Advanced Placement (AP) and Transfer Credit

Transfer Credit

Transfer credit is defined as:

Accredited Institutions and Eligible Courses
Credit must be earned at an regionally accredited institution. Refer to the Council for Higher Education Accreditation’s website for the list of six accepted accrediting bodies. Only courses from regionally accredited, degree-granting, post-secondary institutions are eligible. MOOCs and non-degree courses are not accepted.

Advanced Placement Credit

Eligible college credit earned in high school

Credit earned through the Ithaca College Exchange Program

Credits earned through the Office of Global Learning

CALS students may be approved to apply up to a maximum of 60 non-Cornell transfer credits toward their degree progress at Cornell. Of these 60 credits, only 15 may comprise credit earned in high school/prior to matriculating to college.

The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Cornell University reserve the right to determine, in their sole discretion, whether course credit earned at other schools, either secondary or post-secondary, meets the College’s and the University’s academic standards and will be eligible to be applied toward Cornell degree requirements.

Neither applicants nor current students should assume that a particular course taken at another accredited institution will necessarily be eligible for Cornell credit even if it is listed as a recommended course or a foundational course.

Transferring Eligible Credit

For students transferring to Cornell from another institution, your official transcripts will be evaluated as part of the admissions process. Once admitted, these courses will be assessed and applied to your degree progress based on the College’s and the University’s academic standards. Only completed coursework listed on an official transcript can be evaluated. To have additional coursework considered for your degree progress before your first semester at Cornell, you must submit an updated official transcript.

For Transfer Applicants and newly admitted Transfer Students, official transcripts may be submitted electronically to: applicant [at] cornell.edu (applicant[at]cornell[dot]edu) . For any transfer credit earned after the first semester at Cornell, use the guidelines for Current CALS students.

Advanced Placement and International Examination Credit

Cornell University uses the term Advanced Placement (AP) to refer to several types of pre-college and placement examinations. These exams may allow you to earn academic credit or place out of certain introductory courses. At Cornell, Advanced Placement credit may include the following examinations:

College Board Advanced Placement (AP) Exams
International Baccalaureate (IB) Higher Level Exams
General Certificate of Education (GCE) A-Level Exams
Cambridge Pre-University Exams
Cornell Advanced Standing Exams (CASE)

Credit policies vary by subject and major. Please review your major department's website for details.

Important: If you enroll in a Cornell course that your Advanced Placement or International Exam credit places you out of, you will forfeit that credit.

General Policies for Advanced Placement Credit (CALS)

Students may apply up to 15 credits of Advanced Placement and International Examination credit toward their CALS degree requirements.
This 15-credit limit includes all pre-matriculation transfer credit, such as coursework taken at another accredited institution before enrolling at Cornell CALS as a first-year student.
Students who matriculate to Cornell CALS as external transfer students may earn a maximum of 60 total transfer credits, which includes up to 15 credits from:
- AP Exams
- IB Higher Level Exams
- GCE A-Level Exams
- French Baccalaureate
- Cambridge Pre-University Exams
- CASE credit

Credit is awarded only for acceptable exam scores, as determined by Cornell and CALS policies.

Advanced placement or international exam credit will not be awarded without official documentation of the exam score.

Timing of Exams

All Advanced Placement examinations (except CASE) are taken and scored before matriculation and before the fall semester begins.

Students who take AP Exams in high school should have their official score reports sent directly to Cornell as soon as scores are available.
Students who complete either GCE A-Level, IB Higher Level, French Baccalaureate, or Cambridge Pre-University exams must submit official documentation to CALS Office of Student Services.
Students interested in taking CASE exams must do so during Orientation week in August.

Submitting Advanced Placement and International Examination Scores

AP Exams

Arrange for the College Board to send your official AP score report directly to Cornell University using code 2098.

Current CALS juniors and seniors: Notify CALS Student Services after sending the score report to Cornell.
CALS Student Services will review your scores and post any eligible credits to your academic record.
If you are approved for more than 15 credits, you will be able to choose which credits are applied to your record after the add deadline in your first semester at Cornell.

IB/GCE A-Level

Submit the original transcript or a certified copy to:

CALS Office of Student Services
140 Roberts Hall
Ithaca, NY 14850

How to determine whether credit applies to your degree?

Review the Cornell-wide Advanced Placement Credit table general policies.
Review the table below for English and Statistics exam credit specific to the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Visit the Biological Sciences website for policies related to advanced placement Biology credit.

My Advanced Placement credits are not posted.

If your official exam scores have been sent to the CALS Office of Student Services but do not appear on your record, please contact our office for assistance. Please note that the summer months are a high-volume period, and it may take longer than usual for credits to be reviewed and posted.

Exam	Subject	Score	Credit & Placement Information
CEEB’s AP Exams	English literature and composition OR English language and composition	5	Placement out of 3 credits of written expression. (Students allowed to use one test to fulfill written expression).
CEEB’s AP Exams	Statistics (excluding BE/EE)	5	4 credits. Students taking AEM 2100, BTRY 3010, BTRY 6010, PAM 2100, ILRST/STSCI 2100, ILRST 6100, PSYCH 2500, STSCI 2150, SOC 3010 or MATH 1710 or equivalent will forfeit credit. Major requirements are not included. Confirm credit with the department or faculty advisor.
International Baccalaureate (IB)	English Literature A (HL) OR English Language and Literature A (HL)	7	Placement out of 3 credits of written expression. (Students allowed to use one test to fulfill written expression).
GCE A-Level	English Literature	A*, A	Placement out of 3 credits of written expression. (Students allowed to use one test to fulfill written expression).
GCE A-Level	Statistics (excluding BE/EE)	A*, A, or B	4 credits. Students taking AEM 2100, BTRY 3010, BTRY 6010, PAM 2100, ILRST/STSCI 2100, ILRST 6100, PSYCH 2500, STSCI 2150, SOC 3010 or MATH 1710 or equivalent will forfeit credit. Major requirements are not included. Confirm credit with the department or faculty advisor.
Cambridge Pre-U Exam	English	D1, D2, D3	Placement out of 3 credits of written expression. (Students allowed to use one test to fulfill written expression).

*Note: CALS students are limited to 15 non-Cornell (transfer) credits (this includes all non-Cornell (transfer) credits earned before a student's first semester in a college/university) as a first-year student from an accredited college/university. For those receiving more than 15 credits of AP coursework, you must inform the CALS Office of Student Services which credits you wish to accept.

Transfer Credit Guidelines for Current CALS Students

Pre-Approved Transfer Credit

Current CALS students are welcome to take transfer courses during the summer or winter terms (or during fall or spring only if the student is on an official leave of absence) and request that those credits be applied to their Cornell record. Students can see transfer courses that have been pre-approved by CALS for general credit/to count for a CALS distribution requirement in the Transfer Database located in DUST.

The course must be taken for a letter grade of C or higher.

After the grade is final, order the official transcript to be submitted by the college (most often, the Parchment system is used) to cals-studentservices [at] cornell.edu (cals-studentservices[at]cornell[dot]edu). Transcripts provided by the student are not considered official and cannot be accepted.

Note that forbidden overlap policies and transfer credit limits will still impact whether a course can be applied to a student’s record.

Requesting Transfer Credit Pre-Approval

Continuing students who plan to take courses at another regionally accredited institution are required to have transfer courses pre-approved to ensure they will transfer. Part of the approval process will require students to check with their academic advisor or department advising coordinator to pre-approve any courses for a specific major requirement. An official transcript from the offering institution (bearing the institutional seal and the Registrar's signature) must be sent to the CALS Office of Student Services before official transfer credit is awarded.

Current CALS students use the External Transfer Credit Application along with the submission of a course syllabus to have a course pre-approved for any of the following purposes:

To seek CALS pre-approval of a course that is not already in the Transfer Database to count for credits/a CALS distribution

To document that the major has approved a transfer course to count for a major requirement

To notify CALS Student Services that a Cornell department has approved a transfer course for equivalency to a Cornell course

Note: This is only a required step if the student’s major requires Cornell course equivalency in order to count a transfer course for a major requirement. CALS Student Services cannot facilitate this process; the student must work with the appropriate department (i.e. if seeking approval for a course to come in as MATH 1120, work with the MATH department).