Transferring Credit in History

The History Department strictly enforces the University rule that you must have approval in advance (at least provisionally) to take any course in history for which you propose to transfer credit to Wesleyan. If you have received permission to take a course and then for some reason you need to substitute another one, you must get approval before you begin the class.

History majors need to get provisional approval from their major advisors in advance; non-majors should apply to the chair of the Department.  In 2022-2023 the Chair of the History Department is William Johnston, tel. (860) 685-2375, e-mail wjohnston@wesleyan.edu. For definitive approval you will need to present a syllabus or reading list for the course, not merely a catalog write-up.

A course for which credit can be transferred will normally be given at an accredited four-year institution and must be roughly equivalent to a Wesleyan History course. As a rule of thumb:

• It should require no fewer than ten books or comparable amounts of other reading
• There should be some papers and/or exams involving essay-type questions
• The subject matter of the course should be something that the Wesleyan History department does not offer

If you wish to take a course that does not involve as much reading and writing as a Wesleyan History course, you can discuss bringing it up to an equivalent amount of work by writing a term paper in addition to the course's normal requirements.  You should get the approval of the instructor of the course to work with you on the extra reading and writing.