Professional Certificates
Substitutions, Waivers and Transfer Credit
Students must contact the program director prior to beginning the professional certificate to request a course substitution, waiver, or transfer credit. Students must include detailed information about the certificate credit course requirement that they are requesting to substitute or waive, and detailed information about the credit course or transfer credit that they request to serve as a substitution. Requests for course substitutions, waivers, and transfer credit must be approved in advance by the program director and department director.
Substitutions: Students may request to substitute a course requirement in a UC Berkeley Extension professional certificate with another credit course that is equivalent in content and credit semester units/hours. A substituted course must be another credit course at UC Berkeley Extension, or it can be transferred in from another regionally accredited academic institution (see Transfer Credit below).
Waivers: Students who possess a license or credential in a particular subject area or professional field may request to have a professional certificate course requirement waived. When a course is waived, the semester units/hours of the waived course must be made up by taking another credit course. When requesting a course waiver, students must provide the program director with documentation of their relevant credential or license.
Transfer Credit
- For transfer credit, students must provide the program director with an official copy of their transcript from a regionally accredited university or college and the course description for the course they wish to transfer.
- Transfer credit will only be accepted if:
- All coursework was completed prior to the student beginning the professional certificate at UC Berkeley Extension.
- All coursework does not exceed ¼ of the total number of semester units/hours of the professional certificate.
- Students have obtained a B or better grade in all coursework.
- All coursework was completed from a regionally accredited university or college.
- All coursework was completed within five years of beginning the professional certificate at UC Berkeley Extension.
- Accepted transfer credit within the UC system will be calculated into the GPA.
- Accepted transfer credit from institutions outside of the UC system will not be calculated into the GPA.
- After a student has started his or her professional certificate at UC Berkeley Extension, no transfer credit will be allowed into the certificate curriculum, and students must complete the remainder of their certificate requirements at UC Berkeley Extension.
In some cases there is a fee to waive or substitute courses.
As a general rule, substitutions, waivers, and transfer credit are not permitted for courses in specialized programs of study. Contact the program director for further information.
Conversion of Semester and Quarter Units
| Semester Units | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quarter Units | 1½ | 3 | 4½ | 6 |
Advancing from a Specialized Program of Study to a Professional Certificate
Some specialized programs of study share course requirements with more in-depth professional certificate coursework in the same subject area. After you have completed the requirements for a specialized program of study, you may find that you need only a few more courses to be eligible for a professional certificate. If you wish to go on to earn the certificate, you may apply for candidacy at a reduced application fee of $50.
Transferring from a Professional Certificate to a Specialized Program of Study
In curriculum areas in which there are both professional certificates and specialized programs of study, you may transfer from the professional certificate program to the shorter specialized program of study format if required courses are shared by the two programs. No additional fee is charged if you elect to transfer from a professional certificate to a specialized program of study in the same curriculum area.
Online Professional Certificates and Specialized Programs of Study
Several professional certificates and specialized programs of study are offered online. For more information, visit /online or call the department offering the program. Please note that veterans' benefits do not apply to all online courses and curricula.
