Transfer Credits and Special Programs

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Credit from courses taken at other institutions of higher education may be transferred to Kenyon (i.e., counted as meeting a part of the College's degree requirements) if the following conditions are met: (1) advance approval is obtained (forms available from the Registrar's Office); approval sought retroactively requires a petition; (2) an official transcript is sent directly to the Kenyon registrar from the credit granting institution; (3) courses are taken for letter grades and the grades earned are C- or above; (4) the other institution is fully accredited by a recognized accrediting agency, or the Committee on Academic Standards has specifically approved the program for off-campus study purposes; and (5) the subject matter of the courses is liberal arts in nature. Grades for transfer credit are recorded on the student's record as "TR" except off-campus study courses. These grades do not affect a student's grade point average, except for certain portions of Kenyon programs — see the section explaining off-campus study.

The registrar determines whether the above criteria are met, the amount of credit that is transferable, and the distribution requirements that are fulfilled. Credit is accepted in transfer to the College on a pro rata basis: one Kenyon unit equals eight semester hours or twelve quarter-hours of credit. Kenyon will not accept transfer credit for which transfer credit would be granted more than one year after the completion of the coursework (except in the case of a student admitted to Kenyon as a transfer student). Test scores must be received no later than December of a student's sophomore year to have the credit applied to the student record.

Students should also be aware of the residency requirements as outlined under Requirements for the Degree.

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In special circumstances these may be approved by the registrar and the chair of the credit granting department at Kenyon.

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Because summer school credit is credit transferred to the student's permanent record, the provisions listed above regarding all transfer credit also apply toward summer school credit. Students wishing to take courses at a summer school and receive transfer credit for work done there must obtain a transfer credit pre-approval form at the Office of the Registrar and then consult with their faculty advisor and for the courses for the major with the chair of the corresponding department at Kenyon for approval of the course(s). These approvals, along with any pertinent information from the summer school brochure or catalog, must then be submitted to the Office of the Registrar. Upon receipt of the summer school transcript, the credit will be transferred to the student's permanent record if all conditions are met.

No more than 3.00 units/24 semester hours of summer school credit may be credited to the Kenyon degree. Credit earned in summer school may not be counted as a substitution for a semester of residence at the College.

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Students who are applying for off-campus study (OCS) must present compelling academic reasons for this option, and they will be required to articulate how the proposed OCS work will be closely linked to their Kenyon curriculum.

The process for approval to study off campus is highly competitive and the number of spaces available for off-campus study is limited. Students applying for a year must present a very strong case for this longer option. Some year-long applications may be approved for a semester only.

Requirements

The minimum cumulative GPA for participation in an OCS program is 2.75. This GPA is a requirement but not a guarantee for OCS approval. Academic performance across the semesters will also be a factor in the OCS advising process and the evaluation of the application.

Participation in OCS is ordinarily limited to students with junior standing.

Students participating in OCS programs in a country where the official language is not English must take a language course while on OCS. This course must either be the primary language of the country or one that is prominently spoken in the locale of the OCS program. This policy applies to each semester of OCS participation. Failure to take this language course will result in no credit for any coursework from the OCS semester transferring back to Kenyon.

Deadlines

Students planning to study off campus during their junior year must apply no later than February 1 of their sophomore year. This will ensure that students will have planned well in advance for the integration of OCS coursework and their Kenyon academic work. No late applications will be accepted.

Approved programs

Students must participate in approved programs. Programs are approved by the director of the Center for Global Engagement and the faculty subcommittee on international education. Enrollment in U.S. colleges or universities is excluded, with exceptions for the historically black colleges and universities as well as specific U.S. programs. Participation in approved programs requires College approval.

Prohibited programs

Certain OCS programs and courses that do not meet Kenyon standards are explicitly prohibited. Students who fail to follow College procedures regarding off-campus study, or who withdraw from Kenyon and thus circumvent existing College regulations regarding off-campus study, are prohibited from receiving credit for coursework and semesters of residency completed off-campus.

Transfer of off-campus study credit

Before starting an off-campus study program, students are required to follow the course pre-approval procedures outlined during the predeparture meeting. As part of these procedures, students must list any courses they may be taking on the program, meet with their advisor, and meet with the chairs of their major/minor departments and with their concentration directors to get approval for the courses. Requests made retroactively require a petition.

Students will have letter grades recorded for work done off campus whenever the course is taught and graded by a member of the Kenyon faculty and the course is given credit in the department where the member is appointed. These grades will factor into the student's GPA at Kenyon. All other OCS grades will be posted on the transcript with the grade preceded by 'T' (e.g. TB+), and will not be calculated into the College GPA.

Courses with grades below a C- will be posted, but no credit will be awarded. Courses taken on off-campus study programs that do not satisfy the transfer credit criteria will be listed with a grade of 'NT' and with no credit.

Kenyon programs

Kenyon-Exeter: All grades earned in courses (taught by the Kenyon resident director) and all grades earned in Exeter's Department of English courses, translated into U.S. letter grades, will be listed on the official Kenyon transcript and figured into a student's cumulative Kenyon GPA. However, any grades posted from the University of Exeter, but earned in departments other than English, are simply treated as transfer credit, following the practices for transfer of grades from off-campus study programs not sponsored by Kenyon. Credit from Exeter will be transferred back at the rate of 32 ECTS = 2.00 Kenyon units/16 semester hours.

Kenyon-Rome: All grades earned in the Kenyon seminar (taught by the Kenyon resident director), will be listed on the official Kenyon transcript as Kenyon courses and will figure into a student's cumulative Kenyon GPA. Courses taken from the program provider will be treated as transfer credit, following the practices for transfer of grades from off-campus study programs not sponsored by Kenyon.

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Up to 3.00 units/24 semester hours of Kenyon credit may be awarded to students who have received scores of 4 or higher on CEEB Advanced Placement (AP) tests. See the website of the Office of the Registrar for recommendations regarding credit and placement. Official score reports must be received by the Office of the Registrar no later than December of a student's sophomore year.

AP credit counts toward the 16.00 units/128 semester hours required for the degree. However, no diversification requirement (i.e., four divisions) may be satisfied with AP credit. AP credit cannot be used to satisfy the quantitative reasoning (QR) requirement.

AP credit may serve as a prerequisite for specific courses in a department, toward requirements for the major, and as advanced placement, depending on each department's decision. Students who enroll in courses for which the AP placement is equivalent will have the AP credit removed from their record by the registrar.

Advanced placement, as opposed to credit, is determined by each department. AP credit may not be substituted for a semester of residence at the College. 

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Students who satisfactorily complete an International Baccalaureate (IB) program in high school and who send the results to the registrar may have up to 3.00 units/24 semester hours of Kenyon credit awarded. At the discretion of individual departments, .50 unit/4 semester hours of credit may be earned for each score of 6 or 7 on Higher Level examinations. Official score reports must be received by the Registrar's Office no later than December of a student's sophomore year. 

Up to 3.00 units/24 semester hours of Kenyon credit may be awarded to those who have satisfactorily completed certain other Baccalaureate programs, including the French Baccalaureate, the British A-Levels, and the German Abitur. Upon receipt of the official transcript, the registrar will determine, in conjunction with faculty members of specific departments, the awarding of the allowable 3.00 units/24 semester hours. Placement in courses is determined by the department's faculty.

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Pre-college Credit Maximum Limit

Students may earn a maximum of 3.00 units/24 semester hours of credit from Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, French Baccalaureate, German Arbitur, college courses taken while completing high school or any combination of these programs. Credit will not be granted for scores from two programs which appear to be equivalent.

As with the College's advanced placement policy, baccalaureate credit cannot be used to fulfill residency or diversification requirements.

Completing a degree after leaving the college

A student who fails to graduate by the anticipated degree date may transfer credits necessary to graduate from Kenyon for up to seven years afterward. After seven years a student may petition the Committee on Academic Standards to complete the degree.

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Founded by Kenyon and six independent Ohio secondary schools in 1979 as the School-College Articulation Program (SCAP), the Kenyon Academic Partnership (KAP) is dedicated to improving the transition of students from high school to college. KAP is designed (1) to reduce the amount of course duplication some students find in college; (2) to give students an introduction to the rigors of college work in familiar, supportive settings; and (3) to offer students more advanced and varied courses than are normally not found in high school.

KAP course offerings have increased from four to twenty five, and participating students have increased from 120 to more than one thousand per year.

Participating schools offer one or more courses cooperatively developed by the school and Kenyon faculty members. The courses are fully equivalent to the introductory courses offered in each of the College's participating departments. The teachers in the secondary schools present these courses to eligible students according to collegiate standards, reproducing as closely as possible a college environment. Kenyon's standards are maintained in a number of ways: the College appoints KAP teachers in the schools, Kenyon departmental representatives visit and evaluate classes in the schools, and teachers at both levels periodically exchange student papers for cross-grading. At the end of a course, a student's final grade is posted in the same manner as for other College students, and a transcript may be sent to any college to which the student may wish to apply. KAP credits have been accepted in transfer to approximately two-thirds of the colleges attended by KAP students.

KAP students who attend Kenyon and who wish to include KAP credit toward the B.A. must visit the Office of the Registrar to request that the KAP credit be applied to their undergraduate record.

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