Rice students who seek economics transfer credit for courses taken at other institutions should read the following outline of procedures carefully. These procedures apply to economics majors and non-majors alike. There are no exceptions to these procedures. Failure to follow these procedures can lead to denial of transfer credit.
Economics majors can apply no more than three transfer courses toward the Rice economics degree. Additional transfer courses may count toward university graduation requirements, but not economics degree requirements. AP credits and credits awarded to transfer students for courses taken prior to matriculation at Rice are not counted among the three allowed courses, but all students must complete more than half of their upper-level major work at Rice.
Note: the registrar determines whether courses taken elsewhere can merit university transfer credit, but the economics department alone determines whether courses taken elsewhere can merit economics transfer credit. Approval of university “TRAN” credit by the registrar indicates nothing about economics transfer credit approval. The latter can be awarded only with the signature of the economics department’s Director of Undergraduate Studies (currently Dr. James Brown). It is the policy of the registrar’s office to reject any transfer credit request lacking this signature, and transfer credit may be denied retroactively if a transfer credit request is somehow processed without the required signature.
Courses taken prior to Rice admission:
- Upper-level courses presented for transfer credit will be handled on a case-by-case basis and will be considered only for course grades of B- or higher.
- Transfer credit decisions made by other universities will not automatically be honored and will be handled on a case-by-case basis.
- Students who have received a grade of at least B- in an approved introductory microeconomics course at a four-year college (not online) will be awarded Economics 211 transfer credit. (Note: for college courses taken by high school students, it must first be established that a common grading scale was employed for all students in the course presented for Economics 211 transfer credit.)
- Students who have:
- scored 4 or 5 on the AP microeconomics examination
or
- earned an International Baccalaureate diploma and scored 6 or 7 on the higher-level economics examination
or
- received a grade of at least B- in an introductory microeconomics course at a two-year college (not online)
may take the Economics 211 qualifying examination and receive Economics 211 transfer credit if they achieve a score of 60% or better. (Please note that the Economics 211 qualifying examination may be taken only once. The exam can be scheduled through Leanne Wells in office BB259.)
- Other students may only receive university TRAN credit for their prior economic courses. University TRAN credit cannot be used to meet distribution or departmental degree requirements, but it can be applied toward the total credit hours required for graduation.
Courses taken after admission to Rice:
(Please note that the following rules apply to courses taken during the summer preceding matriculation as well as courses taken after matriculation.)
Credit will be awarded only for courses approved by the Director of Undergraduate Studies (currently Professor James Brown). A minimum grade of B- will be required for any course to be considered.Econ 211
Students achieving a minimum grade of B– in an approved course may take the Economics 211 qualifying examination and receive Economics 211 transfer credit if they achieve a score of 60% or better. (Please note that the Economics 211 qualifying examination may be taken only once. The exam can be scheduled through Leanne Wells in office BB259.) Students who fail this examination cannot receive Economics 211 transfer credit, although they may still receive university TRAN credit for their course.
Econ 370 and 375
Generally, transfer credit for Economics 370 and 375 will not be granted. Occasional exceptions may be made for regular-semester courses that are demonstrably equal or superior to their Rice counterparts. Students wishing to pursue this possibility should contact the economics department’s Director of Undergraduate Studies (currently Prof. James Brown) before enrolling in an intermediate microeconomics (or macroeconomics) course at another institution.
All Other Courses
The economics department does not pre-approve courses for transfer credit. Official approval of transfer credit is awarded only after a review of all available completed course materials upon the student’s return to Rice. The economics department will offer guidance to students regarding the likelihood that proposed courses would merit approval. To receive such guidance, students should contact the economics department’s Director of Undergraduate Studies (currently Prof. James Brown) and submit all course information possible. Ideally, this information would include a course syllabus, sample assignments and exams, and contact information for the instructor. In some cases a course web page may suffice.
Official transfer credit will be awarded when it is established that the course actually taken by the student is comparable in topical coverage and methodology to (i) courses currently offered by the Rice economics department or (ii) courses the Rice economics department would like to offer if sufficient resources were available. Please note the following especially: courses that focus on various aspects of some economy or some economic policy will not necessarily merit economics transfer credit. Subject matter alone is not determinative. To merit economics transfer credit, a course must be comparable to upper-level Rice economics courses in methodology and analytical rigor. If a proposed course does not meet this test, it should probably be considered for transfer credit from another department.
A word of warning: courses that fall short of their descriptions in actual content may not be approved for transfer credit. This risk is borne by the student, but it can be minimized by timely consultation with the undergraduate studies director if a student begins to doubt that a course will meet the required standard.
As should be evident from this outline of procedures, the economics department views the determination of transfer credit very seriously. Although we want to help students achieve the transfer credit they seek, we cannot let this desire take precedence over our responsibility to ensure the integrity and equity of our standards for each and every student.
UNDERGRADUATE COMMITTEE
James Brown, Undegraduate Studies Director
Peter Mieszkowski, Senior Adviser
John Bryant, Junior Adviser
Ronald Soligo, Sophomore Adviser
Anna Bogomolnaia, Mathematical Economic Analysis
Richard Boylan, Managerial Studies
Peter Mieszkowski, Policy Studies
Anna Bogomolnaia, 5-Year MA Program
Revised: August 23, 2007