to work with your home institution to transfer the credits from your Duke transcript back to your school. Contact globaled@duke.edu for assistance with obtaining a course description and syllabus for Duke courses.

Request Duke Transcript

Contact the Duke University Registrar to arrange for a Duke transcript to be sent to your home institution at the completion of the program. Transcripts will not be sent automatically by any of the Duke-In programs. Only you may request transcripts from the Duke University Registrar.

All non-Duke students studying on Duke-In programs pay a $120 one-time, lifetime transcript fee, so no further payment is needed.

Request a Duke Transcript
 

Hybrid Credit for Non-Duke Students

The credit transfer process for non-Duke students studying on hybrid credit programs can get a bit complicated, but there’s support in place. The best approach is to stay in close communication with your home university and with Duke GEO staff, and to keep all involved parties informed of your plans. Keep copies of all documentation related to the course approval(s) and the credit you earned in the course(s).

DUKE COURSES

For the Duke courses, you will need to make sure your home university will accept the courses for transfer credit.

TRANSFER/HOST UNIVERSITY COURSES

For the courses you take at the foreign host university, the approval process is twofold:

1. First, you’ll have to obtain approval from Duke to put the course on your Duke transcript. See: Course Approval Process
2. Second, you’ll have to obtain approval from your home university to transfer the course back to your home university’s transcript via the Duke transcript.

To assist non-Duke students studying on a hybrid credit program with credit transfer, our office will make available at semester’s end a Duke transcript with Duke and transfer credits listed, a transcript from the foreign university with grades listed, and, by request, a Duke conversion of the grades listed on the foreign university transcript. For assistance with your Duke transcript, please contact GEOTranscripts@duke.edu.