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George Mason University

Study Elsewhere

Degree seeking students are able to take courses elsewhere with the appropriate approval. Those students who are in their first semester at Mason and have transferred in more than 60 credits are not permitted to take courses elsewhere. In addition, students who do qualify for taking a course elsewhere may take up to 9 credits of COS equivalent coursework at a regionally accredited institution. The 9 credit hours do not include those course taken through the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area or coursework completed through the Center for Global Education

All students wishing to take a course elsewhere, must first get approval from their academic advisor and in some cases, approval from the requested course’s department. Approval from the requested course’s department is needed if the course is not located on the Transfer Credit Search Engine.

Requests without advisor approval will be returned which may cause a delay in the approval process.

Once the approval from the advisor and the student’s major dean’s office has been attained, the following steps MUST be followed to ensure the appropriate steps have been taken:

For courses equivalent to those offered in the College of Science:

  • the form (linked below) must be taken to the College of Science’s Office of Academic and Student Affairs in Exploratory Hall Room 1450.
  • if the course requested is equivalent to those offered by the College of Science, the final approval will be there.
  • Students will then be notified by the College of Science whether the approval has been granted.

 

For courses equivalent to those offered outside of the College of Science:

  • The form (linked below) must be taken to the College of Science’s Office of Academic and Student Affairs in Exploratory Hall Room 1450 for review.
  • If approved, the form will be signed off by a College of Science representative and forwarded to the offering course’s dean’s office
  • Final approval will then rest with the offering course’s dean’s office.
  • Students will then be notified by that office whether the approval has been granted.

Approval to take course’s elsewhere is not guaranteed. The following markers must be met in order for a student to be eligible to study elsewhere:

  • Students who transferred in no more than 60 credits to Mason
  • Students who have a cumulative grade point average of 2.00 or higher
  • Students who completed the previous semester with a grade point average of 2.00 or higher

Study elsewhere form

Otherwise

Failure to meet one of these markers will result in the denial of the request to take a course elsewhere.

Coursework which includes a laboratory experience must be taken in an in-person fashion. Online laboratories will not be approved for study elsewhere.

All approvals for study elsewhere are provisional until the previous semester’s final grades have been submitted. If the result of the final grades cause either the cumulative GPA or previous semester or term GPA to fall below 2.00, the permission to study elsewhere will be rescinded.

Undergraduate students wishing to have credits transferred back to Mason for credit must achieve a GPA of 2.00 (or higher) in their coursework. Students should plan to make arrangements with the college/university they attended to have the transcripts sent to the Office of the University Registrar upon completion of coursework. Their address is:

George Mason University Registrar’s Office
Records Section
4400 University Drive
MSN 3D1
Fairfax, VA 22030

Note that grades will not transfer back to Mason. Only the credits will appear on the Mason transcript.

Every Student Should Know