Students entering the university with transfer credit from other schools will encounter one of two scenarios:
- Courses from Columbus State or another Ohio school may be a direct match to an OSU course, in which case the Registrar will automatically convert the credit upon receiving a final transcript. Students who encounter this scenario should not need to take further action. To determine if your course is an Ohio State direct match, try http://transferology.com or the Ohio State Quick Equivalencies Excel page. This link can be found under Transfer Credit Services on the registrar's website https://registrar.osu.edu/transfer_credit/index.asp.
- Courses without a known match will temporarily be posted as general/special/deferred credit until the corresponding departments can evaluate the course content and syllabus further to determine the OSU equivalent, if any. Students who receive general, special, or deferred credit will need to have their Chemistry or Biochemistry course evaluated by a CBC advisor or faculty member.
Evaluating Transfer Credit
Students should use the email cbctransfer@osu.edu to begin the process of having a chemistry or biochemistry course evaluated. You will need to provide the below information as part of this submission form:
- DARS Transfer Credit Report [pdf]. This report lists all courses coming into OSU from other institutions, the number of credit hours awarded by the Registrar, the temporary coding number, and the grade received. This information helps the advisor accurately evaluate courses as possible OSU course equivalents.
- Detailed syllabus for each course to be evaluated: The syllabus must include the name of the textbook, the author, a list of topics covered, and a list of lab experiment titles if the course had a lab component.
See sample syllabus [pdf]. Course descriptions will not be accepted in place of a syllabus.
Evaluation of transfer credit may take one to two weeks to evaluate and process; this could be delayed more if any of the above information is missing in the student's initial email request. Please be sure to plan accordingly.
Incoming transfer students should submit required materials well in advance of their orientation session, so they may enroll in further coursework (during orientation). Using the cbctransfer@osu.edu email is the preferred method. If email is not possible, materials will be accepted via mail, fax, or in-person delivery to 110 Celeste Lab by the student, provided that all materials contain the student's name and OSU Student ID Number.
Pre-Evaluation of a Course
Students enrolled at OSU may plan to take chemistry or biochemistry courses at another institution to transfer those credits back as a specific OSU requirement. If a student chooses this option, they should first verify that the course offered at the other institution will be accepted as an OSU equivalent.
- Students can search online for course equivalencies at the Transfer Credit Center via the “OSU Quick Equivalencies” link. If a course is listed on this link, once the Transfer Credit Center receives the other institution’s transcript, the direct equivalent course will automatically be posted as an OSU equivalent with no intervention by a chemistry/biochemistry evaluator.
- If the desired chemistry or biochemistry course equivalency cannot be found on the OSU Quick Equivalencies spreadsheet, the student should have the course pre-evaluated by a chemistry or biochemistry advisor. A copy of the course syllabus will be required for this step. The course syllabus should be submitted using the cbctransfer@osu.edu email. In your email include the OSU course that you are wanting to check equivalency against and the full course syllabus for the course to be evaluated for equivalency.
Prior to enrolling, students must confirm that the other institution's chemistry or biochemistry class will transfer back to OSU should they want course credit. If the course is not verified, a student runs the risk of taking a course which receives only general credit rather than specific course credit.
- Pre-evaluations cannot be provided for courses that will be taken abroad. Students wishing to take courses in another country may meet with a chemistry advisor to get general feedback on the syllabus for a proposed course. However, students take such courses at their own risk and will need to submit a detailed syllabus for evaluation after the course appears on their transfer credit report.
- Only materials submitted by the student will be accepted. Transfer materials submitted by other people will not be accepted.
Determining Course Equivalency for Professional Programs
Ohio State Professional Programs will at times require incoming students to have taken courses equivalent to OSU's General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, and/or Introduction to Biochemistry (4511).
The review of these courses requires the same syllabus information as all other course evaluations, but does not require a DARS report. In addition, our advisors require a copy of the Graduate and Professional Admissions letter detailing your prior course work and possible course equivalencies (please include all pages).
Incoming Professional Students needing assistance with course equivalencies should schedule an appointment with a Chemistry or Biochemistry Advisor.
Email Address: cbctransfer@osu.edu
Mailing Address:
ATTN: Chemistry Advisors
110 Celeste Lab
120 W 18th Ave
Columbus, Ohio 43210
[pdf]- Some links on this page are to .pdf files. If you need these files in a more accessible format, please email chemadvisors@osu.edu. PDF files require the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader software to open them. If you do not have Reader, you may use the following link to Adobe to download it for free at: Adobe Acrobat Reader.