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Transfer Credit Policy

  2. Majors and Minors
  3. Departments and Units
  4. Courses
  5. LSA Degrees
  6. LSA Requirements
  7. LSA Academic Policies and Procedures
    1. Credit Policies
      1. Course Credit and Contact Hours
      2. Class Standing
      3. Residency Requirements
      4. LSA and Non-LSA Credit
      5. Graded and Non-Graded Coursework
      6. Credits Required Outside of Major Department
      7. Course Sequencing
      8. Repeating a Course
      9. Experiential and Directed Reading/Independent Study Coursework
      10. Test Credit (AP, IB, etc.)
      11. Transfer Credit Policy
    3. Registration and Enrollment
    4. Grading, Transcripts, and Academic Records
    5. Academic Standing
    6. Academic Integrity
  9. LSA Commitment to Academic Freedom
  10. Dates and Deadlines
  11. Academic Integrity
  12. Engaged Learning
  13. STEM
  14. Business
  15. What Will You Do with an LSA Degree?

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.

Transfer Credit 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.

LSA Transfer Credit Evaluation Policy (Effective May 2024)

The following policies and procedures apply to the articulation of course credit taken at accredited institutions for application to LSA degree requirements as out-of-residence credit.

1. Official transcripts must be submitted directly from the institution at which the student completed the course/s.

2. Upon receipt of the official transcripts, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions Credit Evaluation team will evaluate courses and post credit to the UM-Ann Arbor transcript by the following guidelines for LSA students.

a. A course will be approved as transferable credit if it meets the following criteria.

i. Course work was completed at an accredited college or university. 

ii. The course is eligible to be awarded degree (or certificate program) credit at the institution at which the student completed the course.

iii. The student earned a grade of C or better in completing it.

b. Transferable courses will be articulated to the appropriate U-M course subject, number, and title based on the following guidelines.

i. Where approved by the U-M academic department, courses will be posted into the subject code for a specific U-M Department.  

1. Credit Evaluation will make the determination as to what course number and title courses will be articulated as. Courses can be articulated as equivalent to specific U-M courses or as Departmental credit.

ii. When Credit Evaluation determines that a course combines content from multiple LSA departments, but does not meet the criteria established by any one LSA department, courses will be posted into one of the Interdepartmental subject codes with a course number of 101X, 201X, 301X, or 401X.

1.  INTERHUM

2.  INTERID

3.  INTERNS

4.  INTERSS

iii. Transferable courses that do not fit within either of the prior categories as determined by Credit Evaluation will be posted as Transfer General Credit under the subject code TRGENCR, with a course number of 101X, course title of DEPARTMENTAL.

Transferring Credit to U-M Ann Arbor

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

  • 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: LSA allows transferable dual enrollment credits to count toward LSA requirements and degrees. Admissions will review dual enrollment credit for transferability and they will post accepted courses to a student's U-M transcript. This includes all dually enrolled courses taken at accredited institutions of higher education, regardless of format or location. Students should work with their LSA academic advisor to determine how transfer credits work toward their degree requirements.

  • 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.

Applying Transfer Credit Toward LSA Degree Requirements

  • 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).

    • 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.

Cross Campus Transfer

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • In order to begin the cross-campus transfer process, please schedule an appointment with an academic advisor. 

 

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