Information for Departmental Representatives
Credit and Grades for Courses Taken Abroad
After the study abroad program is completed, a transcript for the semester or year is sent to the Office of International Programs. Courses that have been approved and for which the student has received a C or better are listed on the Princeton University transcript along with the program/university attended and the cumulative credit earned for each term. In most cases, course grades are not recorded on the transcript, but do appear on the online internal student record, which is available to the student’s home department. (The exceptions are the grades earned in the Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies and the field study programs offered by the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in Kenya and Panama, which do appear on the Princeton transcript.) The grades for Princeton’s Junior Independent Work are always recorded on the transcript. Grades that do not appear on the Princeton transcript are not included in calculations for departmental honors.
Students should be reminded that if they apply to graduate or professional schools, they will usually be required to present an original transcript from their study abroad program in addition to their Princeton transcript. It is therefore important that they work conscientiously even though the grades from study abroad courses are not calculated in their departmental average.
A copy of the transcript from the program abroad is sent to the departmental representative after the credit is transferred and the student submits an evaluation of the program.
A Note on Summer Courses Taken Abroad
Summer courses taken abroad that are not offered by a department or program at Princeton go through an approval process similar to that for summer courses taken domestically. Like all summer courses taken outside of Princeton for credit, the course must be pre-approved by the appropriate departmental representative, but the dean’s approval comes from the Office of International Programs instead of the college dean. Students should submit transcripts to the Office of International Programs at the end of the program to receive credit. Once the course is reviewed for transfer credit, the original transcript will be sent to the student’s residential college to be filed with the rest of the student’s records.