What you need to know about the English major as a transfer student

• This guide is meant to help you prepare to transfer. Completion of the recommended pathway is not required to be admitted as a transfer student. 

• The English major requires one prerequisite class (ENGLISH 298) and then 30 credits of coursework at the 200, 300, and 400 levels

• You can transfer in up to twelve credits towards the English major

• Students may fulfill only one English major/minor requirement (pre-1642, pre-1830, pre-1900, American Literature, Identity/Difference, Poetry) with transfer credit but only if the class transfers at the 300 or 400 level.

• A maximum of six credits (including transfer credits) of coursework at the 200-level may be counted toward the 30 credits required for the English major

Recommended Transfer Pathway

• Take a course that has been approved to transfer as ENGLISH 298.
  • Not all schools will have a course equivalent to 298.  If your school does not offer one you will take it after transfer.

• Take two courses approved to transfer as equivalent to the courses listed below. Not every school will have equivalents to all the courses. If you take more than two courses from the list approved to transfer, you will still recieve transfer credit for them but they will not be counted toward the credits you need to complete the English major.

  ENGLISH 201: Multicultural American Literature	ENGLISH 258: The Bible as Literature
  ENGLISH 215:  Introduction to Women and Literature	ENGLISH 260: Introduction to British Literature
  ENGLISH 230: Introduction to Short Story and Novel	ENGLISH 267: Shakespeare and His World
  ENGLISH 232: Introduction to Visual Culture	ENGLISH 270: Introduction to American Literature
  ENGLISH 235: Introduction to Autobiography	ENGLISH 274: Introduction to Afro-American Literature
  ENGLISH 240: Introduction to Reading Poetry	ENGLISH 275: Wrld Lit In English
  ENGLISH 242: Interdisciplinary Studies in English	ENGLISH 282: Native American Literature
  ENGLISH 245: Introduction to Drama and Theatre	ENGLISH 285: Introduction to 20th Century Literature

    
•  If you take more than two courses from the list approved to transfer, you will still recieve transfer credit for them but they will not be counted toward the credits you need to complete the English major.

• If you complete a class that transfers as equivalent to ENGLISH 298 and two classes that transfer as equivalent to one of the 200 level classes listed above you will have to complete 24 credits after you transfer to complete 24 additional credits at the 300 and 400 level to include the following requirements:
  • Three courses on literature written primarily before 1900, at least one of which must be on literature written primarily before 1830, and at least one of which must be on literature written primarily before 1642
  • One course in American literature
  • One poetry course
  • One course designated "Identity and Difference"
  • Additional coursework to reach 30 total credits including the 6 credits transferred in

Completing General Degree Requirements as a an English Major

• Courses that transfer with the U-M subject ENGLISH cannot be used for Area Distribution for English majors.  This means you will have to take humanities courses outside of the English department to count for the humanities area distribution.
• Courses that transfer as ENGLISH 125 will fulfill the First-year Writing Requirement for English majors.

Transfer Guides