CLA Transfer Students

Future Prospective Transfer Students

Click here if you are planning to apply to Cal Poly in the future!

If you are a future Cal Poly transfer student, please visit Cal Poly Admissions for application criteria and deadlines.

 

Curriculum Sheet, Flowchart & Fall Recommended Courses

New transfer students will be placed on the 2022-2026 catalog. However, it may be beneficial to move to the forthcoming semester catalog beginning fall 2026. We will discuss this during Transfer SLO Days - Part II. You can also keep an eye out on your email for further information, and check out our Semester Conversion website.

Download your major-specific Curriculum Sheet and Flowchart at: flowcharts.calpoly.edu/mymap

Your major has provided a list of courses they suggest for your fall registration. Seats in some classes have even been saved just for you! Please click on your major below to see recommended courses for Fall 2025 registration.

These course recommendations will be discussed by an Advisor during Transfer SLO Days.

Fall 2025 registration will be on August 11th 2025 at 9am.

2025 Recommended Courses will be available by early June!

• Anthropology and Geography
• Art and Design
• Child Development
• Communication Studies
• Comparative Ethnic Studies
• English
• Graphic Communication
• History
• Interdisciplinary Studies
• Journalism
• Music
• Philosophy
• Political Science
• Psychology
• Sociology
• Sociology 2+2 Hancock Program
• Spanish
• Theatre Arts

 

Curriculum Sheet

The curriculum sheet displays all of your course requirements in a one page snapshot. Should always be used in conjunction with review of your Degree Progress Report (DPR).

The Office of the Registrar - Evaluations Unit will be looking through all of your transcripts and evaluating what you will receive credit for at Cal Poly. Once they finish this transfer evaluation, you will receive an email. Shortly after you receive your email, you will also be emailed a copy of your curriculum sheet marked to reflect what you have completed and what you have remaining. This will be sent from CLA Advising Center.

The Curriculum Sheet is broken down into four main sections that are described below:

Major Courses

Major courses are the courses that make up your major curriculum. In some majors, this includes electives and/or concentrations.

Support Courses

Support courses are courses chosen by your department to provide foundational support for your major courses. 

General Education (GE) Courses

General Education courses are broken down into several areas. Transfer students with an Associate Degree or CSU GE certification or IGETC certification, will have lower division GEs completed. There may be exceptions. Talk to your Advisor during Transfer SLO Days if you do not have credit for a lower division GE.

You may notice on your curriculum sheet that some of your GEs are completed with your major or support courses.

Transfer students still need to complete Upper Division GE courses. 

Free Electives

If your major has Free Electives, you may have already fulfilled this requirement with transfer credit.

Degree Progress Report

Your Degree Progress Report (also known as your DPR) is the most important tool to understand as a Cal Poly student. Like the Curriculum Sheet, the Degree Progress Report displays degree requirements to graduate. The Degree Progress Report is used to confirm your degree so it is important to make sure the courses you have completed and will be taking are fulfilling the requirements in your DPR.

You should check your DPR before you register each quarter to identify what you need. Then again after you register to to confirm that you registered for applicable courses and track your overall progress. 

Note: your Degree Progress Report will not be accurate until you receive an email from the Office of the Registrar letting you know that your transfer evaluation is complete.

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How to access your Degree Progress Report

1. Log in to my.calpoly.edu
2. Go to your Student Center under My Apps on the left hand side
3. Open the Academic Progress drop-down menu and select Degree Progress Report (DPR)

 

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How to read your Degree Progress Report

Clicking through the Degree Progress Report can be confusing. It can be helpful to look at the Degree Progress Report along with your Curriculum Sheet, as it is broken up into sections similar to your Curriculum Sheet.

The first section of your Degree Progress Report will display your total units and degree requirements. The United States Cultural Pluralism Requirement and the Graduation Writing Requirement are also in this section. We will review both of those requirements below.

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Once your transfer evaluation is complete, you should see various requirements Satisfied or Not Satisfied. Once you register, you will see some requirements as Satisfied - IP (In Progress). 

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Your General Education (GE) requirements are listed. You may have satisfied many of these with transfer credits. Be sure to check any Not Satisfied sections. Check your curriculum sheet as a Not Satisfied GE may automatically be fulfilled with a major or support course.

    

You may notice on your curriculum sheet that some of your GEs are completed with your major or support courses. If you have not completed the specific course, that GE in the DPR will not show as complete. The DPR is waiting for you to take the specific course planned in your major or support.

You can see these Major Specified GEs noted in your DPR at the top of the GE section.

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After GE Courses, your major requirements are listed. You will click into each section to see the details.

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If your major has a concentration, your concentration requirements will be added to your DPR once you have officially declared that concentration.    

It is so important that you READ all the notes for each section in the DPR. Not reading the notes may mean you miss important information and take a class that is not necessary. If you have any questions, let us know at claadvising@calpoly.edu. We are here to help!

 

Transfer Credit

While reviewing your Curriculum Sheet or Degree Progress Report, you may ask how certain courses transferred to Cal Poly. You can see further details about your transfer credit in your Poly Profile under "Higher Ed Credits Detail."

Transfer credit will continue to be evaluated and processed by Cal Poly until registration on Aug 11th. When your transfer evaluation is complete, you will receive an email from the Office of the Registrar - Evaluations Unit. At that time, you will be able to view your transfer credit in PolyProfile, and how those classes apply towards your degree in your Degree Progress Report.

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Steps on how to find your transfer credit

1. Access PolyProfile through your Cal Poly Portal under your Academics Tab. 
2. Click on the Higher Ed Credits Detail link located on the right side of the page.
3. Under Additional Higher Education Credits Detail, you will find the transcripts we received from you. 
4. On the right side, you will find the courses you took and on the left side, you will see how they transferred to Cal Poly.
5. After reviewing your courses, you can access your Degree Progress Report to view your overall degree requirements.  You can then see what you have completed and what you still need to graduate.

IF YOU BELIEVE YOU SHOULD HAVE RECEIVED CREDIT FOR A COURSE AND DID NOT:

Transfer credit is reviewed very closely. Advisors are also submitting petitions on your behalf if we have noticed that any applicable credit did not fully transfer. Please note that lower division courses taken at a community college cannot transfer to fulfill upper division courses (300-400 level) at Cal Poly.

If you believe you should have received credit for a course, you can talk with a CLA Advisor at Transfer SLO Days, email claadvising@calpoly.edu or visit our zoom drop-in advising. If we are unable to confirm transfer credit, you may petition for credit. 

Graduate Writing Requirement (GWR) & United States Cultural Pluralism Requirement (USCP)

There are two requirements that are important for you to know about. Since you may be transferring in a majority of your General Education (GE) courses, you will want to review both requirements below so you are not adding extra work while completing your degree. 

Graduation Writing Requirement (GWR)

The Graduation Writing Requirement (GWR) is a CSU-mandated program designed to ensure that student can write proficiently before they enter the professional workforce. All Cal Poly students who are seeking a degree must fulfill the GWR before a diploma can be awarded.

• Undergraduate students with 90 or more completed units should attempt to fulfill the GWR before their senior year.

There are two ways to fulfill the GWR:

1. 1. Pass a GWR-certified upper-division course with a C or better on a major writing assignment and a final course grade of C or better with at least 35% of the final grade based on the cumulative grade of all writing projects; OR,
   2. Earn a passing score on a GWR Portfolio (*Note: the GWR Portfolio has replaced the Writing Proficiency Exam in response to the March 2020 CSU suspension of in-person GWR testing).

GWR Information for Transfer Students

IF YOU TRANSFERRED TO CAL POLY FROM A COMMUNITY COLLEGE:
You will need to fulfill the GWR at Cal Poly even if you were GE-certified at your community college because the GWR is an upper-division University degree requirement and students must complete the requirement at the CSU campus at which they are matriculated.

IF YOU TRANSFERRED TO CAL POLY FROM ANOTHER CSU CAMPUS:
You may receive GWR credit if you fulfilled the requirement while enrolled at another CSU campus. Ask a representative from the GWR office at your former CSU campus to send to the Writing and Learning Initiatives office (writingandlearning@calpoly.edu) an official letter verifying GWR completion.

IF YOU TRANSFERRED TO CAL POLY FROM A 4-YEAR INSTITUTION OUTSIDE OF THE CSU SYSTEM:
You will need to fulfill the GWR at Cal Poly because students must earn GWR credit from the CSU campus at which they matriculate.

For more information about the GWR, please visit the GWR website. 

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United States Cultural Pluralism (USCP) Requirement

Students are required to complete one USCP course. This course may also fulfill a requirement for major, support, general education, or free elective category. You may have transfer credit for the USCP requirement. You can check your DPR after you are notified that your transfer evaluation is complete.

What are USCP courses? 

USCP courses must fulfill all of the criteria according to AS-836-17 and they must also address the Diversity Learning Objectives (DLOs). You can explore what courses count for the USCP requirement on the Catalog website. 

How this will look in your DPR:

 

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Understanding your Flowchart

Flowcharts display one example of a path towards graduation in four years. All transfer students enter Cal Poly at different places in their curriculum. The four year flowchart can help transfer students clarify what is typically completed in the first two years and prioritize any of those unmet courses in their first year at Cal Poly. Otherwise, there is often flexibility for when you take classes. Junior transfers who check their Degree Progress Report regularly and check in with advisors can graduate in two years.

In Step # 1, you were asked to download your flowchart.

 

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How to read your Flowchart

Your flowchart displays your degree requirements in different colors. 

• Orange Courses = Support Courses
• Green Courses = General Education Courses
• Yellow Courses = Major Courses
• Pink Courses = Concentration Courses, if you major has a concentration option

A course that is stretched across 2 or more quarters just means that you can take that course during any one of those quarters. It does not mean you must take this course multiple times.

Pre-requisites for a course are noted in green text and are required in order to take that course.

Check off Your Completed Coursework

Now it's your turn!

Take a moment to check off coursework you have already completed.

Once your transfer evaluation is complete (and you got the email staying it is complete), you can use your Degree Progress Report (DPR) to identify courses you have completed.

Remember that CLA Advising will email you a copy of your curriculum sheet reflecting what you have completed and what you have remaining shortly after you are notified that your transfer evaluation is completed (by the Office of the Registrar). This will be anytime between July 15th and mid Aug. Be sure to send all AP Exam scores and transcripts to Cal Poly.

Understanding Your Recommended Course List

Your recommended course list is just that - courses that we suggest transfers take during their first quarter at Cal Poly. There may be specific notes about introductory courses and sections that may be relevant to consider for registration. Please make sure you read this document in its entirety. This document has essential information for you to be able to successfully register for the correct courses in fall quarter. 

Understanding Schedule Builder

Check out this video to learn how to use Schedule Builder as a student.We will also review Schedule Builder during Transfer SLO Days.

We encourage you to practice using Schedule Builder and explore the schedule builder FAQs.

• Practice searching for upper level GE courses, such as Upper Division C.
  • Check out this video if you need support!
• Practice using the filters by searching for class with am in-person mode of instruction.
  • Below is a table that further describes the different class modalities:

Synchronous	Synchronous courses are fully online with established meeting days/times.
Asynchronous	Asynchronous courses are fully online with NO established meeting days/times. Course requirements are completed in a self-guided manner.
Sync/Async Hybrid	Synchronous/asynchronous hybrid courses are fully online, but the meeting pattern is a combination of established days/times (for the synchronous online component) and student self-guided work (for the asynchronous online component).
In Person	In person courses are offered at on-campus or off-campus physical locations with established meeting days/times.
In Person/Sync Hybrid	In person/synchronous hybrid courses include in-person and online course content. These courses have established meeting days/times.
In Person/Async Hybrid	In person/asynchronous hybrid courses include in-person and online course content. The meeting pattern is a combination of established days/times (for the in-person component) and student self-guided work (for the asynchronous online component).

Three schedule builder tips we have learned:

1. Filters don't actually filter until you loot at a specific course. 
2. Class Status filter: If you get an error when you try to build a schedule, it probably means you are filtering for "open" classes and that class is currently full. You can just remove that class and build a schedule without it. If you still want to look at the class and maybe get on the waitlist, then you need to uncheck "open" under filters.
3. If you filter for both Area C GEs and Graduation Writing Requirement (GWR) classes, for example, it gives you BOTH C GEs and GWR course, NOT classes that fulfill both. Be careful. Read course descriptions to confirm GE credit or GWR credit.

Saving Schedules in Schedule Builder

Step 1: Select the term and use the Expanded Filters to search for and add courses

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Step 2: View more information by Selecting Sections and reviewing the Class Notes for details on Reserved Seats for new transfer students

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Step 3: Once you have Added Courses, select Build Schedule

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Step 4: View Different Schedules

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Step 5: Click the heart icon to save your favorite schedules with OPEN seats, which you can access later or add to your Enrollment Shopping Cart. Create back-up schedules with different courses.

Again, we will review Schedule Builder during Transfer SLO Days, but be sure to check out this video on how to use Schedule Builder and review the steps and FAQs.

Registration Waitlists

Read more about what to do if you are put on a waitlist.

The waitlist will run in the afternoon on Aug 11th and continue to run in the middle of the night thereafter.

So you ended up on a Waitlist...that's okay! 

First, it is important to mention again that registration for new transfer students is unusual. The process is different because you are registering after continuing students. Although departments do their best to reserve seats for transfer students, sometimes you end up on a waitlist. The two reasons you may have ended up on a waitlist are:

1. There are no more open seats available in the course. 
2. There are seats available, but another transfer student tried to enroll in the course who is already enrolled in the maximum 18 units or did not meet the course pre-requisites. Now the waitlist system has been "turned on" and every student after them has been placed on the waitlist. When the waitlist runs on the afternoon of August 11th and then in the middle of the night thereafter, you may be placed into the class based on number of seats available and how many transfer students are on the waitlist. If you are not enrolled by 4pm Aug 14th, select another course and continue to register.

If you are still on the waitlist on Tuesday, it is time to look at registration again. Utilize the waitlist, but do not depend on it:

Remember those backup courses: We encouraged you to identify all courses you meet the pre-requisites for and write them down as back-up courses. Now use those options to continue to register or waitlist in any classes that you need. Remember you can waitlist for up to 16 units! Check out other sections: You may be waitlisted in a section of a course, however a different section has available seats. Take a look at other sections and register for or waitlist those as well.   Review your suggested course list.

The goal is to have your schedule finalized by Aug 18th. If you are still on a waitlist on Aug 19th, you will no longer be prioritized from the waitlist. If you are number 29 on the waitlist, then there are 28 students ahead of you to get into the class. You should absolutely be looking at alternatives. Use zoom drop-in advising if you are having difficulty.