Of the over 450 students that transfer to Biola during the fall and spring semesters, many of these students face difficulties in transferring several of their credits.
For a majority of students, certain class descriptions from community colleges or alternative universities do not match Biola class descriptions, and therefore do not receive unit credits. General education courses, including English and math requirements, exemplify most common classes that do not transfer.
“If a student is, for instance, from a liberal arts university that has a curriculum with biblical integration, even though there’s an assumption that it’s similar to Biola and they kind of match, we may not be able to transfer the class cleanly, so it’s a case by case basis,” said Angela Barragan, transfer academic advisor.
After completing her associate of arts degree and transferring from Northwest University, senior physical education major Ashton Arbuthnot found herself taking courses that she completed years before.
“Pretty much any school will accept a degree transfer straight in and wipe out the first gen-eds because they have the degree. Biola won’t do that,” Arbuthnot said. “They want to match each class which is where the problems comes because my 100-level English doesn’t match exactly with the description of the one here so they want me to take a different one.”
Rebecca Pless, a sophomore christian ministries major, experienced a similar issue with English general courses when transferring from Diablo Valley College. She completed 24 units at DVC, but only 16 transferred due to an English course that did not meet Biola’s requirements. As a result, Pless said she had to transfer in as a sophomore instead of a junior.
Additionally, fitting in Bible classes makes it difficult for transfer students to graduate on time, said Angie Winkler, transfer communication studies major, who transferred from Point Loma University.
A CASE BY CASE PROCESS
Barragan said the transfer process depends on the school the student comes from. Additionally, Barragan said that it is important that transfer students visit the online undergraduate admissions transfer page for a form with pre-approved classes before coming to Biola.
Students often make the mistake of believing that admissions acts as the sole voice in deciding whether certain credits will transfer or not, according to Barragan. However, that is not the academic advisor's role in the transfer process, Barragan said.
“The admissions office is actually a facilitator of how classes transfer. If we’re considering general ed courses, it has to do with the registrar office. It actually needs to be filtered through them,” said Barragan.
However, when transferring major-specific courses, Barragan said that the major’s department determines its equivalency to Biola’s courses.
“When it comes to major specific courses, some students are higher unit transfers, so they’ve worked on some of their major classes, that’s actually up to the departments,” Barragan said.
While there are several obstacles in transferring credits, a majority of transfer students said attending Biola is worth the difficulty.
“I suppose the reason I stayed was because the pros outweighed the fact that I would have to take some classes over again,” said junior studio arts major Noah Schrader. “It's a pain to transfer credits into any school so I might as well retake the classes at a place like Biola where I actually enjoy my time here.
Others students added their desire to attend Biola was greater than the desire to have all their credits transferred over.
“I still consider my time at Biola to be a privilege and the struggles of transferring are a small price to pay,” said Arbuthnot.
Aubrey Martin contributed reporting
