College of Arts and Letters Transfer Requirements

Applicants planning to transfer into the College of Arts and Letters must apply to a specific major within the college. Once a transfer student has been successfully admitted to the college and a major, changes to a student's major are not typically granted.

Admission to the College of Arts and Letters is contingent upon enrollment in a liberal arts curriculum. Students intending to supplement their major with the Arts and Letters Pre-Health track must declare this intent on their transfer application.

In addition to making progress in the University's Core Curriculum, all students in the College of Arts and Letters should be enrolled in an English Composition course, at least one math course, at least one natural science course, and one additional math/science course during their first year. It is helpful to also begin one’s 4-semester foreign language sequence. 

College algebra and pre-calculus cannot be transferred in for credit. Students must take a statistics, finite math, or calculus class to meet the Arts and Letters math requirement.

Additionally, the following majors or tracks have more specific guidelines on first-year course requirements:

Arts and Letters Pre-Health

• Calculus I
• Calculus II
• General Chemistry I (w/lab)
• Organic Chemistry (w/lab)

Neuroscience & Behavior

• Calculus I
• Calculus II
• General Chemistry I (w/lab)
• Organic Chemistry (w/lab)
• Biology I (w/lab)
• Biology II (w/lab)

Economics or International Economics

• Calculus I
• Calculus II
• Introduction to Microeconomics
• Introduction to Macroeconomics

Note: "Survey of Economics" or similar courses do not fulfill these requirements.

Design (Recommended Courses)

Bachelor of Arts

Students will ideally have taken 3-6 credits of arts-related coursework at their current institution

Bachelor of Fine Arts

Students will ideally have taken 6-9  credits of arts-related coursework at their current institution

Suggested courses include:

• Drawing I
• Two-Dimensional Foundations
• Three-Dimensional Foundations
• Art History courses
• Photography I

If you have additional questions about Design coursework, please contact Emily Beck at Emily.S.Beck.38@nd.edu.

For more information about the individual departments within the College of Arts and Letters, please refer to the College’s list of majors and programs.

Students who have completed first-year coursework that closely mirrors Notre Dame's first-year coursework will be more competitive in the transfer admissions process. Please be aware that the College of Arts and Letters does not favor substituting sophomore courses for those required in the first year.