Guidelines for MSU Acceptance of Transfer Courses for Substitution of College Writing I and College Writing II

If you have taken a course in New Jersey, check with http://www.njtransfer.org/. If appropriately listed, the course you have taken will be linked to any MSU course for which you are eligible to receive credit.  If you did not receive credit for 105 or 106 at time of transfer, and your course is approved by NJTransfer, you can see Phyllis Brooks in Dickson 468.  She will be able to sign off on your paper work.

However, if the course you have taken does not show up on the NJTransfer web site, and you believe it is nonetheless eligible, please do the following.

First, review MSU's course descriptions  so you can be clear as to whether or not the course you have taken is similar to one of our courses.  If you think your course is eligible, complete the Course Transfer Form and drop it off, with appropriate attachments, to Dickson 468.

Note: Waivers for courses that have not been officially accepted by MSU cannot be processed.  Make sure your credits have transferred before you see Ms. Brooks.

For questions about the waiver process, please contact Prof. Maria Giura or Prof. Bonnie Dowd, assistant directors of the First-Year Writing program.

Berkeley and DeVry Students:
Please note that Berkeley and DeVry are not currently under articulation agreements with MSU as the scope, intentions and admissions policies of these institutions are considerably different from ours.  The courses at these schools, even when it is the case that the course descriptions are similar, may not provide the required and necessary level of instruction and criteria for evaluation.

Therefore, the blanket recommendation to students transferring from these institutions is to take 105 and 106.

However, if a student believes s/he is unusually strong, s/he can make an appeal by presenting the following to the director of First Year Writing.              

1.       copies of papers written for the Berkeley/DeVry's courses              
2.       copies of papers written for other courses at MSU              
3.       a copy of the Berkeley/DeVry transcript

Students may also be asked to complete brief essays on the spot.