Student Center - Reading Your Credit Evaluation

Overview

Types of Equivalents

Course Attributes

In addition to listing the equivalent each course has been assigned and how much credit it has earned, your credit evaluation will contain a series of columns with headers including “Gen Ed,” “Ethnic St,” “Breadth,” and “Level” arrayed next to your incoming courses.  The letters in these columns will indicate which general education, breadth, and level attributes you are earning with each course.  Below is a key for what each letter in each column stands for.

‘Gen Ed’ column - Identifies courses that satisfy the communication or quantitative reasoning University General Education Requirement.                                         

a = Communication A
b = Communication B
q = Quantitative Reasoning (QR) A
r = Quantitative Reasoning (QR) B

'Ethnic St' column - Indicates courses that satisfy the ethnic studies requirement

e = Ethnic Studies

'Breadth' column - Indicates courses that satisfy breadth area requirements

B = Biological Science
H = Humanities
L = Literature (can also count towards the Humanities requirement)
N = Natural Science (does not necessarily satisfy specific biological or physical science requirements)
P = Physical Science
S = Social Science
W = Either Social or Natural Science
X = Either Humanities or Natural Science
Y = Either Biological Science or Social Science
Z = Either Humanities or Social Science

'Level' column - Indicates course level

E = Elementary level
I = Intermediate level
A = Advanced level

Transfer Credit Evaluation Header

• The top of your credit evaluation contains important information about your record, including your name and campus ID number. 
• The “Total Credits Transferred” field indicates the number of credits that you have completed which are fully transferring to UW-Madison. This will include course credits as well as any test credits that we have posted for you.
• The “Total Credits in Progress” field indicates the number of courses that you were completing at the time the credit evaluation was done. Once you have finished your term and sent your final transcript to UW-Madison, these credit values will be added to the “Total Credits Transferred” field.
• The “Total Expected Credits” field reflects the sum of the prior two fields.
  • NOTE: When we need to convert credits into semester units from schools on other academic calendars, UW-Madison uses exact credit. If your credits have been converted, you may notice numbers after the decimal point in any of the fields above. This number represents the exact conversion from the credits you earned at your school, rounded to the nearest hundredth.
• The Table of Contents Box links you to each other section of the credit evaluation. Above each section, there is a “Back to top” link that will bring you back here to the top of the page.

Course Credits Section

The course credits section will include credits from each institution you have attended. The credits will be separated out into different charts for each school attended. The blue “Transfer From” bar above the section is the header for a list of all the institutions from which you are receiving credit.  If there is an institution missing from this list, it may mean we don't have a transcript for it. The header sections above each chart with the fields “Transfer Institution,” “Credits Transferred,” “Credits In Progress,” and “Expected Credits” refer only to the courses in the chart immediately below.

• The first four columns in black text in the picture of the chart refer to the external institution’s course information, including the subject, course number, title, and number of units you received.
• The rest of the columns in blue text refer to the UW-Madison equivalent you were given for your course. Please refer back to the Types of Equivalents section and the Course Attributes section for more information about the UW-Madison Subject, UW-Madison Nbr, and Gen Ed, Ethnic St, Breadth, and Level fields.
• The Course Attributes link takes you to that section of this KB document in a different tab.
• The Equiv Title tells you the title of the equivalent you received. A direct equivalent will show the corresponding UW-Madison course title. Electives of any sort will always say “Electives.” A course that has received no credit will say “No Credit.”
• The Credits Earned column towards the right of the chart will have the number of UW-Madison credits you received for that course as long as you have completed it. Please keep in mind that if you have gone to a school that is not on the semester system, this number will look different than the number in the Transfer Units column, as it will have been converted to semester credits.
• The Credits in Progress column will have the number of UW-Madison credits you will receive for any courses that you currently have in progress. After you turn in your final transcript, all of these courses will be finalized, and the credit values will shift over to the Credits Earned column. Credits that are still "in progress" when you come to SOAR will not negatively impact your ability to enroll in your first-semester courses.
• If your credits have needed to be converted from an academic calendar other than American semesters, you may notice numbers after the decimal point in the number of credits you received for each course.  This represents the exact semester credit you have earned, rounded to the nearest hundredth.

A note about credits in progress: If you are taking a course whose equivalent depends on both the completion of your current course and on the presence of a previous course, then the previous course will also show as in progress even though you have actually completed it. This actually reflects the "in progress" nature of the equivalent you're receiving for both courses. If you fail to complete your current course, that equivalent will change. Once you have submitted your final transcript showing that you have completed the second course, both courses will count in the "credits earned" column.

Test Credits Section

Test credits include Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), College-Level Examination Program (CLEP) and foreign language retro credits awarded by previous institutions.

• Similar to the Course Credits section, the first three columns refer to information about the test you are getting credit for.
• The Test column indicates which test type you took, the Component column lists the subject of the test, and the Score column indicates the score you received.
• An FL in the Test column means we have transferred retro foreign language credits earned at your previous institution. The Component column in this case will reflect the qualifying equivalent course you took to earn those credits, and the score will reflect the total amount of retro credits you were granted.
• The columns with the blue type indicate the UW-Madison equivalency you received. The only difference is that there is only one credits column since test and retro credits are never "in progress". We only award these types of credit after the test has been taken and scores received, or after the retro credits have been posted by your previous institution.

Placement Test Requirements Section

The placement test requirements section contains information about which, if any, placement tests you are required to take before attending SOAR.The term/year above these notes indicates your admission term to UW-Madison.

• If you are a transfer student, these notes will tell you whether or not you need to take an English placement test and a Math placement test.
• International students who were required to submit a TOEFL score as part of the Admissions process and who don’t have appropriate college coursework from an English language institution will have a note stating that they must complete the Madison English as a Second Language Test (ESLAT) instead of the English placement test (UWEPT).
• Entering freshmen are currently expected to take both the English and Math placement tests regardless of previous credit.
• Placement tests must be completed at least two weeks before you attend the SOAR program.
• Questions about the placement tests themselves can be directed to UW-Madison's Office of Testing and Evaluation at frontdesk@exams.wisc.edu.

Important Notes Section

This notes section communicates important information about your evaluation. The term/year above the notes refers to the term and academic year cycle they apply to – in the case of brand new students this would be your first term and year of enrollment.

• Each note starts with two hyphens and gives a different instruction.
• If you have any courses in progress at the time of your admission, you will have a note instructing you to submit a final transcript to show completion of the courses.
• Other notes are recommendations, such as a suggestion that a student send their AP scores, or a request that a student send detailed syllabi for specific courses.
• It’s important to read all the notes and follow the instructions they give.

Transfer Credit Applicability

This statement is the same on every student's credit evaluation.

It simply notes that our Degree Audit Reporting System (DARS) is the document of record that displays how your transfer credits apply to your degree. New transfer students will learn how to run their DARS at SOAR.  Other new students can work with their advisors to learn more about DARS and how to use it. The statement also contains helpful links and information about how to appeal a course evaluation.

Next Steps

While Credit Evaluation Service produces the credit evaluation itself, we do not offer academic advising and are not able to answer questions about how your credits apply to your UW-Madison degree. With that fact in mind, we offer the following recommendations for next steps:

1. Confirm your enrollment in your Applicant Homepage and sign up for the Student Orientation, Advising, and Registration (SOAR) program if you haven’t already. SOAR is where you will receive academic advising, get help understanding how your credits apply to a degree here, and register for your first semester’s courses.
2. Learn about our general education and breadth requirements even before you come to SOAR!  Our Undergraduate Guide contains information on all of our degree requirements.
3. If a course has transferred differently than you hoped, submit a course reevaluation request form to the Office of the Registrar. You’ll need to give us your name, wisc.edu email, campus ID number, and your academic advisor’s name. You will provide some information about the course and upload a .pdf of a detailed syllabus from the semester in which you took your course. You’ll receive a decision within 4 to 6 weeks.

Note: Not all elective credits need to be re-evaluated. If you are not sure whether an equivalent really needs to be re-evaluated and Credit Evaluation Services has not requested a syllabus for it, it may help to wait to talk to an advisor at the SOAR program. They can help you understand how your credits apply to your degree and identify which courses really need a re-evaluation, which will save you a lot of time in collecting syllabi.