Students should not submit equivalency requests until they have first had their previous school composition and writing-intensive courses evaluated by advisors in their respective Rutgers schools (School of Arts and Sciences, Rutgers Business School, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Mason Gross School of Arts, etc.).
School transfer advisors award either course or hours credit for previous school writing courses according to their established policies and precedents. By the New Jersey Comprehensive State-Wide Transfer Agreement transfers from New Jersey State two-year-schools who have earned an AA or AS will be deemed as having met all Rutgers Core Curriculum Cognitive Skills and Processes: Writing and Communication WC, WC-Revision (WCr), and WC-Discipline (WCd) requirements, and will not have to take classes at Rutgers to meet those requirements. All other transfers, whether from out-of-state two-year schools or from in-state or out-of-state four-year-schools, or who have not completed an AA at a New Jersey two-year-school, will have their previous writing classes evaluated on a case-by-case basis by their school transfer advisors and will be advised which writing requirements they must fulfill at Rutgers.
Students who have been directed to take Rutgers English 355:101 (College Writing) to fulfill Rutgers’ WC requirement can use this site to appeal the decision. The Writing Program will review appeals and make non-binding recommendations to the appropriate school transfer deans, whose decisions are final. Students must submit for review both the syllabi from their previous school writing classes and samples of their written work prepared for the class. Successful appeals for Rutgers WC credit generally reflect at least 25 pages of “Final Draft” expository essay composition, written in their previous school’s flagship composition course, written in response to challenging readings, and using a writing process that incorporates revision. Appeals that depend on work completed in literature classes, research-paper writing classes, first year seminars, or in composition classes that do not emphasize expository essay writing are typically less successful. Student written work must demonstrate satisfactory attainment of the critical thinking, reading, and writing skills emphasized by Rutgers’ Expos.
Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences (SAS) policy states that students must take classes at Rutgers that fulfill their WCr requirement. The Writing Program, as part of the English Department, which is a member of SAS, supports this policy and will not consider requests for WCr equivalency for classes taken at other schools. The other Rutgers schools that require a WCr course typically follow SAS’s lead in this regard.
Courses submitted for WCd course equivalency must closely resemble a specific Rutgers course listed for WCd credit in name, nomenclature, type of assignments, pedagogical method, and rigor. The Writing Program will handle evaluation all courses submitted as equivalent to a Rutgers English Department course. For courses submitted as equivalent to courses in other Rutgers departments, students should first submit an equivalency request to the appropriate department and then bring the approved request to this office for review before presenting it to their school transfer advisor. Note: 100-level classes taken at other schools are rarely accorded WCd equivalency, which by design is meant to reflect writing achievement in an upper-level undergraduate writing-intensive class.
To submit a Transfer Equivalency Request, students must do two things: (1) complete the Transfer Equivalency Request Form, and (2) submit all supporting documents (syllabi, papers, prompts, etc.) from the course in question to the Transfer Equivalency Sakai Site Dropbox.
Click on the links below to complete equivalency requests. The Writing Programs Transfer Coordinator will then soon contact you with either follow-up questions or a decision.
- Transfer Equivalency Review Request Form (opens in new window)
- Transfer Equivalency Drop Box
If you have any questions or concerns, please email
When corresponding with the Writing Program, please use your official Rutgers email address (the one that ends in @scarletmail.rutgers.edu).