Transfer Student Information

Minot State University participates in the General Education Requirements Transfer Agreement (GERTA) with other North Dakota institutions.

A full list of agreements is available on the Academic Affairs website.

• Continuing Education Credit
  Credits earned through continuing education opportunities from other campuses may be transferable. However, documentation must be provided to the registrar’s office prior to their acceptance.
• Graduate Credit
  A student may not apply transfer graduate credit toward requirements for an associate or baccalaureate degree at Minot State University.
• Military Credit
  Basic training courses are accepted in transfer as KIN 100 and fulfill the wellness category of general education requirements at the University. All other military credit is evaluated using the most recent ACE Guide recommendations. Military work experience will not be accepted.
• Religion Course Credit
  No more than six semester credits in doctrinal religion will be accepted in transfer. Doctrinal religion courses that are accepted can be used as electives only.
• Credit from Two-Year Institutions
  Credit typically transfers from two-year institutions to Minot State University. Department chairs determine applicability of courses in transfer and the registrar’s office determines transferability of courses that fulfill general education requirements. In order to be awarded a baccalaureate degree, a student must complete a minimum of 60 semester hours at a four-year institution, of which 30 semester hours must be earned through Minot State University.
• Remedial Credit
  Transfer credit earned at the remedial level will be transcribed. However, credit(s) will not count toward earned credit with Minot State University or be calculated in a student’s GPA.
• Institutional Credit
  Credit is evaluated on the basis by which the credit was initially awarded by the sending institution.. Credit by examination, credit awarded via placement, or life experience credit awarded by another institution is not accepted in transfer.
• Other Credit Options
  MSU accepts credits earned via a nationally standardized examination in accordance with NDUS Procedure and the NDUS minimum scores listed under Non-Collegiate Learning Experiences. A list of CLEP, AP, DSST, and IB credits that are accepted can be found on the NDUS website.

Students thinking about attending MSU may request an unofficial transfer review. The request will be held for 30 days until an unofficial transcript is received by mail, fax, or email to the Registrar’s Office or kimberly.johnson.4@minotstateu.edu; however, for the quickest response students should submit their unofficial transcript with the request. The Registrar's Office will provide an unofficial review of students' general education Required Core and Foundation Content coursework. Please allow 3-5 business days to process.

For International students with coursework outside of the United States, in order to complete an unofficial transcript evaluation your transcript needs to first be evaluated by one of the evaluation companies that Minot State University accepts. The companies MSU accepts evaluations from are: World Education Services, Education Credential Evaluators, or American Education Research Corporation. Once we have the evaluation and form completed, we would be able to complete an unofficial evaluation.

Once a student has been accepted, transfer credits will be evaluated and posted in the order in which they are received. Students are contacted via email after their transcripts are posted. An evaluation of courses and MSU equivalents are available for your review in Campus Connection > Transfer Credit > View Transfer Credit Report.

• General Education Requirements fall into one of the following categories:
  • Core Content
    • Communications (C)
    • English (E)
    • Quantitative (M)
  • Natural Sciences and Technology
    • Laboratory Science (LS)
    • Science (SCI)
    • Computer Science (CSCI)
  • Social Sciences
    • Social Science (SS)
  • Arts, Humanities, and History
    • Fine Arts (FA)
    • History (H)
    • Humanities (HU)
  • First-Year Seminar
    • (UNIV TRN)
• Courses that have been equated to 100 + general education letter code (i.e. 100HU = humanities) are considered to meet general education requirements, but have no specific course equivalency.
• TRNSFR 100, 200, 300, and 400 courses are coded as such because they either do not have an equivalency, or it is not known what the equivalency for the course would be. If it is not known what the equivalency should be, a course description or course syllabus needs to be taken to the corresponding department to determine what the course equivalent should be.

Your general education requirements will be considered met if you meet one of the following:

• Successful completion of a four-year bachelor’s degree from an accredited degree-granting institution.
• Starting for students admitted fall 2023, successful completion of Associate of Arts (AA) or Associate of Science (AS) degree a accredited degree-granting institution or the equivalent of a two-year associate degree as confirmed by a credential evaluator for international institutions.
• Successful completion of general education requirements at any North Dakota University System institution or Tribal College will fulfill the North Dakota General Education Transfer Agreement (GERTA).

Students meet with chairs to discuss if a course is equivalent to an MSU course or if it can be used as a substitution. Normally, the chair will need to see the course description or course syllabus to help with the determination.

Course Substitution
A course substitution is when a student requests to substitute a different course (transferred or MSU) in lieu of a required course to complete their degree. Substitutions are issued by the academic department on a case-by-case basis and are only good for the current student requesting the substitution(s). Course Substitution Forms are submitted by the advisor or chair on the student's behalf and maintained as a part of the student's file. Course substitutions do not override prerequisites and appear on the student's academic requirements report.

Course Equivalency
A course equivalency is when a student transfers in a course from another college or university and wants that course to be equal to one that Minot State offers. Once the transferring course has a Minot State equivalency assigned to it, the course will be equivalent for other students coming from the same college or university. Course equivalencies are processed and maintained by the Registrar’s Office.

In order to complete a degree at Minot State University, at least 60 credits must be from a 4 year institution and at least 30 credits must be from MSU.