TRANSFER CREDIT SERVICES (UNDERGRADUATES)

If you are transferring to UMBC or if you decide to take a college course at another institution once you’ve begun your academic career at UMBC, the Office of Academic Services provide a number of transfer credit services to assist you.

As a new transfer student, you’ll receive an evaluation of your transfer credits within a few weeks of your admission to UMBC. This evaluation is called an Undergraduate Progress Report or UPR. Built from the official transcripts sent to us by your previous institution(s), your Undergraduate Progress Report (UPR) will list all your classes from each institution(s) you’ve attended, indicate whether or not each course is transferable, and if any of your transferable courses have direct equivalencies to UMBC classes. In addition, your UPR will indicate which of your transfer courses we’ve applied to our General Foundation Requirements (GFRs) and university requirements. You’ll be able to see which of those requirements have been completed through previous coursework, and which requirements you’ll need to complete during your studies at UMBC.

Once you’ve matriculated here at UMBC, you can continue to take courses at other colleges and universities, but you should always get permission to do so first. The Verification of Transferability (VOT) forms are available in the Office of Academic Services. Your departmental advisor or the advisors in the Office of Academic Services can answer your questions about taking courses off campus, verify the transferability of a course you might want to take at another school, and grant you permission in writing (VOT form) to take the classes you wish to enroll in at another institution. Once you’ve completed your off-campus class, you’ll need to request an official transcript be sent to UMBC at the following address: Office of Admissions, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore Maryland 21250. Upon receipt of your official transcript, the Office of Academic Services will evaluate your coursework and update your Undergraduate Progress Report.

Academic Advising helps students clarify their life/career goals, reach their educational potential and achieve academic success through shared mentoring relationships among faculty, professional advisors, administrators, peer advisors and students. The process of information exchange and communication is a shared responsibility of advisors and advisees.

GRADUATES:

Information on Graduate School transfer credit policies and processes is available here:

Articulation

Basically, the ‘articulation’ of transfer coursework from other institutions means deciding:
1) whether or not a course is transferable to UMBC, and
2) if transferable, determining if the transfer course is directly equivalent to a class offered at this university, if the class can be used to satisfy a GFR, and if the course can count as ‘upper level’ credit.
To make these assessments, the Office of Academic Services works closely with the Articulation Chairs of each academic department.

Articulated transfer courses are tracked via two methods:
1) Courses offered at any of the Maryland community colleges are reviewed and posted on the ARTSYS website. Please note that the transfer information provided by ARTSYS is meant to serve students coming to UMBC at their initial point of transfer. Therefore, the information provided by ARTSYS is not always applicable to students once they have begun their studies here at UMBC. Please be sure to work with your departmental advisor and obtain verification via the Verification of Transferability form (VOT) before taking courses off-campus.
2) Articulation decisions of classes from any other colleges or universities (including other University of Maryland System schools) are recorded and tracked in the Office of Academic Services.
UMBC students who want to take courses off campus should always get permission first from their departmental advisor and the Office of Academic Services

Helpful Links:

ARTSYS
Complete Text of MHEC Student Transfer Policies
Transfer Credit FAQs