Transfer Students

Transfer students at Mount Holyoke represent a relatively small but diverse group of highly motivated students. Because they are rather quickly assimilated into their appropriate class, one of the primary issues for new transfers is their initial transition into the Mount Holyoke community. Although all transfer students are familiar with academic systems to some extent, they must learn how to negotiate the bureaucratic network particular to Mount Holyoke. The adjustments surrounding this transition are eased by the support of the Coordinator of Transfer Affairs.

Academic advisors to transfer students must be particularly alert to the fact that, for transfer students, college requirements must be met within a shorter time frame: one which frequently allows little time for leisurely exploration. Questions about how previous course work fits into the Mount Holyoke curriculum will loom large in the beginning and will often necessitate the students trekking from department to department and back to the Registrar.

The Admissions office issues a preliminary credit estimate to the student at the time she is admitted. When a student decides to matriculate she may consult with the coordinator of transfer affairs, about choosing classes for her first semester at Mount Holyoke College. Once the student has matriculated the Registrar will further evaluate her transfer credit and an unofficial transcript and degree audit is available to the student and advisor on record, and can be accessed through ISIS.

The transcript and degree audit provides information about the number of credits that have been transferred and notes what distribution requirements have been met elsewhere. Also on ISIS, the advisor and student can access the student’s preliminary class schedule. Students have the option of completing an academic advising form on the Web. If students have completed this form, it will be forwarded to the advisor before the first meeting.

Special Requirements and Policies for Transfer Students

Credit Requirements
Transfer students are expected to meet the same credit requirements for graduation as four year students except in the area of physical education. The physical education requirement for sophomore transfers is 4 units of P.E., for junior transfers 2 units of PE.

Note: Transfer students must take at least 64 Mount Holyoke credits. Be aware that although Five College courses taken during the regular fall and spring semesters count as MHC credits, those taken during the summer or J-Term DO NOT. (See "Credits for work done at UMASS in summer school and January Term," below.)

Residency Requirement
Transfer students are expected to meet the residency requirement of 64 credits on campus. Students may not be able to study abroad if they matriculate with 48 credits or more. It is important to keep in mind that Five College courses taken during the summer or J-term may not count towards the residency requirement. This is especially true for courses taught during the summer and J-term at UMASS.

Credits for Work Done at UMASS in Summer School and January Term
The terms of the Five College agreement pertaining to cross-registration among the co-operating institutions does not apply during summer or January terms. If a student enrolls at UMASS during one of these periods, she will receive only the amount of credit on her registration form. In other words, a 3-credit UMASS course will transfer to Mount Holyoke as a 3-credit course, not as a 4-credit course, as it does during the rest of the year.

Financial Aid
Sophomore transfers are eligible for only six semesters of financial aid, junior transfers for only four. Financial aid may become an issue for a transfer student if she anticipates she will need more semesters of aid than she was originally awarded at the time of her admission. (See "The Major" below). It is important to counsel students to plan their programs within the limits of their financial assistance.

Course Selection
In general, transfer students will need much tighter academic guidance than a first-year student in order to meet all requirements (college, major and minor) within a period of two or three years.

Meeting Requirements with Work Done Elsewhere
If the Registrar cannot determine whether work done elsewhere meets a college requirement or when a student wants work done elsewhere to count as credit toward the major, the student is asked to consult with the department chair and obtain a signature on the "Mount Holyoke College Permission Form" (available online at the Registrar's site). In such cases a student may not be in a position to finalize her first semester registration until she obtains all the necessary department approvals.

Overview of Mount Holyoke Program
The degree audit that is available on ISIS is the tool that should be accessed during that first advising session. At some point during the first meeting(s) with a transfer student, the advisor should encourage the student to work out a draft program of the courses she plans to take at Mount Holyoke. The degree audit enables the student and advisor to view her total program and identify where and when she might encounter difficulties. This is particularly important in fields where advanced-level courses require a certain sequencing of introductory and intermediate level courses and in departments where courses are offered less than annually.

The Major
Many transfer students enter with a particular major in mind. Students who matriculate with 56 credits should be advised to declare a major, no later than the second semester of their junior year. This is especially important for students declaring interdisciplinary majors or special design majors. In some cases a transfer student may decide to change her major and find that she cannot complete all the requirements in the new major and still graduate with the class to which she was admitted. A student may reclassify and graduate with a later class. However, students on financial aid will NOT receive additional aid to cover the additional semester(s) it takes to graduate with the new major. (See above section on Financial Aid.)