Transferring community college credits to NYU—how difficult is it?

I'm considering transferring to NYU from my community college. Has anyone done this successfully? What were the major challenges you faced, and how did you ensure your credits transferred?

Transferring credits from a community college to NYU is a fairly common process but can vary depending on the specific courses you've completed and the requirements of the program you're transferring into at NYU.

NYU typically accepts credits for courses where you've received a grade of C or better, and where the course content aligns with NYU's curriculum. In other words, it's typically easier to transfer credits for more general courses than specialized or niche classes that can't be easily matched to NYU's offerings. For certain majors, the department may require that certain courses be taken at NYU, so those specific classes may not be transferable.

The most important step is to have your community college send an official transcript to NYU after you apply for transfer admission. NYU's admissions office will then review this transcript to determine which credits will transfer over.

To ensure that your credits transfer, it's crucial to start by understanding the specific transfer credit policies of the NYU department you want to transfer into. You can usually find this information on their website, or by contacting the department or admissions office directly. Furthermore, if you can, it would be beneficial to plan your community college courses based on what might transfer over. Colleges like NYU often have transfer guides or articulation agreements available that spell out how community college credits will transfer, so it's wise to see if you can access these.

If you're unsure about whether a particular course will transfer, it can be beneficial to maintain a portfolio of your work from that course and even keep the course syllabus to present to the admissions office if needed. This can provide evidence of the course quality and content, making it easier for the admissions office to relate it to NYU's offerings.

Remember, transferring credits is only part of the transfer student journey. You also need to consider how well you'll fit into the campus culture, curriculum, and academic rigor of NYU in addition to understanding how your credits will transfer.