PHYSICS TRANSFER/SUMMER CREDIT

(last updated on June 27, 2008)

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Students frequently request transfer credit for physics courses taken at other institutions, commonly for courses taken before they matriculated to CWRU.  Many also request approval ( preferably in advance ) for courses they hope to take elsewhere, in summer school or in Junior Year Abroad-type programs. Contact the Office of Undergraduate Studies in Sears 357 to obtain the forms you need or look at the web site http://www.case.edu/provost/ugstudies/forms.htm for the following two forms:

http://www.case.edu/provost/ugstudies/offcampus2007.doc

http://www.case.edu/provost/ugstudies/transfercreditapprovalform.pdf

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There are several general policies that steer the physics department's decision on whether to grant such credit.

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Introductory Physics Courses such as PHYS 115, 116, 121 & 122

There are three major concerns for transfer credit for these courses.  When you ask the physics department's academic representative to sign the form allowing transfer credit, you must present evidence (hard copies of documents or URL's of appropriate web sites) that the course you wish to take satisfies each of the following conditions.

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1.  MATH LEVEL:

PHYS 121/122  are calculus-based courses.  Any substitute must also be calculus-based, not algebra-based. The information you provide to have a course approved must CLEARY show that it is calculus-based. If this information simply lists a math course number as a prerequiisite, your should provide material that shows this prerequisite is calculus.

PHYS 115/116 have also traditionally been calculus-based at CWRU but the physics department voted in December 2002 to modify this requirement, effective for the fall of 2003, and remove the calculus prerequisite.  This change was approved by the College of Arts and Science's Committee on Educational Programs at their May 15, 2002 meeting.  Since students at Case do commonly take calculus before taking physics, the instructor is free to introduce some calculus in our life science physics sequence, but we now use a text that is designed for life science students (algebra-based) and will accept algebra-based courses from other institutions.

HOWEVER, faculty in several CWRU departments that house pre-med students were not pleased about the switch from a calculus to an algebra-based pre-med sequence.  Some thought this would put students at a disadvantage if they later chose to pursue a career in medical research or switched to another major with more rigorous mathematics requirements. You may wish to consult your major advisor before proceeding to choose a physics course.  

Ideally, a university will publish in its paper- or on-line General Bulletin information describing a course as either algebra- or calculus-based.  If they do not do this, then you must find out through other means, such as

- examine the prerequisites to see if calculus is required;

- find out the name of the textbook, anything described as 'College Physics' is probably an algebra-based course, 'University Physics' is a buzzword for a calculus-based course, 'General Physics' is probably calculus-based but this is not guaranteed.

- check for a course web page that the institution may have posted from the current or previous semesters;

- contact the university and ask the question directly.

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2.  CONTENT & HOURS: The courses must meet for roughly the same number of total hours and cover roughly the same material as do PHYS 115, 116, 121 and 122 (as described at  http://www.phys.cwru.edu/undergrad/desc.php )  An exact content match is not necessary,  an overlap of 80% or so is common.  These conditions are generally straight-forward to meet but can become complicated for universities that operate on academic calendars based on quarters rather than semesters. If the institution at which you plan to study physics operates on quarters, then most likely you will need to take three of their physics courses in order to obtain credit for two Case courses (or two courses to get credit for one).

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3.  LAB: PHYS 115, 116, 121 and 122 each include a laboratory component.  These labs meet for 3 hours, 7 times a semester.  Many universities include such a lab as part of their introductory physics courses while others list the labs separately, usually as a 1 credit course.  Either system is acceptable as long as there is a lab that you will take. Some institutions regard physics plus lab as 5 credits but this will only transfer to Case as 4 credits. There are a few institutions which do not offer a lab for PHYS 121/122 or offer only a single semester of lab for this sequence of courses. You cannot obtain transfer credit for any of PHYS 115, 116, 121, or 122 until you complete a laboratory associated with that course. Case does offer separate stand-alone labs, PHYS 113A and PHYS 113B, which can be used to satisfy the lab requirement for transfer credit lecture courses if approved by the Office of Undergraduate Studies.

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Advanced Physics Courses - 200 level and above

These courses vary a great deal from institution to institution.  Students who wish to take an advanced physics course from another institution should obtain a course syllabus from that institution and arrange a meeting with the academic representative of the CWRU Dept. of Physics. 

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Contact the academic representative of the Department of Physics (Prof. G. Chottiner, gsc2@case.edu ) for more information or for approval of your Transfer/Summer Credit form.  You may stop by my office, Rockefeller 104D, for a signature at any time without prior arrangements if you have all the documentation described above. It can be useful to first send an email with links to all the relevant information (topic listing, math and lab requirements). I do NOT maintain regular office hours; it's impossible to do this given the number of meetings that I'm called to attend on short notice. Instead, I've posted a copy of my regular schedule on my office door. If you have trouble catching me, just send an email listing 3 or so times that fit your schedule and I'll get back to you with a firm appointment at one of those times or, if none works, suggestions of alternate times. If you prefer, and IF you've done all your homework, you may just leave your form at my office (slide it under the door or leave it on the neighboring bookshelf; in the latter case you should point me to it by leaving a post-it note on my door - there's a supply of post-it notes handy) or mailbox (Roc 225). I'll sign it and leave it on the bookshelf outside my office for you to retrieve at your convenience.

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APPROVED COURES - as of May 12, 2008

The following courses have been approved for transfer credit as of the date shown. We can't keep track of changes made by other institutions and won't guarantee that the courses in the following table will continue indefinitely to serve as substitutes for our own courses or that they will be available at any given time.

The Office of Undergraduate Studies has its own database of courses which have been approved for transfer credit, including physics courses, which you can view via course at https://www.cwru.edu/provost/ugstudies/tcourse.htm or via institution at https://www.cwru.edu/provost/ugstudies/tinstitution.htm .

Institution	Course	CWRU PHYS	comments	updated
Boston University	CAS PY 106	115		05/12/2008
	CAS PY 106	116		05/12/2008
	CAS PY 211	121		05/12/2008
	CAS PY 212	122		05/12/2008
Capital University (Columbus area)	220	115		05/12/2008
	221	116		05/12/2008
Cleveland State	PHY 221	115
	PHY 222	116		05/12/2008
	PHY 241	121		05/12/2008
	PHY 242	122		05/12/2008
	PHY 330	221		05/12/2008
Cuyahoga Community College	1210	115		05/12/2008
	1220	116		05/12/2008
	2310	121		05/12/2008
	2320	122		05/12/2008
	2400	221		05/12/2008
Harvard	Physics 11a+lab	115	Physical Sciences 1, 2 & 3 might	05/12/2008
	Physics 11b+lab	116	substitute for 11a/b	05/12/2008
Kent State	13001 + 13021	115		05/12/2008
	13002 + 13022	116		05/12/2008
	23101	121		05/12/2008
	23102	122		05/12/2008
Lakeland Community College	1610	115		05/12/2008
	1620	116		05/12/2008
	2410	121		05/12/2008
	2420	122		05/12/2008
Lorain Community College	PHYC 151	115		05/12/2008
	PHYC 152	116		05/12/2008
	PHYC 251	121	PHYC 252 is not a substitute for our PHYS 122	05/12/2008
Loyola University	PHYSICS 112+131	115		05/12/2008
	PHYSICS 111+131	116		05/12/2008
	PHYSICS 125+135	121		05/12/2008
	PHYSICS 126+136	122		05/12/2008
Nassau Community College	PHY101	115		06/27/2008
	PHY102	116		06/27/2008
Ohio State University	111	115		05/12/2008
	112+113	116	quarter system complicates thngs	05/12/2008
	131	121		05/12/2008
	131+133	122	quarter system complicates things	05/12/2008
Ohio University	201+202+203	115+116	quarter system complicates things	05/12/2008
	251+252+253	121+122	quarter system complicates things	05/12/2008
SUNY-Buffalo	PHY101+151	115	one lab for both courses?	05/12/2008
	PHY102+151	121	one lab for both courses?	05/12/2008
	PHY107+158	122	one lab for both courses?	05/12/2008
	PHY108+158	122	one lab for both courses?	05/12/2008
University of Akron	PHYS 261	115		05/12/2008
	PHYS 262	116		05/12/2008
	PHYS 291	121		05/12/2008
	PHYS 292	122		05/12/2008
	PHYS 301	221		05/12/2008
University of Cincinnatti	PHY S101+111	115	quarter system	05/12/2008
	PHY S102+ 103 +112+113	116	quarter system	05/12/2008
	201+lab	121	quarter system	05/12/2008
	202+203 +212+213	122	quarter system	05/12/2008
University of Pittsburgh	0110 + lab	115	problems with associated lab	05/12/2008
	0111 + lab	116	problems with associated lab	05/12/2008
	0174+0219 lab	121	problems with associated lab	05/12/2008
	0175+0219 lab	122	problems with associated lab	05/12/2008

 

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