Medical Education Credentials

ECFMG Policy on Transfer Credits

Transfer credits are credits earned for a course taken at one institution (such as a medical school) that are accepted by a medical school toward meeting its degree requirements. For example, a student attends a medical school for one year and earns credits for 12 courses. The student transfers to another medical school, which accepts the credits for those 12 courses toward meeting its degree requirements. The credits for those 12 courses are then referred to as transfer credits.

If you transferred credits to the medical school that awarded or will award your medical degree, you must disclose and document these credits when you apply to ECFMG for examination, regardless of when the credits were earned. See Credentials for ECFMG Certification in Medical Education Credentials. Failure to disclose and document these credits may have a number of negative consequences, including delaying exam registration and certification by ECFMG, and may result in a finding of irregular behavior and permanent annotation of your record. See Policies and Procedures Regarding Irregular Behavior.

Additionally, for the purpose of ECFMG Certification, credits that are transferred to the medical school that awarded or will award your medical degree must meet all of the following criteria:

• All credits must have been transferred from a medical school that is either:
  • located in the United States or Canada and listed in the World Directory, or
  • listed in the World Directory with an ECFMG note stating it meets ECFMG eligibility requirements.
• Credits must be for courses that were passed at the medical school at which the course was taken.
• Credits may only be transferred from one medical school to the medical school which awards the final degree.

If your transferred credits do not comply with all the criteria listed above, you will not meet the requirements to be registered by ECFMG for examination or the requirements to be certified by ECFMG. If your transferred credits do not meet all the criteria listed above, you may request an exception from the ECFMG Medical Education Credentials Committee.

Important Note: The requirement that credits must be transferred from a medical school that meets the criteria above does not apply to credits transferred only to the pre-medical portion of the curriculum of the medical school that awarded or will award the medical degree. If you transferred credits to the pre-medical portion of the curriculum at the medical school that awarded or will award your medical degree from an institution that does not meet the criteria listed above, you must provide ECFMG with a letter from the medical school that awarded or will award your medical degree confirming that the credits were transferred to the pre-medical portion of the curriculum only. This letter must be on the letterhead of the medical school and be signed by an authorized official of your medical school. This letter must be submitted in conjunction with the application for examination. Applications received without this letter may be rejected. This letter is in addition to disclosing and documenting all transferred credits as described above.

The intent of this policy on transfer credits is to preserve the appropriate education of medical school graduates applying to ECFMG for Certification. The provisions of this policy will be applied by ECFMG in its sole discretion in order to effectuate the intent of this policy.

Important Note: Transfer credits that ECFMG reviewed and deemed to have met requirements for ECFMG Certification prior to August 27, 2019, will remain acceptable, and these applicants will be allowed to proceed with Certification and the examinations leading to Certification. All future transfer activity will be subject to the policy as stated here.