Admission Requirements

Domestic students who have already graduated from high school, and have 24 transferable-quarter hours (16 semester hours) from one or more regionally accredited colleges or universities, are considered to be transfer students in the admissions process and do not need to provide OSU with test scores and/or high school transcripts*.

*If you have completed two or more years of a foreign language in high school with a C- or better, you will need to send us an official copy of your final high school transcript (containing a graduation date) if you would like to use it towards meeting OSU’s secondary language admissions/graduation requirement. 

Applicants who have already graduated high school or received a GED and have earned fewer than 24 transferable quarter college credits (16 semester credits) will be reviewed for admissibility based on both high school work or GED scores, and transferable coursework.  See First-Year Admissions Requirements for more info on how high school work is considered.  Transfer requirements are below.

If you are an international student, see International Student Requirements.

Holistic Admissions

Oregon State's admission process is intended to promote student success by holistically assessing student preparedness and academic potential in the unique context of each student's personal experience. Admission assessment will consider academic achievements and life experiences to enroll students with a broad range of characteristics and perspectives.

A strong transfer application typically includes:

• Completion of 24 or more quarter hours OR 16 or more semester hours. (Students with less credit will also be evaluated on their high school and college work.)
• Achieved a cumulative GPA of 2.25 or higher.  Note that grades from courses taken more recently are weighted more heavily than grades earned years ago.
• Completion of college-level writing equivalent to WR 121(English Composition) with C- or higher
• Completion of college-level math equivalent to MTH 111z or MTH 105 with a C- or higher*
• Starting with Summer 2025, transfer applicants wishing to be admitted directly into Engineering must also be prepared to take Calculus / MTH 251 (or higher) in their first term at OSU.  Learn more about this requirement.

Additional transfer admission policy:

• Completion of college-level mathematics is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED for students applying to STEM-field majors to be on track for participation in upper division coursework and timely graduation.
• Students admitted without a college-level mathematics or college-level writing course must complete those at OSU within their first 45 credits.
• Being admitted as a transfer student does not guarantee you have met the pre-requisites to begin coursework specific to your major.
• Applicants who are ineligible to re-enroll at any college or university that they attended within the last seven years for student conduct reasons will be automatically declined admission at OSU.  Applicants who disclose that the reason for their ineligibility is for academic reasons will be admitted only if they meet OSU’s minimum academic requirements.
• Applicants who are denied admission have the right to appeal that decision, and appeals will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.  Learn more about the appeal process.

SECONDARY LANGUAGE (not required if high school graduation or GED date prior to 1997)

• Minimum Units: 2 years
• May be met in any one of these ways:
  • Take two years of high school-level foreign/secondary language and earn an average of C- or better in each year. This may be in the same language or two different languages (new for students applying for Summer 2025 and beyond).
  • Earning grade of C- or better in a third year-level foreign language course in high school
  • Earning a C- or better in two consecutive quarters or semesters of the same college-level foreign language
  • Earning a satisfactory score on an approved assessment of foreign language knowledge
  • Demonstrating proficiency in American Sign Language (ASL)
  • Earning an Oregon Seal of Biliteracy
  • Completion of grades 1-7 at a school in which all courses are taught in a language other than English. (Documentation is required.)
• Students applying without meeting this requirement may be selected for admission.  If admitted without meeting this requirement, you will be required to take two terms of the same foreign language at OSU as part of your graduation requirement (regardless of major). Explore additional information on how to meet foreign language deficiencies.

Please note that meeting the minimum admissions requirements and/or an individual’s academic performance does not guarantee them admission to the university.  The university may evaluate a person’s behavior and background to determine their ability to maintain the standards of academic and professional conduct expected at OSU.

Transfer credit / "Pass" grading:

OSU will transfer coursework completed as Pass credit. Spring 2020 term transfer courses completed as Pass credit due to special pandemic grading can be used to complete major-specific requirements for graduation.

Writing and Math courses needed to qualify for transfer admissions may also be considered with a Pass grade.

How will your GPA be computed?

The official policies of OSU regarding academic-record evaluation for purposes of admission and scholarship consideration include:

• Only the highest grade for a repeated course will be calculated in the GPA
• Only transferable college-level credits are accepted and counted in the GPA computation (a course’s grade has no bearing on whether or not it is transferable).
• Academic bankruptcy or forgiveness of low grades is not a policy recognized by OSU.  Classes must be repeated to have a grade replaced

Application deadlines for all transfer applicants can be found on the Admissions Deadlines page.

How to Apply

Submission of an online application and $65 nonrefundable application fee (some waivers available).

Transcripts from ALL regionally accredited institutions previously attended (including colleges attended while in high school).

• Note that you will have the opportunity to upload unofficial college transcripts to be considered for admission initially, but we must eventually get official current college transcripts in order to do any official evaluation of credits and before any financial aid can be disbursed.  We highly recommend requesting these immediately upon submitting your OSU application. in some cases, OSU may require official transcripts prior to admissions review. 
• Transcripts are considered official if they arrive to OSU in an official, unopened, and sealed envelope from the issuing institution, or are sent electronically through an approved third-party company, directly from the college or university.  OSU does not accept transcripts or links to transcripts sent through email. Submitting official transcripts and other documents

If you have completed two or more years of a foreign language in high school with a C- or better, you will need to send us an official copy of your final high school transcript (containing a graduation date) if you would like to use it towards meeting OSU’s secondary language admissions/graduation requirement. 

Submit official AP, CLEP, and IB scores you have to meet admissions subject requirements (Math 111, WR 121) and to award appropriate transferable credits.

Transfer Credit Articulation

OSU provides an official articulation of a student’s transcripts once each of the following has been met:

- Student has paid the Advanced Tuition Deposit or received approved deposit waiver and has registered for New Student Onboarding and Orientation (Fall term applicants only)

- Student has paid the Advanced Tuition Deposit or received approved deposit waiver (Winter, Spring, and Summer term applicants)

- All official transcripts from all colleges you have attended and/or are attending have been received

Ecampus students will be eligible for transcript articulations after they have been admitted, have confirmed their enrollment via their Beaver Basecamp admission portal, and followed the steps for newly admitted Ecampus students. 

Self-guided, Unofficial Transfer Credit Assessment

Learn more about doing a self-guided, unofficial transfer credit assessment and get additional details about the transfer credit process.

Students who completed a significant amount of their education in a country outside the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, English-speaking Canada, or New Zealand may be asked to submit English proficiency test scores. The tests must have been taken within the last two years from the term you are applying for.