Transfer & AP Credit

Psychology Department Policy Concerning Transfer Credit

If you would like to transfer credit for a psychology course from another institution, you will need to do the following before you take the course (all transfer credit must be pre-approved):

  1. Talk to your advisor about what you want to take and how it fits into your overall degree plan.
  2. Get a transfer-of-credit form from the registrar’s office.
  3. Obtain the following information about the course you would like to take:
    a. A published course description
    b. A syllabus (often available on the web; if not you will probably need to contact the departmental secretary or course instructor)
    i. A course syllabus used the last time the course was offered is acceptable
    ii. If a syllabus is not available, the student is asked to contact the department or professor and to acquire a proposed reading list for the course
    iii. If the course under consideration is a standard course taught at a well-known psychology department we may have already seen a syllabus.  If you plan to study at a major institution, e-mail our psychology department chair to see whether a syllabus will be required.
  4. Complete the transfer-of-credit form and have the form signed by your advisor
  5. Submit the transfer-of-credit form with the course description and syllabus attached to the chair of the psychology department.
  6. Once the form is signed by you, your advisor, and the department chair, you must submit it to the registrar.

NOTE:  Although we approve all transfer credit on a case-by-case basis, we are especially cautious about transferring in psychology courses for psychology majors.  We are particularly reluctant to transfer in credit for our statistics-methods course sequence or for our foundational courses.  We believe students benefit most from taking applied/
specialized courses at other institutions, and we encourage students to enroll in a course that Rhodes does not currently offer.  The student may petition to be given applied credit for such courses, Psych 099.

Psychology Department Policy Concerning AP Credit

The psychology department awards three credit hours for a score of 4 or 5 on the psychology AP exam.  These three hours count as elective credit hours and can satisfy one of the social science distribution requirements. Students who score a 5 on the AP exam are given credit for psychology 150 and may move directly into psychology 200 or may take any of the course numbered below 300. Students who score a 4 on the AP exam should talk to an advisor about whether they are prepared to skip psychology 150 or whether they should take it before going on to 200-level psychology courses. This decision will be based on topics covered in their high school psychology class as well as other factors.