Advanced Standing: Credit

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Advanced Standing: Credit / Exemption Request Policy

If you have completed equivalent credit courses at an accredited educational institution within the last 5 years, and you have applied and/or been admitted to a credit program, you may request Advanced Standing. If granted, it will be in the following form:

Credit – If you are given credit for a course, you do not have to retake or replace it.

Exemption – If you are granted an exemption for a co-requisite, prerequisite, or external prerequisite course, you do not have to replace it. If you are granted an exemption from a compulsory course, you will be required to replace it with an authorized course substitution approved by the Department. A list of suitable courses will be provided by your academic advisor.

Students are not permitted to register in courses for which they have been granted credits and/or exemptions.

Eligibility Requirements for Advanced Standing

Proof of application to an undergraduate certificate or graduate certificate program.

Independent (special) students cannot request advanced standing.

Each course must be a minimum of 3 credits for it to be considered for evaluation.

Each course must have been taken at a recognized institution within the last 5 years.

If you are applying to an undergraduate program, you must have obtained a grade of “C” or better in said course(s).

If you applying to a graduate program, you must have obtained a grade of “B-“ or better in said course(s).

Advanced Standing Limits

If you are applying for admission to a 30-credit undergraduate certificate or a graduate-level diploma program, you are permitted to submit a maximum of 3 courses for evaluation per admission application.
A maximum of 9 credits may be granted towards either an undergraduate certificate or graduate-level diploma program.

If you are applying for admission to a 15-credit graduate certificate program, you are permitted to submit a maximum of 2 courses for evaluation per admission application. A maximum of 3 credits may be granted towards a graduate certificate program.

How to Request Advanced Standing

To request Advanced Standing, you must complete the Credit/Exemption Request Policy form when you apply for admission and provide the required supporting documents. You can email all documents to admissions.scs [at] mcgill.ca, or deliver them directly to Client Services:

  1. Letter outlining the reasons for your Advanced Standing request
  2. Unofficial copy of your transcript
  3. Detailed official course outline(s), indicating textbook used and chapters/topics covered etc. (Note: Summary course descriptions are not acceptable)
  4. Make arrangements for the University/Institution where you have completed the course(s), to send official transcripts directly to Client Services

It takes approximately 6 weeks from the time of submission to the School of Continuing Studies to evaluate a request, providing that all required supporting documents are included. Requests will not be accepted if incomplete.

Requests received after admission to a program will be evaluated for the following term.

All decisions are final and may not be appealed.

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