This page is dedicated to helping students better understand academic credit on UCEAP programs. We discuss how courses are transferred, how to satisfy UCLA degree requirements, and how to find courses that match a student’s academic needs.

Academic Credit

All courses, units, and grades from UCEAP are guaranteed to transfer to UCLA, which is different from satisfying degree requirements. The coursework automatically counts towards the 180 unit minimum requirements and factor into your cumulative UCLA GPA.

To satisfy major, minor, G.E., foreign language, and other degree requirements, students must petition. Students petition UCEAP courses all the time with their respective departments! Read on to learn more about how to petition degree requirements.

Academic Planning

Major and School Advisors

While UCLA students are not required to choose a study abroad program that aligns with their major or satisfies degree requirements, many do! If you hope to satisfy degree requirements on study abroad, school advisors (e.g. CAC, AAP, Engineering, TFT, etc.) and major advisors can best guide students on what requirements you can satisfy abroad, and how to fit this experience into your academic plans. Consult with them as needed!

Study Abroad Advisors

Study abroad advisors at the UCLA IEO are here to help too! In the context of academics, our advisors can best help you decipher and navigate the academic offerings available on programs abroad. This ranges from how to find syllabi to how to read host university catalogs.

The Academic Planning Form

Students seeking to satisfy specific degree requirements can use our Academic Planning Form (APF) as an optional tool to review coursework and plan with their respective academic advisor.

Navigating UCEAP Courses

To find out what courses are offered on UCEAP, explore the “Academics” section of individual program pages. The way courses are presented in this section vary widely, but here are some helpful guidelines:

    • Current Courses – the most up-to-date course information may be listed directly on the “Academics” section, or more often in a host catalog link (e.g. CIEE or Yonsei University). When petitioning courses for credit, you want to reference these sources to pull syllabi or detailed course description.
    • UCEAP Course Catalog: This is a historical record of any course taken by any UC student on UCEAP within the last five years. The subject listings do not necessarily correlate with UCLA courses, majors/minors, or credit. Use this catalog only at the exploration stage to get a sense of what kinds of courses have been taken here. This catalog does not present what will be offered nor does it reflect the dozens of other courses that are offered, but have not been taken recently.
    • UCLA–UCEAP Credit Abroad: This database offers a historical record of the type of major, minor, and GE credit UCLA students have received from individual UCEAP courses in the past. CAUTION: This database does not offer any assurance or guarantees of future credit approvals. It does not capture all courses available on this program that students may be able to petition successfully for credit, and some of the courses may no longer be offered. Students can use this database to explore programs, but must still petition with their departments to confirm that such credit can still be awarded from these courses.
    • If this is confusing or when in doubt, reach out to the study abroad advisor for the program(s) you are considering!

How to satisfy UCLA degree requirements

Petitions

Students seeking to satisfy UCLA degree requirements are required to submit a petition for the course(s) they would like to satisfy. Petitions vary across UCLA departments, though they typically require the syllabi, or as much available course information.

Petitions are overseen by individual academic units, not by the IEO. We encourage you to speak with the respective department and/or advisor to review the policies, restrictions, and requirements of petitions.

When to petition for courses

Students may petition to satisfy UCLA degree requirements before or after:

  • Applying to a study abroad program
  • Participating on a study abroad program

Generally, students petition study abroad courses while applying to a study abroad program. We strongly encourage students to petition prior to their program departure so they have a better sense, before taking a course abroad, whether or not it will apply towards the UCLA requirement(s) they seek.

The sooner students petition, the sooner they know if their selected program is the best fit for their academic goals.

How to petition

  1. Identify the UCEAP course(s) you plan to enroll in and which UCLA course(s) you wish to satisfy.
    1. For example: I plan on taking Spanish Art History at Carlos III, University of Madrid, and would like to satisfy the GE – Visual and Performance Arts Analysis and Practice requirement.
  2. Speak with the respective UCLA department on how to begin the petition.
  3. If required, obtain the necessary information for the course(s) you wish to petition, such as a course syllabus.

Receiving Credit for:

Major or Minor

Students seeking to apply UCEAP courses towards major or minor requirements, must petition these with their respective major or minor department.

Major Academic Plans (MAPs)

Select departments have collaborated with the IEO to share their guidelines on how to receive academic credit towards their major or minor. Please refer to the documents below for guidance and always check with your department directly for any questions or clarification.

Reminder: These are only guidelines and departments may adjust or change policies at any time. If you do not see your department below, please contact them directly for questions about receiving major or minor credit from a UCEAP program.

Finding major/minor courses: When researching for prospective major or minor courses, search for courses by the field of study, or those that closely align. For example, if you are interested in satisfying Cognitive Science or Neuroscience requirements and those are not explicit fields of study, attempt searching through the “Psychology” department courses.

General Education (GE)

Students seeking to satisfy general education requirements must petition UCEAP courses with their primary counseling unit (i.e. AAP, CAC, Honors, School of Engineering, School of Arts and Architecture, etc.). See below for information provided by the individual units on G.E. petitions:

College (CAC, Honors, AAP, Athletics)

School of Engineering

School of Public Affairs

School of Theater, Film, and Television

  • No special instructions provided
  • Contact your school advisor(s)

School of Arts and Architecture

  • No special instructions provided
  • Contact your school advisor(s)

School of Music

School of Education and Information Studies

Finding GE courses: When searching for prospective GE courses, search for each course by the most similar subject/department. For example, if you are interested in satisfying the “Historical Analysis” GE requirement, then you may want to begin your search with history courses.

Foreign Language

Students seeking to satisfy the Foreign Language requirement must petition UCEAP courses with their primary counseling unit (i.e. AAP, CAC, Honors, School of Engineering, School of Arts and Architecture, etc.). See below for information provided by the individual units on foreign language petitions:

College (CAC, Honors, AAP, Athletics)

School of Engineering

School of Public Affairs

School of Theater, Film, and Television

  • No special instructions provided
  • Contact your school advisor(s)

School of Arts and Architecture

  • No special instructions provided
  • Contact your school advisor(s)

School of Music

School of Education and Information Studies

Finding language courses: Though not an exhaustive list, you may find prospective language courses by searching for programs with a “Language” experience type. These programs offer languages and often include course descriptions on their “Academics” page.

Writing ll

Students seeking to satisfy their Writing II requirement must petition UCEAP courses with their primary counseling unit (i.e. AAP, CAC, Honors, School of Engineering, School of Arts and Architecture, etc.). See below for information provided by the individual units on Writing II petitions:

College (CAC, Honors, AAP, Athletics)

School of Engineering

School of Public Affairs

School of Theater, Film, and Television

  • No special instructions provided
  • Contact your school advisor(s)

School of Arts and Architecture

  • No special instructions provided
  • Contact your school advisor(s)

School of Music

School of Education and Information Studies

Diversity

Students seeking to satisfy their Diversity requirement must petition UCEAP courses with their primary counseling unit (i.e. AAP, CAC, Honors, School of Engineering, School of Arts and Architecture, etc.). See below for information provided by the individual units on Diversity petitions:

College (CAC, Honors, AAP, Athletics)

School of Public Affairs

School of Arts and Architecture

  • No special instructions provided
  • Contact your school advisor(s)

School of Music

School of Education and Information Studies

Technical Breadth

Engineering majors seeking to satisfy their Technical Breadth requirement must petition UCEAP courses with the School of Engineering. See below for information provided by the School of Engineering on Technical Breadth petitions:

School of Engineering

Units

All units earned on UCEAP are guaranteed to transfer to UCLA and automatically count towards the 180 unit minimum requirement. No petition is required.

If you are seeking lower division units, search in the UCEAP Course Catalog for courses that range from 1 -99. Similarly, if you are seeking upper division units, search for courses that range from 100 – 199.