Foothill College - International Student Transfer Procedures

Transferring to a University After Foothill

More and more students are attending community colleges in California because of a number of reasons: small class size, low cost, excellent facilities, easy transfer to four-year university, etc. At Foothill, a student can complete the first two years of General Education requirements for the bachelor's degree and the beginning courses of almost any major field of study that is offered at any university. You will receive credits/units for your college courses when you transfer to a university as a third year junior level student and complete your bachelor's degree program.

Foothill consistently transfers students to top-quality universities in and out of California. Many of our students transfer to one of the University of California campuses such as UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UC San Diego. Others go to one of the California State Universities such as San Jose State University and San Francisco State University. Still others go to one of the many private universities in California such as Stanford or Santa Clara University. Our international students have successfully transferred to prestigious private and public colleges and universities in other states of United States as well. This demonstrates the excellent quality of academic and professional preparation students receive from Foothill.

The College offers many programs, services and opportunities for students to excel in their academics and improve their chances of transferring to a college or university of their choice. Throughout your studies at Foothill, staff and faculty will help you prepare for transfer. Our academic counselors will work with you to determine your major and your target transfer universities, and will keep you on track for transferring into that major at your chosen university. Of course, it is up to individual students to perform well at Foothill to be able to transfer to their top choice.

The Transfer Center provides assistance to students in meeting minimum transfer requirements, filling out college applications, and writing admission essays. The Transfer Center also invites representatives from major colleges and universities nationally to come and recruit Foothill students. College fairs are held annually whereby students can collect information from these institutions and be able to speak to admission officers individually for admission advice. The Transfer Center also has counselors, a library filled with catalogs and computers for students to do their search.

Transferring into Foothill College from another school

In addition to completing the International Student application, you will need to notify your present school of your intent to transfer. Your school will then release your record to us. To complete the transfer process, you must attend the transfer workshop offered during orientation and follow all instructions from the advisor at that time..

Transferring Credits from Your U.S. College

You may have the following questions about the transfer process to Foothill College. Some of those might include questions such as:

How do I transfer my units to Foothill College?
Will the units all transfer to Foothill?
What can I do to help Foothill College determine if my units will transfer?
Where do I send my transcript?
If I have taken English, ESL, or Math classes from another college, will I still need to take Foothill's assessment tests?

Here are some answers:

How do I transfer my units to Foothill College?
To transfer your units to Foothill College, send an official transcript to the International Admission Office. Please attach a note that says FOR TRANSFER CREDIT.
Will the units all transfer to Foothill?
Once the official transcript is received, a counselor (and/or the Foothill college evaluator) will determine if the course can be used to meet major and General Education requirements at Foothill College. Foothill accepts most other US college and university coursework. Check with a counselor to verify or confirm acceptance of your school's coursework.
What can I do to help Foothill College determine if my units will transfer?
To help Foothill Counselors determine acceptable transfer units, please keep a copy of your college or university catalog with course descriptions of the courses you completed. You may be asked to bring the catalog with you to the counseling appointment, or to provide full course descriptions for any courses to be considered for credit. The more information you can provide on the course content, the more likely your chances of getting the credit.
Where do I send my transcript?
Send official transcripts to the same place you sent your application:
Foothill College
Office of International Admissions
12345 El Monte Road
Los Altos Hills, CA 94022
If I have taken English, ESL, or Math classes from another college, will I still need to take Foothill's assessment tests?
If your transcript shows proof of completing U.S. college English, ESL or Math courses, you will not be required to take Foothill assessment tests. You can bring your transcript to a counselor with course descriptions, and the counselor will be able to place you into the next highest level course at Foothill. It is sometimes helpful to take the assessment tests, however, since sometimes waiting on transcripts to arrive may hold up your registration OR, if you do well on a placement test, you may be able to be placed into a higher level course.

Once you have finished your program of study at Foothill and you would like to transfer to the University of California or the California State University system and want to know if any of your coursework will meet their general education pattern, pick up the IGETC/CSU equivalence form from the Office of Evaluations, located in the Student Development Center at Foothill.

Top of page