Course Catalog

You can learn more about the programs, areas of study, and courses offered at Lawrence by taking a look at our course catalog online. It will help you get a better sense of the opportunities you will have at Lawrence to explore your interests and develop new ones.

How Credits Transfer to Lawrence

Some courses will transfer to Lawrence and some will not. Only courses applicable to the programs and degrees offered by Lawrence, taken at an accredited college or university, and in which you earned a C- or better will be accepted. Lawrence will accept a maximum of 108 units of transferable credit work. In general, if you can find the same course listed under the same subject in the Lawrence course catalog, it should be eligible for transfer.


Final decisions about the transfer of credit and its application to degree requirements will be based on an evaluation of an official transcript of your work by the Registrar after you have been offered admission to the program.  How transfer courses will be applied to major, minor, or interdisciplinary area requirements will be up to the appropriate academic departments.  Transfer students should expect to do the majority of the work for their majors at Lawrence.

Lawrence Units and Equivalent Credit

A Lawrence unit is a measure of credit just like a semester hour or quarter hour. Students normally earn 54 units in a year (fall, winter, spring terms) which is equivalent to 30 semester hours (two semesters) or 45 quarter hours (three quarters). A standard 6-unit course at Lawrence is the equivalent of 3.33 semester hours or 5 quarter hours. Credit for courses accepted from other colleges and universities for transfer will be converted to Lawrence units. No more than 108 units (two years) of transfer work will be applied to the requirements for a Lawrence degree. Be sure to see the course catalog for complete information about degree and residence requirements.

Official Transcripts and Credit Evaluations

Your transcripts will be officially evaluated for credit after you have been admitted to the university. To have your college work reviewed for transfer, you must provide us with an official transcript (i.e., the registrar at your former college must send it directly to our admissions office in a sealed envelope or have it delivered by an e-transcript delivery service). Transcripts in your possession, sealed in an envelope or not, are not considered official.

If you are transferring credit from an institution outside the United States, please submit your transcripts/documents to Education Credential Evaluators, Inc (ECE) or World Education Services (WES). for evaluation. You should request a course-by-course evaluation and will be responsible for any fees incurred. The evaluation report of your coursework will be used in determining the transfer credit to be awarded.

Transfer students receive a statement from the Registrar listing the courses accepted toward a Lawrence degree. The evaluation will include the Lawrence unit value awarded to each accepted course, a list of courses denied transfer, a list of courses pending review of requested information (description, syllabus), a statement of the work required for graduation, and your academic class standing on entry.

If you are in the process of completing an academic term while you're applying to Lawrence, we will only be able to give you an official course evaluation on the courses you have completed. We will send you a revised evaluation after we receive your final transcript and our registrar has reviewed it.

Applying Transfer Work to Degree Requirements

Transfer credit may be used to fulfill degree, general education, major, minor, and interdisciplinary area requirements. The amount of transfer work that may be applied is governed by the residence requirements for the degree (see the course catalog) and in the case of majors, minors, and interdisciplinary areas, the appropriate academic department. Transfer students should expect to do the majority of the work for their majors at Lawrence.

You should know:

  • a 5-unit transfer course (equivalent to 3 semester hours or 4 quarter hours) may fulfill a 6-unit general education requirement, and with the approval of the appropriate academic department, a requirement for a major, minor, or interdisciplinary area.
  • transfer courses may NOT be used to complete the writing- or speaking-intensive competency requirements. These must be completed with courses taken on the Lawrence campus.
  • if you are awarded 54 or more Lawrence units with at least one course from three out of the four academic divisions, you can expect to have the First-Year Studies requirement waived.
  • you will work with your academic advisor and faculty in the appropriate departments to determine how the transfer credit might be applied to specific requirements for majors, minors, and interdisciplinary areas. In some cases this might involve placement exams and, in the Conservatory, auditions for the purpose of making sure you start your work at Lawrence at a level best for you.

How much credit will I get?

You must earn credit with a grade of C- or better for the course to be awarded equivalent Lawrence units.  A regular course load at Lawrence is three courses in each of three 10-week terms (fall, winter, spring).  A standard course is 6 units, slightly more than a 3-semester-hour course, but we allow 3-semester-hour courses to fulfill 6-unit general education requirements.  See the current course catalog for more information about programs and requirements.

Transferring from the UW System or WI Technical Colleges

In 2014, Lawrence University and the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh-Fox Cities campus entered into a partnership designed to facilitate the transfer from the two-year college system of students wishing to pursue a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Music degree at Lawrence University.  We believe that transfer students from local institutions help to strengthen our bonds with the community in which we live and bring different experiences and perspectives to academic work.