Plan for Prerequisites

The University of Utah, like most colleges and universities, is serious about prerequisites! This is because taking classes in the right order; in the right window of time; and with a grade that guarantees mastery of the material is central to success as students move into higher level classes. You can’t build a solid academic career if you haven’t completed the foundation courses successfully and recently enough to remember what you learned. 

Demonstrating that you’ve met prerequisite course requirements can be tricky for students who took their prerequisites at a school other than the U.  If you are a transfer student who has taken or who is planning to take classes to transfer to the U to meet prerequisites consider the following:

• Departments at the U of U have different policies and procedures for prerequisite checking. It is a good idea to contact the advisor in the department offering the class(es) you plan on taking at the U. to see what the process will be to show that you have met their prerequisites.

• The content of the course, the grade, and how recently the course was taken could all be considered in determining if a class can act as a prerequisite.

• In almost all cases it will be easier for you to show that you’ve completed a prerequisite if the class that you hope to use is posted on your U of U record. Many departments will not work with transcripts from other institutions; their checking systems can work only with posted credits. This means that applying to the U early – long before the application deadline - is imperative.  The following deadlines are optimal for applying to the U. They allow plenty of time for your transfer work to be posted before registration begins:

Fall Semester – Apply in February

Spring Semester – Apply in August

Summer Semester – Apply in January

• If you are a student attending a Utah State System of Higher Education School (USHE) you will often find that your credits have been pre-approved to meet prerequisite requirements.  Once these credits are posted on your U record, they will automatically allow you to move on to the next class.

• Students with out-of-state credits (and occasionally from USHE schools) will often be required to provide course descriptions and a syllabus from a class they would like to act as a prerequisite.  Saving the syllabi from your classes and knowing how to find course descriptions from your previous school can save you a lot of time after you have transferred to the U.

• If the course you hope to use as a prerequisite is in progress at the time you are admitted to the U. contact the department offering the class your hope to take to see what the process will be to register for the next class.

• The Registrar’s Office has a webpage with some basic information on prerequisite checking at the U and contains a list of departments currently enforcing prerequisites: http://registrar.utah.edu/handbook/prereqstudent.php.

 

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