Transfer Guide for Southwestern Michigan College

This Transfer Guide shows how Southwestern classes can be used to fulfill the LSA General Degree Requirements for Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees.

View all transfer guides on the Community College Transfer Guides page.

Before using the guide please read through the following guidelines:

This guide is provided to help in your planning for transfer into LSA. The information in this guide is accurate as of May 1, 2024. Although there are not frequent changes to course articulations, the articulations are subject to change at the end of each semester. Therefore, students should check the official Transfer Credit Equivalency guide to make sure a class is still transferable for the term in which you plan to take it.
Note for current LSA students: Do not use this guide without confirming your course selections with your general academic advisor before registering for the class. Failure to do so may result in taking a class that does not fulfill the Area Distribution that you need.
Each class has been individually evaluated for LSA degree credit so the distribution area listed here might not match how the class is listed on the MTA list at your school.
Completion of the LSA General Degree Requirements is required for graduation with a B.A. or B.S. degree. Students are not required to have completed the General Requirements prior to transferring nor does completion of the General Requirements guarantee admission.
Additional courses may count for general degree requirements but are not included in this guide because they have not yet been evaluated.

LSA General Degree Requirements

Note: Courses that fulfill Upper Level Writing, Race & Ethnicity, and Quantitative Reasoning can also count toward distribution if approved and not from the department of your major, e.g. PHYS 101 counts for QR and Natural Science.

LSA Requirement	Southwestern courses that fulfill the requirement
First Year Writing (FYWR)	*English (ENGL)*: 104
Upper Level Writing (ULWR)	Must take at U-M
Race & Ethnicity (RE)	Must take at U-M
Quantitative Reasoning (QR)	Complete one of the courses listed below: *Mathematics (MATH): 141, 142, 150 Physics (PHYS)*: 101, 102, 201, 202
Language: Achieve 4th term proficiency through course completion or placement exam	You can complete the LSA language requirement at SMC by completing 4 semesters in the following languages. Spanish: SPAN 101, 102, 201, 202 The following language courses also transfer, but you will have to take a placement exam to determine where you would start the language sequence after you transfer. German: GERM 101, 102, 201, 202 You can start a language at SMC and complete the LSA language requirement after you transfer. Completing lower level language courses does not guarantee placement at U-M. If you want to continue the study of a language you will take a placement exam before registration.The results of the placement exam will determine where you begin language study.

Area Distribution Requirements

Total of 30 credits in two parts: Part I = 21 credits and Part II = 9 credits.

Note: Courses from the department of your major cannot count for distribution. If a course transfers into the department of your major it cannot be used for distribution. For example, an English major will have to fulfill Humanities distribution with courses outside the English department.

Part I

Complete 7 credits in all 3 areas (HU,NS,SS) for a total of 21 credits

LSA Requirement	Southwestern courses that count for the distribution area
Humanities (HU): 7 credits 7 credits are required to fulfill the Humanities Area Distribution in Part I for graduation. Up to 7 of these credits can be transferred in. If you transfer fewer than 7 credits you will take the remainder after transferring.	*Art (ART): 110, 148, 203, 204 English (ENGL): 223, 231, 232, 235, 241, 256, 281, 282, 291, 292 History (HIST): 101, 102 Humanities (HUMA): 202, 204, 205, 210, 225 Music (MUSI): 100, 101, 102, 105, 106, 110, 111, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206 Philosophy (PHIL): 101, 201, 210 Theater (THEA)*: 110
Natural Science (NS): 7 credits 7 credits are required to fulfill the Natural Science Area Distribution in Part I for graduation. Up to 7 of these credits can be transferred in. If you transfer fewer than 7 credits you will take the remainder after transferring.	*Biological Science (BISC): 111 Biology (BIOL): 101, 102, 110, 118, 201, 202 Chemistry (CHEM): 100, 101, 102, 201, 202 Environmental Science (ENST): 112 Geography (GEOG): 110 Physics (PHYS)*: 101, 102, 201, 202
Social Science (SS): 7 credits 7 credits are required to fulfill the Social Science Area Distribution in Part I for graduation. Up to 7 of these credits can be transferred in. If you transfer fewer than 7 credits you will take the remainder after transferring.	*Economics (ECON): 201, 202 Geography (GEOG): 105 History (HIST): 201, 202 Political Science (POSC): 201 Psychology (PSYC): 101, 102, 180, 205, 260 Sociology (SOCI)*: 101, 201, 202, 203, 204, 240

Part II

Complete 3 credits each in 3 of the following areas (HU, NS, SS, MSA, CE, ID) for a total of 9 credits. For example: 3 credits in HU, 3 credits in MSA, and 3 credits in CE.

LSA Requirement	Southwestern courses that count for the distribution area
Humanities (HU)	Complete additional 3 credits from HU list in Part I
Natural Science (NS)	Complete additional 3 credits from NS list in Part I
Social Science (SS)	Complete additional 3 credits from SS list in Part I
Math & Symbolic Analysis (MSA)	Complete one of *Mathematics (MATH)*: 141, 142, 150, 201, 203, 205
Creative Expression (CE)	Complete 3 credits of: *Art (ART):* 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 208, 210, 211, 212, 215, 219, 233, 235, 251, 252, 261 English (ENGL): 261, 263, 264, 265 Music (MUSI): 118, 131, 142 *Theater (THEA):* 184
Interdisciplinary (ID)	Currently no classes approved

Elective Credit

The following courses transfer but do not fulfill any specific general degree requirement.

Elective Credit

Art (ART): 200
Education (EDUC): 215
English (ENGL): 103
Mathematics (MATH): 153, 154
Music (MUSI): 240
Philosophy (PHIL): 220
Psychology (PSYC): 296
Speech (SPEE): 102, 104

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