The Direct Transfer Agreement (DTA)

The Direct Transfer Agreement is a statewide policy about transfer credit. The purpose of this voluntary statewide agreement is to facilitate the transfer of credit; it is not an admissions agreement. A qualifying DTA associate degree is generally defined as that degree awarded by a community college to students who have completed a transfer curriculum designed to fulfill most general education requirements for a baccalaureate degree program in Washington State. Approved DTA degree programs follow specific guidelines established by the Intercollege Relations Commission (ICRC), a commission of the Washington Council.

Earning a DTA associate degree does not guarantee admission to UW Bothell. Students who transfer within this agreement must still meet our minimum admission requirements.

Students applying directly to a degree program will also need to meet program requirements to be considered for admission. Ideally all program prerequisites should be included in the education plan to complete the DTA. See program web pages for more information.

Note: Any student working on a DTA with the intent to complete a bachelor’s degree within two years at a university should always be planning for their intended major when selecting courses for the DTA. Transfer students are encouraged to apply directly to their major with all the prerequisites completed at their community college.

Transfer Credits

The University of Washington Bothell transfers credit on a course by course basis. Because of the DTA, students transferring from Washington state community colleges with approved academic transfer associate degrees (not vocational-technical), will receive the benefit of having satisfied all or most of our general education (Area of Knowledge) requirements. Transferable academic courses that are counted at the community college towards distribution requirements, will be accepted towards Areas of Knowledge at UW Bothell in the following way:

  • Humanities = VLPA (Visual, Literary and Performing Arts)
  • Social Sciences = I&S (Individuals and Societies)
  • Natural Sciences = NW (Natural World)

Students should take note of the following provisos when planning transfer to the UW Bothell with a DTA degree:

  • Intermediate Algebra and World Languages are the core minimum admission requirements required for transfer applicants with 40+ college credits. These can be met through high school or college coursework. If not satisfied in high school, students should be sure to include any missing core admission requirements in their education plan for the DTA.
  • 5 credits of English composition should be completed with a minimum grade of 2.0
  • 10 additional writing credits (Composition or W-courses) must be completed at the University, if not completed as part of the transfer degree.
  • Quantitative Symbolic Reasoning (QSR) courses will transfer according to the course equivalency guide.
  • A maximum of 3 credits of PE coursework will be allowed to transfer
  • All students must complete 3 quarter credits of coursework to satisfy the university diversity requirement. Upper division coursework may be used to satisfy this requirement.

MyPlan is a helpful transfer planning resource that evaluates Washington community college transcripts using the UW Equivalency Guide to show which credits transfer to the UW and UW course equivalencies. Prospective students can also use MyPlan to see how their community college coursework satisfies admission and degree requirements for all programs at UW Bothell.

If you have any questions about admission to UW Bothell, please contact us so we can help you make a seamless transfer into your baccalaureate program!