Transfer Information & Residence Policy

LSA students may transfer credits from other colleges and universities, either before enrolling in LSA or while enrolled in LSA. Transfer credits are subject to the following guidelines.

• It is your responsibility to review and understand the Residency Policy:

  • Up to 60 credits may be transferred from other colleges and universities to count toward the 120 required for a LSA degree. Students who have completed an associate’s degree that required 62 credits may transfer 62 credits.

  • Thirty of a student's last 60 credits must be taken in residence (on the Ann Arbor campus, a U-M sponsored study abroad program, Michigan in Washington, or Semester in Detroit).

  • Cross-campus transfer students may receive credit for a maximum of 90 credits from a previous college or school on the Ann Arbor campus. No more than 60 of these 90 credits may have been completed at other institutions. LSA residency requires that a student earn 30 credits in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.

• Transfer course equivalencies: It is the responsibility of the student to confirm that a course will transfer before enrolling in the course.

  • Students can check to see if a course has been approved for transfer through the Transfer Credit Equivalency(TCE) webpage at https://transfercredit.ugadmiss.umich.edu/.

  • If a course is not listed on the TCE, current U-M students may request a pre-evaluation from the Office of Undergraduate Admissions by completing an online form at https://www.ugadmiss.umich.edu/TCE//Student/CT_TCEForm.aspx.

• Grades:

  • Only courses with a grade of C or better will be accepted for transfer credit. This includes all transferable credit earned outside the University of Michigan.

  • Except for courses from UM-Dearborn and UM-Flint, grades for classes taken at other institutions do not transfer and will not factor into a student’s U-M GPA.

• Transferring credits from UM-Dearborn and UM-Flint:

  • Grades earned for courses at UM-Dearborn and UM-Flint transfer and are included in the student’s UM-Ann Arbor GPA.

  • Courses completed at UM-Dearborn and UM-Flint are defined as out-of-residence credit even though they are included in the student’s UM-Ann Arbor GPA.

• Limitations on transfer credit:

  • For all transferable credit earned outside of the University of Michigan, only courses with a grade of C or better will be accepted. All courses taken at UM-Dearborn or UM-Flint will transfer regardless of grade.
    
    
  • Credit cannot be transferred from another school if that credit is also being counted toward another baccalaureate or graduate or professional degree. Special Joint Degree Programs are exceptions to this policy.
    
    
  • A-Level, IB, and/or other college course credit may not be removed from a transcript.

• Credit Conversion:

  • Courses taken at a institution on the quarter system: If you have taken courses at an institution that uses quarter credits,  your quarter credits will be converted to semester credits. Each quarter credit hour typically converts to 0.67 semester hours.

  • Courses taken at institutions outside the United States: If you have taken courses at an institution outside the United States, the credits will be converted to U-M semester credit. The conversion differs based on the credit system of the country in which you took the courses. International students should be aware that the number of credits approved for transfer might differ significantly from what appears on your transcript from your previous institution.

• Dual enrollment while in high school: College credits completed through Dual Enrollment while a student is in high school is subject to the Dual Enrollment Policy.

• Dual enrollment with another college or university: To take a class or classes at another college or university while also enrolled at U-M in the same term, please review the information on the Dual Enrollment with Another College or University webpage.

• Submitting Transcripts: To receive credit for classes taken at another institution, students must have an official transcript sent to:

Credit Evaluators, Office of Undergraduate Admissions

300 Student Activities Building

515 East Jefferson

Ann Arbor , MI 48109-1316

Or if electronically: transcripts@umich.edu

• Submitting Transcripts from Chinese Universities: Students must arrange for an official CHESICC "verification report" to be sent directly to the Office of Undergraduate Admissions by the CHESICC China Credentials Verification, Baiyan Building, NO. 238 Beisihuan Zhonglu, Haidian District, Beijing, P.R. China (Postcode:100191). Tel: 86-10-61139123 or 86-10-61139120, Website: http://www.chsi.com.cn or http://www.chsi.cn, Email: kefu@chsi.com.cn or info@chsi.com.cn.

  More information about this policy or other international transfer policies can be found on the Undergraduate Admissions website.

• Transfer Credit posting: Courses approved for transfer will be posted to a student’s U-M transcript in one of the following ways:

  • Equivalent Credit: Courses granted equivalent credit have descriptions that closely match the descriptions of courses taught at UM–Ann Arbor. These courses will appear on the University of Michigan transcript with a U-M course number assigned (e.g., CHEM 130; ENGLISH 125).

  • Departmental Credit: Courses granted departmental credit have descriptions that do not match a specific course in a department at UM–Ann Arbor, but are recognized as credit earned in a specific department. The course is assigned a three-digit departmental number (e.g., CHEM 101X; ENGLISH 202X). The first digit indicates the course level: 100, 200, 300, 400, etc. The third digit represents how many courses transferred in that department as departmental credit. The "X" denotes that departmental credit has been granted.

  • Interdepartmental Credit: Courses that cover a broad range of topics within a general area of study transfer as interdepartmental credit. These are courses that, because of the scope of their subject material, cannot be assigned to any individual academic department. The course is assigned to a interdepartmental category and is assigned a three-digit course number (e.g., INTERHUM 101X, INTERSS 202X, INTERNS 301X) The first digit indicates the course level: 100, 200, 300, or 400. The third digit represents how many courses transferred as that interdepartmental credit at the same level. The "X" denotes that interdepartmental credit has been granted.

• All transfer credits are applicable as elective credit, subject to the limit on total number of credits completed out-of-residence outlined in the Residency Policy and the limit on non-LSA credits outlined in the Non-LSA Course Work Policy.

• In certain circumstances, transfer credit can be used to satisfy individual college requirements or departmental requirements.

  • Major or Minor credit: Courses that transfer as equivalent credit to existing LSA courses will typically count towards major requirements just as the U-M version would. Most departments limit the number of transfer credits that can be used toward their majors or minors. See each department’s website for specific policies regarding transfer credit. Courses that transfer as departmental credit or interdepartmental credit must be approved by an advisor in your major’s home department.

  • For Area Distribution: Courses that transfer as equivalent credit to existing LSA courses will typically count towards the same distribution area as the U-M version. Courses that transfer as departmental credit must be approved by an LSA academic advisor to count towards a distribution area. Interdepartmental credit counts toward the corresponding distribution area (e.g. INTERSS 101X counts toward Social Science).

    • Michigan Transfer Agreement Courses: Courses that are part of each Michigan community college’s Michigan Transfer Agreement curriculum have been pre-evaluated for distribution credit which is posted at https://admissions.umich.edu/michigan-transfer-agreement.

  • First-Year Writing Requirement: The Sweetland Center for Writing maintains lists of approved and not-approved transfer courses. If your course is not listed on either the approved or not-approved list, you may complete an online Petition for Transfer Course Credit.

  • Quantitative Reasoning: Courses transferred from another college or university, even those deemed direct equivalents of LSA courses that meet the QR requirement and transferred as equivalent credit (e.g., MATH 115), do not automatically count for QR credit except in the following circumstances:

    • Transferred courses (minimum three credits) of PHYSICS 125, 126, 140, 240 or any STATISTICS courses (except business statistics) receive QR/1 credit.

    • QR is considered fulfilled for all science, math, and computer science majors who transfer in all the prerequisites for their specific major.

      For other quantitative coursework, students may petition the Academic Standards Board to be allowed to satisfy the QR requirement with a class transferred from another institution.

  • Race & Ethnicity: Transfer credit cannot be used to satisfy Race and Ethnicity except by successful petition after the completion of the course.

  • Language Requirement:

    For entering transfer students, the language requirement may be fulfilled by a course at the previous institution that has been approved for transfer by the appropriate department for transfer as credit equivalent to the fourth semester course at UM.

    For current LSA students, once you enroll in LSA, you may not elect courses to meet the Language Requirement at another school unless the appropriate language department approves that plan in advance.

• Transfer credit can count toward LSA general requirements and departmental requirements upon approval of general or department advisors, regardless of how many credits the student has completed. For example, you may have 72 transferable credits from a former institution. All of these credits will post to your transcript and can be used to count for requirements, but only 60 of these credits can count towards the 120 credits needed to graduate.

• Individuals who entered U-M as first-year students are eligible to make a cross campus transfer into or out of LSA after they have completed two full terms in their original U-M school or college. The application may be submitted during the second term of enrollment.
• Students who entered U-M as external transfer students may make a cross campus transfer into or out of LSA after at least one full term.
• The GPA of the last term before transfer and the cumulative GPA must both be above 2.0 in order for a student to be eligible to transfer into LSA. Students who wish to make a cross-campus transfer after their first year of study should discuss their plans with an academic advisor; the advisor will assist in selecting an appropriate academic program for the second term of their first year. Cross-campus transfer students may receive credit for a maximum of 90 credits from the previous college or school. LSA residency requires that a student earn 30 credits in LSA.