Admission agreements
VCU has entered into admission agreements with a number of institutions throughout Virginia and beyond. Select an option below to learn more.
VCU has entered into guaranteed admission agreements with several institutions. These agreements stipulate the requirements for guaranteed admission to VCU through the completion of an associate degree. Agreements are valid for up to one year after program completion and do not guarantee admission to professional or specialized programs such as art, engineering or health sciences.
Articulation agreements are between individual community colleges and specific schools or programs at VCU. VCU has also entered into separate memorandum of understanding agreements with individual community colleges for reverse transfer, co-enrollment and the VCU Honors College.
Brightpoint Community College
- College of Health Professions – Clinical Laboratory Sciences
- Reverse transfer MOU
- School of Nursing co-enrollment agreement
Danville Community College
Northern Virginia Community College
Patrick & Henry Community College
Piedmont Virginia Community College
Rappahannock Community College
Reynolds Community College
- Honors Program – Transfer Admission Memorandum of Understanding
- College of Health Professions – Clinical Laboratory Sciences
- Reverse transfer MOU
Richard Bland College
Southside Virginia Community College
Southwest Virginia Community College
The Art Institutes
Tidewater Community College
- College of Humanities and Sciences and VCU Life Sciences – Biology
- College of Humanities and Sciences and VCU Life Sciences – Psychology
- School of the Arts - Music
Virginia Highlands Community College
Virginia Peninsula Community College
Transfer maps
Our transfer maps help you select appropriate courses based on the major you plan to declare at VCU and prepare for a successful transfer.
State policy on transfer agreement
VCU welcomes applications from Virginia community colleges and Richard Bland students who have earned the Associate in Arts, Associate in Science, Associate of Fine Arts, or Associate in Arts and Science degrees, or A.A.&S. or A.S. programs in general studies. In compliance with VCU’s guaranteed admission agreements with the Virginia Community College System and Richard Bland College, students holding these degrees with a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.5 and a minimum grade of C in all transferable courses will be guaranteed general admission to the university. GAA students will have junior standing at VCU as long as they have earned a minimum grade of C in all the transferable courses and will be considered to have met all lower-division general education requirements with the exception of certain lower-level and upper-level degree program requirements that also apply to native students. (See below for more information about requirements for all students.) Students should closely follow the detailed course suggestions offered on the Transfer Center website for Virginia community colleges and Richard Bland College. By following the course recommendations of VCU’s transfer maps or guaranteed admission agreements, additional lower-division courses needed after transfer to VCU can be held to a minimum.
Additionally:
- Students must make proper application for admission to VCU.
- Only courses with minimum grades of C are transferable.
- Credits needed to meet major prerequisites will be based on the course equivalency tables or agreements resulting from program-to-program articulation agreements. (See the list of agreements.)
- Students will not be required to repeat courses that have been satisfactorily completed at a Virginia community college except in cases where special restrictions apply to all students.
- Applicants to degree programs that are competitive are not guaranteed admission but will be evaluated on the same basis as native students.
For students with any of the associate degrees from a VCCS institution or Richard Bland College, VCU degree requirements in effect at the date of the student’s admission to the VCCS or RBC associate degree program will be used in certifying the student for graduation if the student has not interrupted his or her associate degree more than two consecutive semesters (excluding summer sessions).
Students from VCCS institutions, Richard Bland College or other two-year institutions who have not completed the college parallel A.A., A.F.A., A.S. or A.A.&S. degree will have the exact designation of their status determined after an official evaluation of acceptable credits. This evaluation is determined by the equivalencies shown in the VCU course equivalency tables for Virginia community colleges and Richard Bland College that may be accepted, including not more than 50 percent in the major field of study. However, the applicant should realize that more than two additional years may be necessary to complete the degree requirements in certain curricula.
- All bachelor’s degree programs in the College of Humanities and Sciences and the School of Social Work require competency through the elementary level of a foreign language (or American Sign Language); some majors require competency through the intermediate level.
- The School of Social Work requires a 2.5 GPA for admission to upper-level courses. The School of Business requires a minimum GPA for admission to upper-level course work. Please contact the Office of Undergraduate Studies in the School of Business for the current minimum GPA required. The School of Mass Communications requires a 2.5 GPA for admission to upper-level work. The School of Education requires a minimum GPA of 2.8 for admission to the teacher preparation program. For students applying to majors in the School of the Arts, a portfolio evaluation for visual arts applicants and an audition for performance applicants are required.
- The professional baccalaureate programs within the schools of Dentistry and Nursing and the College of Health Professions, and the doctoral programs in physical therapy and pharmacy have specific program-related lower-level requirements that must be completed to apply to and enter health sciences programs and to achieve success in the programs, if admitted.
- The health, physical education and exercise science program has specific lower-level requirements related to state-approved program status, professional certification and entry into the practicum sequence. Specified science courses are prerequisite for entry into upper-level kinesiology and exercise science courses.
- Transfer work from some occupational or technical programs is reviewed under specific conditions for the completion programs in clinical laboratory science and nursing for community college A.A.S. degree holders.
- Students wishing to transfer to the College of Engineering must have a 3.0 GPA with no grades below a C. Also, minimum grades of B must be attained in mathematics, science or engineering courses to be considered for transfer. Transfer students from the VCCS will follow the admission agreement for engineering.
- The A.A.&S. and A.S. programs in general studies are considered transfer degrees by VCU.
- Detailed information about the Virginia Community College/VCU and Richard Bland College/VCU transfer-equivalent courses is available on the Transfer Center website.