Transfer students

You're new to UVic but not to post-secondary education. Whether you've completed a course or two or a full two years (or more) of transferable university-level coursework, you’ll experience some distinct advantages and challenges as you navigate your new institution.

We know you've got lots of choices for post-secondary education, and we're happy that you've decided to join the UVic community. We're here to help make the transition smooth for you.

Academic advisers can

  • help you review your assigned transfer credit, answer your questions about it and assist with how to fit it into your UVic program,
  • update your degree evaluation (CAPP report) to incorporate transfer courses to satisfy minimum grade requirements, and
  • help you to understand how transfer credit (level and partial credit) is assigned.

Please note: Advisers can’t register you in (or drop you from) courses—you'll have to do this yourself. For more information on our registration system, as well as guided tutorials, see UVic's course registration and course timetable pages.

Make sure you've met the conditions of your admission to UVic

If you had any courses (even one!) in progress when you applied to UVic, we will need to see the final grade(s). Your admission to UVic will be conditional, meaning that you need to meet the grade minimum specified in your acceptance letter in order to keep your admission.

Arrange for your previous college or university to send copies of your final, official transcripts to the UVic Undergraduate admissions office as soon as they have posted your grades. This step is part of completing your conditions of admission and leads to the assignment of your transfer credit. Once your transfer credit has been updated, advising staff will be able to provide you with accurate information for program planning. This also means that your UVic student record will accurately reflect your completed prerequisites.

Predict, review and check your assigned transfer credit

You can plan better if you know what's coming up. This is especially true for transfer credit. Take a few minutes and work through our transfer credit worksheet so that you can do some course planning now and some double-checking once your transfer credit is assessed and assigned. You might find our Transfer Credit Worksheet helpful.

Once you've received a statement of your transfer credit by email from UVic Undergraduate Admissions, you need to read it carefully. It is important that you review your transfer credit online against your summary statement. Make sure that all courses from your summary are on your record, that there is no duplication or incorrect credit and that nothing has been missed. This is also a great way to re-familiarize yourself with the credit that you've been assigned.

If you find a discrepancy, you can follow up with the Admissions office or come to the Academic Advising Centre and we can help you determine if there is an issue. To assist you as you review your statement, you can use the roadmap we've created: How to read your transfer credit statement.

You may notice that your transfer credit isn't yet showing on your academic record. You can access this record in Online tools by navigating to More student services and then selecting Transfer credit summary under Grades & records. Check your account every week or so—it shouldn't be too long before you see your transfer credit appear.

Review UVic's academic writing requirement

All UVic students must satisfy the academic writing requirement (AWR). Take another look at your transfer credit statement. If you see a course that has transferred as any of the following, you've satisfied the requirement:

  • AWR-designated level credit
  • ATWP 135 (formerly ENGL 135)
  • ENSH 101 (formerly ENGL 146)
  • ENSH 102 (formerly ENGL 147)
  • ENGR 110

If you don't have any of these (even if you have other English courses), you'll need to complete one of ATWP 135, ENSH 101, or ENSH 102 at UVic. There are a few exceptions to this, so carefully review the academic writing requirement to see if you've satisfied the AWR in another way.

Make sure you've registered for both terms

You will receive an email with your registration date. Students admitted for fall term should register for fall (September to December) and spring courses (January to April) at the same time. While planning your courses, carefully review the choose & plan your program section of our website as soon as you can. You will likely find our program planning worksheets particularly helpful.

This is worth repeating, especially for transfer students: at UVic, we register for our September-December and January-April courses at the same time!

Courses do become full, so don’t wait until November or December to register for January courses. Register for your all of your Winter Session courses at the same time and then make changes as needed. Be mindful of the important dates for the deadlines to add or drop courses.

Transfer student resources

Review the following resources to ensure that you’re ready for your first semester at UVic: