Prospective Students

Advanced Placement (AP). Students who earn scores of 3, 4, or 5 on the College Board AP examinations will receive credit toward graduation at UCI. The unit and subject credit allowed toward degree requirements assigned to each test are shown in the accompanying chart. 

International Baccalaureate (IB). Students completing the IB diploma with a score of 30 or above will receive at minimum 6 quarter units (4 semester units) toward their UC undergraduate degree. In addition to the diploma units, the University will grant 8 quarter units credit for certified IB Higher Level examinations on which a student scores 5, 6, or 7. The University does not grant credit for Standard Level examinations. Some Higher Level examinations may be used to fulfill course requirements in lower-division major or general education requirements shown in the accompanying chart. 

Duplicate Credit. Students should be aware that AP examinations, IB examinations, and college courses taken prior to or after enrolling at the university may be duplicative. In these cases, the university will award credit for only one of these. Students cannot earn units or grade points at UCI in courses from which they have been exempted on the basis of AP or IB credit. Students who elect to enroll in courses for which they have already received AP or IB credit will have those courses specially coded on their transcript without unit or grade credit. However, some examinations exempt the student from a greater number of UCI units than the number of AP or IB units earned. In such cases, the student may elect to take the final course in the series for credit.

All units earned for UC-transferable courses will be counted towards graduation. Students may transfer a maximum of 105 lower-division quarter units to UCI from other institutions.

• 1 semester credits = 1.5 quarter units.
• Courses from other UC campuses will be factored into your UCI GPA.
• Courses taken outside of the UC system (i.e. Community College or another university) will not be factored into your UCI GPA.

Assist.org provides lists of course equivalencies between community colleges and UCI. To select courses appropriate for GE credit, carefully review the Degree Requirements to determine which courses may be used for each requirement. Then, use Assist.org to search for community college equivalents:

1. Type and select the community college you plan to attend under Institution
2. Under the Agreements with Other Institutions header, select “To: University of California, Irvine” and click View Agreements
3. Sort by “Department” under View Agreement by: header
4. Select the department of interest to view the community college’s list of course equivalencies

For current UCI students, our change of major application is available once per quarter (Fall, Winter and Spring). Students should apply in the quarter they plan to complete all the program prerequisite requirements and have a minimum of 90 units. The application will open Monday of week 3 and the deadline to apply is Friday of week 6 (at 5:00 p.m.). Students will be informed of decisions during Week 1 of the following quarter, or over the summer for students applying in Spring. Students may visit UCI’s change of major website here for a list of requirements to be eligible to apply. Review of applications and selection to the major is governed by the Undergraduate Programs Committee. Admission to the major is very competitive due to limited space availability. Completion of the prerequisite courses does not guarantee admission into the major.

Change Major