Students earning a Chemistry Major/Minor or a Chemistry with Biochemistry Focus Major/Minor are required to take all chemistry coursework at Washington University in St. Louis. These courses should be taken during the regular academic year if at all possible.

Students earning other majors may satisfy Principles of General Chemistry (Chem 1601/1602), General Chemistry Laboratory (Chem 1751/Chem 1752), or Organic Chemistry Laboratory (Chem 2551/2552) at Washington University by taking comparable chemistry courses at another institution. Transfer credit for Chem 1701/1702 and Chem 2501/2502 will not be granted.

For more information regarding summer options for Organic Chemistry lecture and lab, please see this FAQ.

Course Credit Request Procedure

1. Identify a school that teaches the chemistry course you’re interested in transferring. If several courses are available, choose one required for chemistry or science majors.  Four-year colleges or universities that offer an American Chemical Society-approved chemistry degree, operate on the semester system, and have a graduate research program (master’s or PhD) typically offer an appropriate chemistry class for transfer to WU.
2. Obtain syllabi that contain a detailed list of the topics covered for the courses you’re interested in taking.
3. Complete the “Approval for Non-WU Course Credit” form.
4. Send this completed form and the associated syllabi to Brandon Hutchison, Academic Coordinator, at b.hutchison@wustl.edu.

After reviewing, the Academic Coordinator will contact you by email to let you know whether or not the course is comparable to one offered at Washington University.  If the course is appropriate, the Coordinator will sign the form and approve the course credit transfer.

Once you’ve completed the course, you must send an official transcript to the College Office (Campus Box 1117) to certify that you have successfully completed the course. The course equivalence will appear on your WU transcript, but the grade will not. The grade will not be used in your WU GPA calculation.

You should obtain confirmation of course equivalence prior to enrolling in a course at another institution. To ensure you have course approval prior to summer school registration periods, your request should be submitted to the Academic Coordinator by the end of March. Approval may be granted after you have already taken the course, but there is no guarantee that you will receive the transfer credits unless you have the course approved ahead of time.

Academic Coordinator