Transfer to BHCC

Official College Transcripts: Official college transcripts must be sent directly to BHCC from a Registrar’s office, Electronic Exchange, or third party transcript service company such as Parchment or Credly. Paper official transcripts must be submitted in their original, unopened envelope. Official transcripts are required for receiving transfer credit.

Unofficial College Transcripts: Unofficial electronic and paper transcript are provided to BHCC by students and have not been delivered in their original, unopened envelope. Transcripts that students upload or email to BHCC are not considered official. Unofficial transcripts can be used for advising and pre-requisite purposes and exemption from placement testing.

BHCC accepts transfer credit from domestic institutions holding regional accreditation. Regional accrediting bodies throughout the United States are listed below:

• Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) Western Association of Schools and Colleges
• Higher Learning Commission (HLC)
• Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE)
• New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE)
• Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU)
• Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC)
• WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC)

BHCC does not accept transfer credits from domestic institutions holding national accreditation, the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, or technical/vocational accreditation. For more information about regional accreditation, please visit Chea.org. For additional questions, please contact transferservices@bhcc.edu

Complete the admissions application and submit your official transcripts to BHCC. Once you’ve been accepted, your transcripts will be placed in the queue for evaluation for transfer credit.

Students must be enrolled in a degree or certificate program to receive transfer credit. While Guest Students will not receive transfer credit, the Student Central office will review unofficial college transcripts for pre-requisite and registration purposes.

Send official transcripts from all previous colleges.

• Electronically: AcademicServices@bhcc.edu
• By mail:

  Academic Records Office
  Bunker Hill Community College
  250 New Rutherford Avenue
  Boston, MA 02129

• In-Person: Student Central, room B202, Charlestown campus. All official transcripts must be received by BHCC staff members in their original, unopened, sealed envelope.

Students who have previously completed English or math coursework (minimum of 3 credits) with a final grade of C or higher at a regionally accredited college or university do not need to complete placement requirement. Students who have completed English language learning courses only should complete the Guided Self-Placement for English.

Students who hold a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited institution in the United States are exempt from English and math placement testing.

Students who hold a bachelor’s degree from a country outside of the United States are exempt from math placement testing. Students may also be exempt from English placement testing if they completed a bachelor’s degree from one of the approved English-speaking countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Canada, Grenada, (British) Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, New Zealand, Nigeria, United Kingdom, St. Kitts & Nevis, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, and Zimbabwe.

For testing exemptions for previous college or university coursework, please email a copy of your unofficial transcript to transferservices@bhcc.edu using your BHCC student email and include your BHCC student ID number.

Note that students may opt to take a math assessment for a higher placement.

For information about placement testing and guided-self placement options, please visit the Assessment Center webpage.

If you have been accepted to a certificate or associate’s degree program and submitted your official college transcripts, your transcripts will be evaluated in the order they are received. They are typically completed within 3-4 weeks. You will receive an email to your BHCC email address informing you that transfer credit has been awarded.

If you have been waiting over 4 weeks and you still have not received transfer credit, please email us at transferservices@bhcc.edu. Please remember to include your BHCC student ID number in your email.

Remember, you do not need to wait for your credits to be transferred to get started at BHCC. Your advisor will review your unofficial transcripts to assist you with planning and registering for classes while you wait for your evaluation to be completed.

No, students should not wait for an evaluation of their college transcripts before registering for classes.

After you have been accepted and completed virtual orientation, you will receive an invite to attend a group advising session. During that session, your advisor will assist you with planning and registering for your classes by reviewing your unofficial college transcripts. Please be sure to check your personal email for group advising dates. Most students can see how their courses will transfer to BHCC by reviewing our transfer database.

Requirements for receiving transfer credit:

• The courses were completed at a regionally accredited college or university or international equivalent
• Course content and credits are comparable to those offered at BHCC
• The course has a final grade of C or higher
• Computer Information Technology and Computer Science courses that are more than 5 years old transfer as electives. Computer Information Technology and Computer Sciences courses that are more than 10 years old are not transferrable.

Notes: Some programs have courses that require a C+ or higher. This information is available in the BHCC College Catalog. Some selective programs have time limits for specific courses. Refer to the Selective Admission Program Information webpage for more information.

You can use a maximum of 45 transfer credits toward the BHCC associate degree and a maximum of 75 percent of the total number of credits required for certificate programs.

Transferred courses will appear on your BHCC transcript with a grade of TR. TR grades do not count toward your BHCC GPA (Grade Point Average) or your completion rate. For more information about grading and academic standing, please review the BHCC College Catalog.

Credits earned at colleges which follow a quarter system will be converted to semester-hour equivalents resulting in an adjustment in the number of credits transferred.

Bunker Hill Community College’s Prior Learning Assessment program (PLA) provides evaluation and, when appropriate, awards academic credits for learning acquired outside the traditional college environment. This includes: credit by departmental examination, College-Level Examination Program (CLEP), Advanced Placement Examinations (AP), Military Evaluation; and Workplace Training. To learn more, visit Credit for Prior Learning.

Our Veterans Center is committed to providing veterans, active duty military, Guard/Reservists, and their eligible dependents with a smooth transition to college and a successful educational experience. Learn more.

If you earned credits at a university located outside of the United States or Canada*, you must obtain a detailed course-by-course evaluation of your international transcripts utilizing a credential evaluation service. Organizations our students frequently use are:

• The Center for Educational Documentation (CED) www.cedevaluations.com
• Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE) 
• The Evaluation Company
• World Education Services (WES)

We also accept credential evaluations from organizations with AACRAO membership and organizations endorsed by the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) and the Association of International Credential Evaluators, Inc. (AICE). Visit their websites for a full list of members: 

NACES: www.naces.org

AICE: www.aice-eval.org 

Students who plan to transfer to a 4-year university may be required to use a specific credential evaluation service. If you know where you plan to transfer after studying at BHCC, contact their admissions department and ask which credential evaluations they accept.

Please note that an official translation of transcripts is not sufficient for receiving transfer credits at BHCC as we require a course-by-course evaluation by a credential evaluation company. If you have questions regarding your translation or evaluation, please email transferservices@bhcc.edu 

*Most Canadian transcripts do not require an evaluation by a third-party service. To confirm that an evaluation is not required, please email an unofficial copy of your Canadian transcript to transferservices@bhcc.edu. 

Students who graduated from a Massachusetts vocational/technical high school within the last 2 years may be eligible to receive college transfer credit at BHCC. Programs for which credit may be granted include: Early Education and Care; Information Support Services and Networking; Design and Visual Communication; Criminal Justice; Graphic Communication; Radio and Television Broadcasting; Business Technology; Marketing; Culinary Arts; and Hospitality Management. The following criteria must be met to receive BHCC transfer credit:

• Complete high school courses from an eligible Massachusetts Vocational/Technical High School from the programs listed above with a final grade of B (80 percent) or better.
• Graduate from high school with a minimum overall high school GPA of 2.0 (‘C’) on a 4.0 scale.
• Be accepted into a degree or certificate program at BHCC within two years of high school graduation.
• Submit official High School transcripts to the Admissions office at BHCC.

For more information about transferring vocational/technical high school coursework, please contact cpl@bhcc.edu

If you are trying to locate your academic records (transcript) from a college that has closed, you should contact the state licensing agency in the state in which that college was located to determine where your records are stored.  If the college was located in Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education can provide contact information to request your transcript.

If you disagree with a transfer credit decision, please email transferservices@bhcc.edu  and list the course(s) in question. Please remember to include your student ID number. If you have additional documentation such as a course syllabus that you would like us to consider, please attach it to your email. A member of the Transfer Services team will contact the Department Chair or Academic Dean overseeing the course subject to review course documentation and the equivalency. If the matter is not resolved with the Transfer Services team and the Academic Department representative, you may appeal in writing to the appropriate Associate Provost of Academic Affairs requesting a review. The decision of the Associate Provost is final. Please note that appeals cannot override established transfer policies such as minimum grade requirements or exceeding 45 transfer credits.