Transfer of Credit - Course Waiver
Students who have previously completed graduate course work at another university or at George Mason and wish to apply course credits toward their master’s or doctoral degree may request to have their course work reviewed by the Director of Graduate Programs for transfer of credit or course waiver as appropriate. Students should carefully review the university policies governing transfer of credit.
Note that all MA and PhD students are required to take the Economics Department micro- and macroeconomic sequence of core courses, even if they have taken similar courses at another institution. Exceptions will not be granted.
Transfer of Credit
Transfer credits can apply to both MA and PhD students. Graduate credit earned prior to admission to the master’s or doctoral program may be eligible to be transferred into the program and applied to the degree.
To be eligible for transfer credit, the credit must be graduate credit earned at another accredited university or earned at George Mason while in non-degree status. The credit must have been earned within ten years prior to first enrollment as an admitted degree-seeking student, and a minimum course grade of A (4.00) is required.
A transfer of credit will be applied to satisfy elective coursework requirements. MA students are allowed a maximum of 12 credit hours of transfer credit earned at another institution or in non-degree graduate status.
PhD students who are awarded more than 12 credit hours of transfer credit from another accredited university are not eligible to confer an MA as Secondary degree at George Mason University while pursuing the doctoral degree. The maximum number of Mason non-degree graduate credits that can be transferred into the PhD Economics degree is 12 credit hours.
The department reserves the right to determine the eligibility of transferable courses and credits. Transfer credit evaluations are final and subject to the maximum allowable limit.
Requesting ANY Transfer of Credit
Students who want to ask for a transfer of credit must send a written request to the Graduate Studies Office at econgrad@gmu.edu). The student email requests should include a list of the eligible courses they would like to be reviewed including course numbers, titles, and credits earned. If eligible courses were earned from more that one university, please group courses by institution. Students must also provide a catalog or course description or a class syllabus from the university website or record for each course to be reviewed.
Official transcripts are required for the Director of Graduate Programs to complete the process of review and approval for the transfer of credit or course waivers. Official transcript documents must show the courses, credits, and grades earned. Eligible official transcript documents provided to the university at the time of program admission are available for department review. If these documents are insufficient for any reason, the department may request additional documentation. Graduate Transfer of Credit requests will not be approved or processed without the student's official transcript.
INTERNATIONAL GRADUATE TRANSCRIPTS: Department review will require an official graduate course-by-course international transcript evaluation prepared by a NACES member agency, showing U.S. grade and credit equivalence. Official, approved transcript evaluation reports submitted with the university admission application are accessible for department review. If a course-by-course transcript evaluation report is not available, students may make arrangements with a NACES member agency to prepare and forward a report to George Mason's Office of Graduate Admissions for processing.
Once the Director of Graduate Studies approves the initial request, the academic advisor will submit a Graduate Transfer of Credit Request dynamic form listing the approved courses and credits to be sent to the student for review and approval. The form then moves forward to the Director of Graduate Programs for final departmental approval and then to the CHSS Office of Graduate Academic Affairs for their approval. The Registrar’s Office can then complete the final transfer of credit review and processing.
The credits will show on the student’s Patriot Web transcript after the transfer request is processed by the Registrar’s Office. For newly admitted students, transfer of credit requests will not be processed until after the last day to drop in the first semester of enrollment (approximately six weeks into the semester).
How to Transfer Coursework Completed as a Non-degree Student
Students who have completed coursework in graduate non-degree status at George Mason and wish to apply these credits toward the MA or PhD Economics degree should carefully review the university policies governing transfer of credit. Students may request to transfer up to 12 eligible graduate credits earned in non-degree graduate status.
Graduate Transfer of Credit Request Form
Course Waiver
Students can petition the Graduate Studies Office for a waiver for two of the core course requirements. MA students may request a waiver for ECON 630 Mathematical Economics or ECON 535 Applied Econometrics . Doctoral students may request a waiver for ECON 637 Econometrics I or ECON 830 Mathematical Economics.
The petition for waiver is based on previous course work completed at another accredited university or earned at George Mason as a non-degree seeking student. The previous course work must be approved by the Graduate Studies Office to ensure sufficient equivalency to the George Mason courses. In addition, the student must have received a grade of A (4.0) in the previous course. The Graduate Studies Office will accept or reject the course waiver request based on two factors: 1) the degree of closeness of previous work to work that would have been taken at George Mason; and 2) academic performance in the previous course(s).
Requesting a Course Waiver
Requests for course waivers are reviewed only after acceptance to the master’s or doctoral program. Students must request a course waiver prior to the first semester of enrollment.
To request a course waiver, please send your request to econgrad@gmu.edu, and include the following information: which course(s) you would like to waive, which course(s) earned in previous graduate course work are the basis for the waiver, and course descriptions or syllabi.
INTERNATIONAL GRADUATE CREDITS: An official course-by-course evaluation of the graduate transcript must be provided as described for Transfer of Credit policies.
University and College Policies
For more information regarding the transfer of credit policy see:
Last updated: 2/26/2026