Academic Standards
Credits for the A.B. degree
Credit for work at Wheaton. The unit of credit is the semester course. One course credit (the equivalent of four semester hours of credit) is awarded upon the completion of a semester course, and up to two credits for a yearlong course. Fractional credit may be awarded for courses that involve less than a semester's work and these fractional credits may also be divided across two semesters. These regulations govern the earning of course credits:
- At least 16 of the 32 credits must be earned in courses taken at Wheaton ("in residence"); normally these must include the last eight credits (the "senior residency requirement"). Students may, ordinarily at the time of their matriculation and before the end of their first year, seek transfer and/or advanced placement credit for work or examinations completed before enrolling at Wheaton, and all students may earn transfer credit for appropriate work completed at other accredited institutions. Students planning to complete the degree requirements in fewer than eight semesters, or wishing to waive one or both semesters of the senior residency requirement, should petition the Committee on Academic Standing before they have completed 20 course credits.
- The normal semester load is four course credits (16 semester hours). A full-time student must enroll in at least seven credits for any two consecutive semesters to maintain good academic standing. Students seeking to enroll in fewer than four credits or more than 5.5 credits must have the permission of the Committee on Academic Standing. Part-time status (fewer than three credits a semester) is only granted upon successful petition to the Committee on Academic Standing.
- It is recommended that no more than 6 credits among the first 16 (normally in the first two years) be completed in any one department, ensuring that most of the work in the major will be completed in the final two years.
- At least sixteen course credits of work must be outside the field of the major.
- Both semesters of a yearlong course must be completed before final credit and a grade are earned.
Alternative sources of credit. Credit toward the A.B. may be earned in ways other than through Wheaton courses. Transfer students may apply up to 16 credits toward the Wheaton degree from courses earned at other institutions before enrolling at Wheaton. These courses may be applied toward fulfillment of the Wheaton Foundations requirement and major requirements, as appropriate; however, neither the Connections requirement nor the three Divisional requirements (Social Science, Arts and Humanities, Natural Science) may be met by any credits earned outside of Wheaton College. Normally, transfer credits will be evaluated before the transfer student begins work at Wheaton.
Wheaton students may also earn credit at other institutions that can be applied toward graduation requirements. Students completing summer school or January courses or who enroll at other institutions while on a leave of absence from Wheaton normally submit an "Application for Transfer Credit" to the Office of the Registrar before beginning course work elsewhere. Transfer credits must be approved by the chairperson of the Wheaton department into which the credit shall be transferred. Students must earn grades of C or better for courses to transfer successfully to Wheaton College, though transfer grades do not appear on the Wheaton transcript and are not computed in the Wheaton G.P.A.
The college also grants academic credit for scores earned on College Entrance Examination Board (C.E.E.B.) Advanced Placement examinations and other examinations such as the General Certificate of Education (British University A-Levels), the French Baccalaureate and the International Baccalaureate, as approved by the associate dean of studies. The amount of credit and any conditions on recording it will be determined on the basis of departmental evaluation of the examination and the student's score. The college will grant advanced placement credit for college-level work completed before matriculation only when that work has been reviewed and credit recommended by the appropriate department, subject to the approval of the associate dean of studies. College courses taken during secondary school and used for graduation requirements are not eligible for transfer. Application for credit based on placement exams or college-level work is ordinarily made at the time of matriculation and completed by the end of the student's first year. A limit of eight course credits is placed on credits earned in this way.