Transfer of Credits
Many students augment their experience at Penn by taking classes outside. Others transfer to Penn, or transfer within schools at Penn, or take classes at US universities that they wish to use for credit here. There are different procedures for dealing with such cases, but as far as the PPE major goes, there is a common way to proceed.
(1) Befeore embarking on the trip, the student makes sure that the courses that will be taken will get Penn credit in the appropriate department. This is done by getting prior approval before embarking on the trip. For instance, an Econ course taken outside Penn may earn equivalence of a particular Econ course, the one that it is most similar to, if the Economics department approves. The PPE program is not involved at this stage - there is nothing specific to the student's major for the approval of such courses by the respective department. Rather, it is a question of ensuring that the standards of University as a whole are upheld, and the respective departments are the best judge for allowing such possible substitution of their own courses.
(2) Second, once the particular department at Penn approves of the courses the student plans to take, the student should make sure that these courses are acceptable for the PPE major. Our decision is almost always very simple - if the course taken outside Penn earns an equivalent credit of a course at Penn that we would approve for the major, we do not care where this course was taken. For example, if the Econ department approves a course as equivalent to Econ 101, it will count as an Econ 101 credit for the PPE major in exactly the same fashion as if the course was taken at Penn. In general, it is only after a course appears on a student's worksheet as a Penn equivalent course are we able to decide whether such a course fulfills the PPE criterion, and we do not play any role in the course gaining such equivalence in the worksheet.
(3) It is possible that the respective department at Penn approves a course, but not as one equivalent to a class that is acceptable for the PPE major. In such a situation, we will make a case-by-case decision about whether the credit earned is going to be counted for the major. Make sure that such determination is complete before embarking upon the study abroad. PPE should not be presented with a fait accompli about a program of study already undertaken and be expected to approve it.
It is of the utmost importance that students taking courses elsewhere plan and gain the proper approvals, as much as possible, prior to embarking on the course of study outside.
For Transfer students coming from outside Penn and intending to major in PPE, the place to begin is at the Transfer Office, (part of office of Admissions) College Hall Room G 9.
For students going abroad, the place to start is the Office of International Programs.
For students planning to transfer from another school at Penn to the PPE major, the place to start is the advisors of the schools. The College of Arts and Sciences Advisors, and their respective responsibilities, are delineated here.
AP/IB credits and waivers are determined here, and a list of AP credits provided as well.