Advisor Resources

Welcome to the Transfer Explorer community! This resource page is designed for staff, advisors, faculty, and other education professionals using Transfer Explorer. Interested in becoming one of our member schools? Contact us.

What is Transfer Explorer?

Transfer Explorer is a public, up-to-date, authoritative credit mobility website hosted by nonprofit ITHAKA. The site lets students explore how courses they’ve taken in the past, or may take in the future, will transfer and count towards earning a college degree. While the site’s current functions are oriented toward students, anyone can use the tools to better understand credit transfer and degree requirements.

What can students do on Transfer Explorer?

In the current beta version students can:

Record the courses they have already taken—or plan to take—at any college or university
Explore how these courses transfer and apply to degree requirements at another school
Create additional explorations to research how the courses will transfer and apply for multiple schools and degrees
Save and share these explorations through a personal link
Discover information about Transfer Explorer member schools
Coming soon! Add prior learning experiences (exams, certificates, etc.) to an exploration

More features and functions are being actively developed. Want to stay in the loop on what's next for Transfer Explorer? Contact us to receive updates.

Data Definitions and Academic Information

The information that powers Transfer Explorer is automatically updated directly from college and university source systems through a regular data feed of evaluated course equivalencies, course catalog information, and program requirements. The data update process for each school occurs at a minimum once a week. Users navigating the site will see current program requirements, transfer rules, and catalog information. The chart below describes the data that is available at each step in an alpha Transfer Explorer exploration and any academic standards or definitions applicable to the data.

Terminology	Definition
Member schools	A member school is one that has established an automated data feed of transfer rules, catalog information, and degree requirements into Transfer Explorer.
Destination school	To see how their courses and experiences will transfer to a particular school and program, users select a destination school in the Map My Journey tool. Only member schools can be selected.
Coming soon school	A coming soon school is actively working to create an automated data feed of transfer rules, catalog information, and degree requirements to Transfer Explorer.
Transfer from schools	Users can select all colleges or universities they have attended, or are currently attending, in the Transfer From area of the Map My Journey tool. Any institution with an IPEDS UnitID can be searched by name and selected. To search for schools, a user should type the name of the school into the search box and a list of institutions will begin to populate.
Non-member school	A non-member school is one whose transfer rules and program requirements are not included in Transfer Explorer. However, if a member school has evaluated any non-member school courses they can be added to an exploration.
Selecting courses	Users can search and select college-level courses they have taken—or plan to take—at each Transfer From school they have selected. To search for courses, a user should type the name, number, or abbreviation for the course into the search box and a list of courses will begin to populate. If the course has an equivalency at the destination school, a user can add it to a Map My Journey exploration in the alpha version of Transfer Explorer. If a course does not appear in the search results, users will be prompted to contact their destination school.
Course descriptions	Course descriptions come from the equivalency records in the destination school’s student information system or a member school's catalog. Each course description includes the credit hour amount and may also include brief information about the course.
Course grades and year	Users are alerted that grades received in a course and when the course was taken can affect how a course is accepted for transfer. Users must contact the destination school to learn more about their applicable transfer policies.
View results	On the results page users can view: Select a program of study to see how selected courses apply to current academic year requirements. Only active programs at the destination school are available to explore. See a table of how their selected courses transfer and apply at their destination school. This includes: Course name, subject abbreviation, course number, and credit amount for any current equivalent course or elective given at the destination school Linked course descriptions (if available) Estimated transfer credit totals View a table of courses that need further evaluation. This table displays: Courses that do not have an equivalent course at the destination school or have not yet been evaluated A call to action to contact the destination school See what courses they will need to earn a degree at the destination school. This includes: Current degree requirements for a selected program of study at the destination school Applicability of selected equivalent courses to current degree requirements Transfer metrics
Program of study exploration	Users can explore multiple programs of study (for instance, nursing, engineering, communications) at any destination school to see how the courses they have taken or plan to take will transfer and apply to a specific degree.
Program applicability and equivalency results	Transfer Explorer is a tool for exploration, not an official decision by the college or university about a user’s particular situation—it cannot account for all factors and scenarios, and it cannot independently verify the accuracy or completeness of member school information. Official decisions about awarding course credit are always made by the destination college or university.

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