TLDR - Be careful about taking courses outside Purdue for transfer and ALWAYS ask your department FIRST if you are thinking about it, because some courses only LOOK equivalent in the transfer course equivalency tool, but really aren't.
If you take a course outside Purdue and didn't check with your department FIRST, you are rolling the dice and you might lose. Purdue DOES NOT CARE if you wasted money and time bc you didn't follow the process, and that isn't even their course, and that argument will not get the department to reconsider accepting a transfer course that faculty says isn't good enough to be accepted at Purdue.
Seriously I know students who did this and it cost real money and they still had to take it again, so don't bother. Yeah, it is expensive taking courses at Purdue esp if you don't get in-state tuition, so I get it if you have to take it somewhere else for whatever reason, but still. At least check first, meaning ASK A REAL PERSON who works for Purdue, not just another student who maybe took it before or even someone in a different department, because not every department accepts every course anyway, and the course was maybe equivalent before but not now.
Anyway, IMO a Purdue degree is valuable because it represents Purdue work, so taking courses outside Purdue unless absolutely necessary is counterproductive. And since it's a PURDUE degree, the university isn't required to accept any courses from outside Purdue at all, so if a course isn't marked equivalent, don't bother arguing with the department about it. It will just make you look bad, like you can't succeed at Purdue-level work or are trying to take the easy way out instead of actually earning your Purdue degree with hard work.
Looking lazy to your department is a dumb idea bc that's where you make your professional connections for future.
