Making the Transition to Boise State

With 14 or more transferable semester credits, you will be granted regular admission if your transfer GPA is at least 2.0 and you were in good academic standing at the last institution you attended.

If you have fewer than 14 transferable semester credits, the following items may be required and considered in the admission decision:

• High school transcript (or GED results).
• ACT or SAT results (not required for students who are 21 or older prior to the first day of classes).

If you have less than a 2.0 transfer GPA, you will be admitted with probationary status.

If you were dismissed from a college or university within the last semester, you are not eligible to attend Boise State until sitting out a fall or spring semester.

• Visit campus! A visit to Boise State will confirm that no matter what you’re seeking — an awesome learning experience, good times or a great career —you’ll find it at Boise State.
• Apply for Admission to Boise State.
  • Transfer with 14 + credits
  • Application for admission admissions.boisestate.edu/applynow
  • $50 one-time, nonrefundable fee
  • Official transcripts from each college or university attended
  • Transfer with less than 14 credits
  • Application for admission admissions.boisestate.edu/applynow
  • $50 one-time, nonrefundable fee
  • Official high school transcript (or GED scores)
  • ACT or SAT scores if you are under 21
  • Official COMPASS scores if you participated in a home school program or attended an unaccredited high school
• Apply for Financial Aid
• Apply for University Housing
• Attend TNT Orientation
• Search for Employment

• Once you are admitted to Boise State your transcript is automatically reviewed by the Registrar’s Office to identify equivalent courses. You will receive notification via your BroncoMail account when the Transfer Credit Report is posted to BroncoWeb. Learn more.
• If you have earned an academic associate degree at a regionally accredited institution, you will be considered “core certified” by Boise State. This means that you have fulfilled the lower-division general education or “core” classes at Boise State and can transfer with junior standing.
• If you are transferring from an Idaho school and have not earned an associate degree, you may still be considered “core certified” if your transcript is stamped “core certified” by the registrar’s office of your original institution.
• If you will transfer without an associate degree from an accredited institution, your transcript will be reviewed on a course-by-course basis and credit granted accordingly.
• Boise State accepts college-level academic credits from regionally accredited institutions.
• Credits earned at nonaccredited institutions may be transferred by requesting a review for approval by the department offering similar courses. If you can provide course assignments and requirements, this will help the review process.
• If the course has no equivalent at Boise State, the credit may count as general elective credit. See your Boise State advisor to determine if elective classes might meet additional core/degree requirements. A course evaluation sheet will be sent to you when completed.
• When calculating overall cumulative GPA, Boise State will use the most recent grade earned for a course that was repeated.
• When transferring credits from a quarter/term system, credit hours are converted to semester credits, but you do not lose credits. Equivalent courses need not be retaken because of credit hour differences.
• Credit will be awarded for College-Level Examination Program (CLEP), International Baccalaureate Program, and Advanced Placement (AP) exams. Submit official score reports to Boise State along with other transcripts. Click here for information about Credit for Prior Learning.
• Boise State requires a minimum of 128 credits for a baccalaureate degree, of which 40 credits must be upper-division courses. All course credits from a junior or community college may transfer, but only 70 credits will be used toward degree completion.
• Your final 30 of 36 credits for a baccalaureate degree must be completed at Boise State University.
• To learn more about how your previous college courses will transfer to Boise State, take a look at our comprehensive guide via Adobe Acrobat.
• If a course you took at another college is equivalent to a Boise State course, credit will be counted toward your degree as if you had completed the course at Boise State.
• If the course has no equivalent at Boise State, you will receive general elective credit. Work with your advisor to determine if elective classes meet degree or corerequirements. If so, request an academic adjustment.

Yes! Boise State is fully accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.

Boise State accepts all college-level academic credits from regionally accredited institutions.

In some instances those credits may be transferred after requesting a review by the department offering similar courses.

Community college credits may transfer, but only 70 will be used toward degree completion. The final 30 credits for a bachelor’s degree must be taken at Boise State.

Not necessarily. An academic associate degree is not required for admission to Boise State. If you have a 2.0 GPA 14 semester (21 quarter) hours of transferable college credit, you may be admitted based on your college coursework. If you have fewer than 14 semester (21 quarter) hours of transferable credit, you must also meet the freshman admission requirements. You should also consider your major. For most programs, earning the academic associate degree is a good strategy, particularly if you include specific courses that will be required in your major.

An official transcript a legal document that is sent directly from the issuing institution to Boise State in a sealed envelope or faxed according to our guidelines. Official transcripts provides a complete and official listing of the classes you have taken and the grades you received. It is printed on safety paper which bears the university seal and University Registrar’s signature.

Send in the most recent copy of your transcript. If you meet Boise State’s admission criteria, we will grant you conditional admission pending receipt of the final official transcript.

Yes, we need an official transcript from each college attended and will re-evaluate all courses based on our criteria.

All accredited colleges and universities are required to have your transcripts on file when you are a student. Most universities require you to submit transcripts from all colleges previously attended prior to your enrolling for even the first semester.

Yes, you are responsible for requesting that all official transcripts from each college attended are sent to Boise State Admissions. If you are returning to Boise State as a transfer student and coursework has already been evaluated and posted from a previous academic institution, you may not be required to re-submit those transcripts.

You are required to list every college you have attended, regardless of dates of attendance or academic performance. Failure to identify all institutions is cause for denial or dismissal.

A quarter is one type of term within an academic year. Each quarter is 10 weeks in length, and there are usually three quarters (fall, winter and spring) per academic year. A semester is the other type of term within an academic year. Each semester is 15 weeks in length, and there are two semesters (fall and spring) in an academic year. Boise State operates on a semester system.

Divide quarter hours by 1.5 to determine semester hours. Example: 45 quarter hours x 1.5 = 30 semester hours. Equivalent courses do not need to be retaken because of credit hour differences.

Adults entering or returning to college bring with them a wealth of learning experiences that Boise State University recognizes as important to the total learning experience. There are several opportunities to receive undergraduate credit for for prior learning.

• College of Idaho
• BYU-Idaho
• College of Southern Idaho
• Eastern Idaho Technical College
• Idaho State University
• Lewis-Clark State College
• North Idaho College
• Northwest Nazarene University
• University of Idaho

• Blue Mountain Community College
• Treasure Valley Community College
• Portland Community College

• BYU-Provo