Comprehensive Standard #3.4.4 (Transfer credit)

The institution has a defined and published policy for evaluating, awarding, and accepting credit for transfer, experiential learning, advanced placement, and professional certificates that is consistent with its mission and ensures that course work and learning outcomes are at the collegiate level and comparable to the institution's own degree programs. The institution assumes responsibility for the academic quality of any course work or credit recorded on the institution's transcript.

Compliance Certification

The College of William and Mary is in compliance with this comprehensive standard.

Explanation

Core Requirement 2.7.4 describes the published policy for evaluating, awarding, and accepting transfer credit for undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs at William and Mary. The College does not award credit for experiential learning. William and Mary does not participate in the College Board CLEP program or in the Subject Standardized Test of the United States Armed Forces Institute. Credit for advanced placement is described within the section Placement, Credit by Examination, and Transfer Credit, which is part of the larger section on Requirements For Degrees in the College of William and Mary 2004-2005 Course Catalog. The College does not award credit for professional certificates.

The College assumes responsibility for the academic quality of course work and credit recorded on the institution's transcript in part through articulation agreements and guidelines. A Transfer Guide for undergraduate degrees is published on the Admissions website that describes policies governing transfer credits. The Guide also details the State Transfer Policy, which governs the transfer of students and credits from Virginia community colleges. Under the State Policy On College Transfer, the College of William and Mary grants junior status (defined as at least 54 hours) to all students who enter from the Virginia Community College System or Richard Bland College with an Associate of Arts, Associate of Sciences, or Associate of Arts and Sciences degree in a baccalaureate-oriented program. The College encourages students to pursue the Associate of Arts degree. These students will be will be expected to fulfill the College's lower division writing requirement, the foreign language proficiency requirement, all major requirements, and General Education Requirements 4B, 6, and 7. These requirements are described in the Requirements For Degrees and in Core Requirement 2.7.3.

The Transfer Guide describes the special arrangements that pertain to transfer students and credits from Richard Bland College, which is a two-year institution that is affiliated with William and Mary.

In general, the College monitors the quality of course work and credit recorded on the institution's transcript through a careful review process, as noted in the section on Placement, Credit by Examination, and Transfer Credit :

The policies in each department governing credit and/or advanced placement for scores on AP examinations vary according to how the material covered by examinations fits the curriculum of the department. Members of the William and Mary faculty are actively engaged with the College Board in the development and grading of AP examinations.

In most departments, academic credit and/or advanced placement is routinely awarded based on the test score. In some cases, the Advanced Placement Examinations are reviewed by the faculty in the appropriate department at William and Mary to determine whether advanced placement and/or academic credit is warranted, using the content of the College's introductory course as a guide.

Credit received through the Advanced Placement program may be applied toward degree requirements, including proficiency, General Education Requirements, minor and major requirements. However, mere exemptions from courses may not be applied toward General Education Requirements. Only awarded credit may apply toward these.

Course-level details are provided in the remainder of the section. The College also monitors the quality of credits appearing on the institution's transcript through policies governing credit and course exemptions for International Baccalaureate Examinations. The details appear in the section on Placement, Credit by Examination, and Transfer Credit . Students may petition for credit by examination, under the following provisions (from the section on Placement, Credit by Examination, and Transfer Credit ):

Students at the College may request academic credit for courses by examination. Interested students should petition the Committee on Degrees for permission to take an examination for credit. If the petition is granted, the department at the College in which the course is normally offered sets an appropriate examination and certifies the results to the registrar. Students may not receive credit by examination after registration for their final semester, when they are enrolled in the course at the time of the request, when upper level course work in the same subject has already begun, or when the same course has previously been failed.

As noted in Core Requirement 2.7.4, the policy governing transfer credit for Arts and Sciences Graduate Programs, including those in Marine Sciences, is published in the graduate arts and sciences program catalog (see, for example, 2004-2005 Graduate Arts and Sciences Program Catalog) in the section entitled Transfer of Graduate Credit. Individual departments and programs evaluate proposed transfer courses. If faculty members in those departments and programs find courses acceptable, students may transfer up to six credits that count towards arts and sciences graduate degrees. In general, the Business School does not accept transfer credit for the M.B.A. programs. Students enrolled in the full-time MBA program can participate in semester or summer exchange programs and, with permission, can transfer credit (but not grades) into the degree program. For the School of Education policy, please see School of Education Transfer Credit. For the School of Law policy, please see Academic Regulations for the Law School.

References