MLIS Transferring Units

Overview

Transferring Units — MLIS

A student may take courses in other San José State University departments and/or other universities and transfer those courses to their MLIS program subject to approvals and content relevance as noted below.

  • No more than 9 semester units may be transferred from other departments within SJSU and/or from other accredited institutions.
  • A grade of B or better is required for any course to be transferred to a student’s MLIS program.
  • No course(s) will be approved for transfer prior to a student’s admission to the MLIS program.
  • The courses to be transferred may substitute for iSchool electives but cannot substitute for MLIS required core classes (INFO 200, INFO 202, INFO 203, INFO 204).
  • The courses to be transferred  must be at graduate level and each course (s) must receive graduate credit at that institution and may not be more than seven (7) years old by the expected graduation date from the MLIS program.
  • Courses cannot have been used for a completed degree, certificate or credential.
  • The course must be graded.
  • The institution where the course was taken must be regionally accredited 

Note: Courses with a library and information science focus can only be accepted if they are taken at an ALA accredited masters program.) The courses cannot be personal or professional development, but courses used in a graduate degree program at that institution. 

Note: iSchool Open Classes courses do not need to be approved of as transfer credit. List them on section C of the Candidacy plan.

To secure credit for any transfer course:

  1. Contact the Graduate Coordinator Dr. Linda Main, and send her information about the classes you want to transfer. You must also email her a scanned copy of your transcripts. She will be able to advise you if they are eligible for transfer consideration based on relevance for your degree. Note: The final decision is made by Graduate Admissions and Program Evaluation (GAPE).

  2. List the courses on your candidacy form when you submit it (there is a place near the bottom of the form for transfer courses).

  3. Provide transcript information as follows:
    1. If you already have transcripts on file with SJSU that verify the courses you wish to transfer, you do not need to send transcripts.
    2. If you do not have transcripts on file with SJSU that verify the courses you wish to transfer, you need to send original transcripts to GAPE:

      1. Graduate Admissions and Program Evaluations
        San José State University
        One Washington Square
        San José, California USA, 95192-0017

  4. Add a note when you submit your candidacy form that tells us:
    1.  The transcripts are on file at SJSU.
  5. GAPE will review the classes you wish to transfer. They will check transcripts to make sure the classes will not be more than 7 years old by the time you complete the MLIS degree; they will also check that the transcript shows that the classes were not taken as part of another degree and that the classes are at graduate level from an accredited institution.