Transfer & Advanced Standing Credits

Acceptance of Transfer Credit

John Jay College accepts at equal value all transfer credits in college-level academic courses with a passing grade [D- or better] from within CUNY, or C or better from an institution of higher education accredited by a body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education or the Council on Higher Education Accreditation, provided that the accreditation was in effect at the time of the student’s attendance. Transfer credits from schools not on the semester system will be converted to semester credits). Students who complete courses outside CUNY with passing grades below a C will be excused from the equivalent courses at John Jay College but will not receive credits for them. Students should consult with an academic advisor about having these courses applied to their degree audits.

How Transfer Credit Apply to Degree Programs 

Transferred credits count at John Jay toward the 120 credits required for a Bachelor’s degree, and are evaluated to determine if they meet program (major/minor) requirements or general education requirements. Transfer students must complete at least 30 credits at John Jay to receive a degree, including at least 50% of the credits in the student’s major program of study. Additionally, students who wish to earn a minor must also complete at least 50% of the credits in the minor at John Jay.

General Education

Students who come to John Jay having completed an Associate of Science (AS) or Associate of Arts (AA) degree will enter John Jay with 12 of the 14 total courses fulfilling general education requirements complete. The remaining two requirements to be taken at John Jay consist of six credits.

Students who come to John Jay with an Associates of Applied Science (AAS) or without a degree will have their credits evaluated, and any transferred courses that align with general education learning outcomes will be counted toward the corresponding requirements.

For more information, see the college bulletin, or this General Education Transfer Chart provided by John Jay’s Academic Advising Center.

Major/Minor

Courses transferred from another institution that are deemed to be equivalent to John Jay courses count toward the same requirements as the John Jay course. John Jay regularly updates its list of equivalent courses from common transfer institutions, but students should look over their degree audit to ensure that transfer credits are counting correctly toward degree requirements. In some cases, articulation agreements exist that specify how courses taken at one institution count toward a program of study at John Jay. Current articulation agreements are posted to the College web site. Students may meet with an academic advisor or the major/minor program coordinator (for major/minor requirements) to discuss whether a course taken at another institution should count toward their program of study (each program’s coordinator is listed in the college bulletin).

Electives

Credits from academic courses that do not count toward the major/minor or general education will count as elective credits, and are applied toward the 120 credits required to graduate with a baccalaureate degree.

Appealing the Evaluation of Transfer Credit 

Students who wish to appeal the evaluation of their transfer credits must meet with an Academic Advisor to review their final transfer credit report. Based on this meeting, the advisor may refer the student to the Office of Testing and Evaluation to consider a reevaluation or reapplication of transfer credits (or, in some cases, to the Office of Undergraduate Studies to consider a course substitution). In cases related to the Pathways general education curriculum, if all these steps are taken and the request is denied, the student may request that the Office of Testing and Evaluation elevate the appeal to the campus Pathways Appeals Officer in the Office of Undergraduate Studies. More information on transfer appeals may be found here.   

Accreditation Status & Transfer of Credit 

John Jay College generally accepts transfer credits in academic courses from institutions accredited by bodies recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) or the US Department of Education (http://www.chea.org/search/default.asp). Students transferring credits from institutions not accredited by one of the bodies on the list should contact the Admissions Office at admissions@jjay.cuny.edu regarding the transferability of their credits. 

 Credit from Institutions Outside the US

A student with foreign credentials accepted to John Jay College and deemed by the University Application Processing Center, or by John Jay College, or by CUNY-approved credit evaluators, to have earned college credits at a postsecondary institution will be granted college credits at John Jay College on a case-by-case basis.

Credit for Prior Learning

A maximum of 45 credits may be granted for verifiable college level learning from external, non-college sources, such as law enforcement or fire academies, military, or standardized tests. John Jay generally recognizes credit recommendations from the American Council on Education (ACE) and the National College Credit Recommendation Service (NCCRS). The college maintains lists of previously evaluated training, which will be used to evaluate a student’s documents for eligible transfer credit. John Jay also offers an individualized evaluation to determine credit for prior learning. In some cases, credit from prior learning may be deemed equivalent to one or more courses in a major/minor program of study.

Please note: To receive a degree from John Jay College, you must take a minimum of 30 credits in residency at the College, including at least 50 percent of an approved major. Please note that “in residency” does not include courses taken by epermit at other campuses.

Credit by Examination

Credit may be awarded to students with sufficiently high passing scores on standardized tests offered by several external testing programs, such as Advanced Placement Program (AP), College-Level Examination Program (CLEP), and International Baccalaureate (IB), and DSST.

See the college bulletin and the Credit by Exam page for more information.

Uniformed Members of Service

Students who are graduates of the New York City Police Academy, the New York City Fire Academy and the New York City Department of Corrections Academy are accepted as direct transfers to the College.  In addition to transfer credits subject to the policies described above, these students also receive transfer credit based on their training, which has been evaluated by the College.  These course credits vary by training academy and are published in the college bulletin.  External credit for other police, fire and corrections training academies are evaluated by academic departments as the need arises.  These credits may not exceed the College’s limit of 45 “external” credits.

Military Training

The college follows the recommendations of the American Council on Education (ACE) in granting credit for military training, based on review of students' military transcripts, up to a maximum of 45 credits. Members of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and National Guard order official transcripts through the Joint Services transcript (JST) system at https://jst.doded.mil. After requesting an official transcript through JST, notify the Office of Testing and Evaluation at testing@jjay.cuny.edu and they will retrieve your transcript from the JST system. Members of the Air Force order official transcripts sent to John Jay from the Community College for the Air Force (CCAF) at http://www.au.af.mil/au/barnes/ccaf/transcripts.asp.