Transfer Credit

The U-M Office of Undergraduate Admissions maintains a database of previously evaluated courses called the Transfer Credit Equivalency list (TCE), including study abroad classes (both CGIS and non-CGIS). 

1. If the class is listed in the TCE as transferring for equivalent credit (e.g., LING 111 or LING 210), then no additional steps are required. However, if the class is listed on the TCE website as transferring in as departmental credit (e.g., LING 301x Dept.), you may request departmental evaluation (see below).

2. If a course does NOT appear in the TCE, this means that the class has never been evaluated by the University of Michigan. Students should follow the procedures listed here to learn how to submit a course for TCE pre-approval.

In addition to the TCE process, transfer courses must be evaluated by the Linguistics department before they may be counted towards major and minor requirements. **Please note that departmental approval is conditional upon TCE approval. If a course is not transferable to the university, the departmental approval does not supersede university policy.** Transfer students may submit transfer course petitions before or after TCE evaluation, but courses will only be added to a student’s linguistics major or minor a) once the course appears on the student’s transcript, and b) the student has declared a major or minor.

To submit a Linguistics transfer course petition, please do the following:

1. Click here to access the InfoReady form

2. Please answer all questions

3. Upload supporting documents, including the syllabus/reading list, handouts, term paper, exam, homeworks

4. **Note–if you are a current Linguistics Major/Minor and are planning to take courses at another institution (for example, local community college summer courses), we are happy to evaluate these courses for conditional approval, although final decisions will require the supporting material above.

For approval, documentation of both the content and form of the course is needed. (See Approval Criteria below.)

The Linguistics major has no limit on the number of credits a student can apply toward the major (subject to approval of the actual coursework taken and overall limits by U-M on courses taken in-residence). For the Linguistics minor, however, students are limited to 6 transfer credits.

You can review the major requirements LSA page here.

You can review the major requirements LSA page here.

There are a few hard constraints on approval:

• The course must represent work at the 300 level or higher. In unusual cases, the department may decide that a course that initially transferred in at a lower level represents 300-level work, and may have the course level adjusted.

• Credit cannot be given for the same course twice. In particular, elective credit cannot be given for an extra-departmental course that has substantially the same content as an intra-departmental course that the student receives credit for.

Beyond those restrictions, the following provide some general criteria that are used in evaluating courses. These criteria are used for all extra-departmental courses, including cognate courses as well as transfer credits and study-abroad. Note that this list is intended to give students an idea of what to expect; it is not definitive. The ultimate determination is at the discretion of the director.

With respect to content, the fundamental question is whether the course is primarily linguistic in nature. The following sorts of course generally do qualify:

• A course on the linguistic structure of a language, e.g., "Phonology and Morphology of Arabic"

• A course on the history of a language, e.g., "The History of English"

• A course on the languages of the world that has significant linguistic content, e.g., discussion of genetic groupings, linguistic characteristics of language families, etc.

• A course on sociolinguistics, if it has sufficient genuinely linguistic content

• Advanced or specialized courses in phonology, syntax, or semantics

• Courses on other subfields of linguistics, such as computational linguistics, mathematical linguistics, historical linguistics, and closely related areas such as philosophy of language or mathematical logic

By contrast, courses that generally do not qualify include:

• Regular language courses, that is, courses whose primary aim is to impart competence in a language

• Courses on language in society whose focus is culture or social issues

With respect to form:

• The course must be a graded, academic course.

• The course usually cannot be independent study or directed research. To get linguistics credit for independent study or directed research, one must enroll in a LING independent study with a Linguistics supervisor. Exceptions may be granted for transfer students, if sufficient documentation is provided.

• There must be a final exam, term paper, homeworks, or other significant written student work.