Transfer Articulation

This is an archived copy of the 2019-2020 catalog. To access the most recent version of the catalog, please visit catalog.shsu.edu.

Sam Houston State University offers a number of programs designed to help college transfer students meet their educational goals, maximizing transfer credits while simultaneously minimizing the cost and time required to attain both the associate and baccalaureate degrees.  These programs include Online Articulation (this page), Joint Admissions, Reverse Transfer, and Cooperative Advising.  Exciting additional opportunities exist for high school students enrolled in Dual Credit, AP, Early College, or just taking college credits while still in high school.  High school students should consider utilizing Time Compressed Degree Plans which incorporate Online Articulation, Joint Admissions, Reverse Transfer, and Cooperative Advising to meet educational objectives. 

You will find the application for Joint Admissions with Sam Houston State University on this page.  Ideally you should not apply until you have achieved at least 12 hours of academic credits towards the baccalaureate degree of your choice as indicated by Online Articulation.  Statistically, transfers in excess of 35 hours are more than twice as like to complete the bachelor degree as those with 15 hours or less.  The Online Articulation material may then be used as a guide in conjunction with Joint Admissions to accumulate up to 66 hours of college transfer credits to SHSU with no loss of transfer credits.  Acceptance into Joint Admissions is based on your college transcript and the completion of the application forms as directed.  The minimum GPA for admission is 2.5 for 17 or fewer academic hours and 2.0 for more than 17 hours.

A student wishing to apply as a Joint applicant should complete the Transient Student application at applytexas.org and answer the custom questions accordingly.

|Joint Admissions Homepage

In general, transfer students are eligible for most scholarships at Sam Houston State University. General scholarship information and applications forms may be obtained here.

The Carnegie Commission on Higher Education has ranked Sam Houston State University a "Doctoral Research University." This classification distinguishes the university by placing it in the top 7 percent of all 4,391 ranked private and public institutions of higher education in the United States.

Interested in another degree? We have 79 undergraduate degree programs. Check our Transfer Equivalency Guide to see which of your Alamo College classes equal the ones here at SHSU.

Transfer courses specific to the university major that you have selected appear in the section above. Transfer students are encouraged to maximize transfer courses required for their major as described above in addition to core courses at the transfer institution. Most university majors were meant to be taken over a 4 year period. Completion of freshman and sophomore level courses in the major with appropriate core courses helps transfer students to graduate in the minimum amount of time at minimum cost. 

As a final note, transfer students completing "residence requirements" at state supported Texas colleges are typically eligible to receive the associate degree by a process known as "reverse transfer" after having accumulated 60 (to 62) or more combined college transfer and SHSU hours. Reverse transfer allows students to count SHSU courses to the bachelor degree as well as apply the hours to the associate degree. The residency requirement for most colleges is 15 to 16 hours with a few colleges requiring 24 hours. SHSU enthusiastically supports associate degrees via reverse transfer with all state supported colleges

In general, Bachelor of Arts degrees have a foreign language requirement. Most Bachelor of Science degrees require additional mathematics and lab science requirements. Refer to the university catalog under which you plan to file for graduation for your specific degree requirements.

Most degrees require a minimum of 120 hours with 42 advanced hours (3000-level and 4000-level courses); however, some degrees require additional hours. All students are required to complete at least six writing-enhanced courses accumulating a minimum of 18 semester hours towards degree completion. Six of the hours must come from the student’s major field of study. SHSU students who have accumulated more than 60 hours may be blocked from enrolling in upper division courses until they have completed their math, English composition, and 4 to 8 hours of lab science.

In general, the Bachelor of Arts degree requires 8 hours of lab science and the Bachelor of Science degree requires 16 hours of lab science. Many majors require specific math and science courses from the core to apply for graduation. Applicants for the Bachelor of Arts degree should consult their major department web page or catalog for foreign language requirements. Many colleges including Business and Education have additional prerequisites for registration in upper-level (junior/senior) classes, including GPA restrictions and completion of lower-level (freshman/sophomore) course work.

In general,it is not advantageous for the transfer students to simply take courses that transfer. The most desirable goal is typically to only select courses from the core and major lower-level (first two university years), which not only transfer but satisfy degree requirements for graduation in the major to which you aspire.

Students are encouraged to select the university catalog offering them the most advantages with respect to degree completion. The respective university and/or college catalog selected for graduation determines final degree requirements.