Requirements for Transfers

Students who enter Mount Holyoke as transfers are expected to fulfill the same degree requirements as students who spend all four years at Mount Holyoke. These requirements include:

• three courses in the humanities
• two courses in science and mathematics, including a laboratory course
• two courses in the social sciences, and a multicultural perspective course

It is possible to transfer courses that fulfill the above requirements but applicants are not expected to have completed all of the distribution work before they matriculate.

Multicultural Perspectives & Foreign Language

Because we believe that a truly educated person should be aware of the world, Mount Holyoke also requires a course in multicultural perspectives that broadens awareness of the diversity of human experience and expression. You'll study some aspect of Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, or the nonwhite peoples of North America. More than 100 courses meet this criterion.

Students must also prove proficiency in a foreign language. You can fulfill this requirement by learning a new language, by completing an intermediate level course in a language you've already studied, or by studying foreign literature in the original language. If you already have at least an intermediate knowledge of a foreign language, or if you are an international student whose first language is not English, you may qualify for an exemption.

Physical Education

Physical education is also a longstanding component of the distribution requirements. The usual physical education requirement for students is 6 physical education credits. However sophomore transfers only require 4 physical education credits, and junior transfers only require 2 credits.