"Transfer" Students

Owned by Rickie Smith
Last updated: Jun 02, 2023
2 min read

There is no official transfer policy for a graduate student to transfer from a graduate program at another university to a graduate program at UCSB. However, it is somewhat common for new faculty hires to “bring their students with them” in some way. This documentation is to explain how we can accommodate that situation with existing policies.

Academic Senate Regulations

The department or the Graduate Division cannot waive the Senate Regulations that are required for UCSB graduate degrees, which are;

  • Admission - The student has to apply and be admitted to UCSB under the normal application process

  • Advancement to candidacy - the student must advance to candidacy at UCSB. Qualifying exams from other institutions cannot be recognized

  • Academic residency (Doctoral Students)- the student has to be enrolled for 3 quarters before being advanced to candidacy, and be enrolled for 6 quarters total before we can award a PhD

  • Academic residency (master’s students) - the student has to be enrolled for 3 quarters before we can award a master’s degree (or for six quarter for the MFA)

  • Capstone (master’s students) - the final capstone (project/comprehensive exam/thesis) must be completed at UCSB

  • Master’s Coursework - All students must meet the departmental unit requirement for the degree. Students may transfer up to 8 units (non-UC) and 12 units (UC) from another institution, but only if those units are at the graduate level, and the student was enrolled in a graduate program and they did not receive a graduate degree from that program. Full policy can be found here.

  • Dissertation - the student must file a dissertation approved by their UCSB dissertation committee

Admission

All students must apply via the Online Graduate Application, and all normal admission policies apply. If your program’s application deadline has already passed, or you want to admit a student to a non-normal quarter, then an exception can be requested. Please contact our Admissions Unit directly with questions.

Doctoral Students

Since doctoral degrees are not unit-count degrees, the department can waive PhD coursework requirements at their discretion, however the student must

  • Apply and be admitted to UCSB

  • Establish a grade point average by taking at least one course for a letter grade

  • Nominate a valid doctoral committee. See here for additional information on committee membership.

  • Advance to candidacy at UCSB (after being enrolled for a minimum of 3 quarters)

  • File a dissertation (after being enrolled for at least 6 quarters)

Master’s Students

Master’s degrees are unit-count degrees, so the departmental unit requirement must be met with work from UCSB. Courses officially transferred can also count toward that unit requirement.

The capstone must be completed at UCSB, and cannot be recognized from another institution.

Other things to note

Visiting Scholars

Some students may be far enough along in their original program that it isn’t realistic to transfer to UCSB. However, these students may need to visit UCSB to work with their advisor. In such cases, departments can explore whether using the official Visiting Scholar policy via Academic Personnel is appropriate.

https://ap.ucsb.edu/policies.and.procedures/red.binder/sections/[3_25] Without Salary Visitors.pdf