Overseas credits may not transfer
By Cristina Chang
Oct. 21, 2010 2:16 a.m.
When Victoria Tang studied abroad last fall at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, she expected she would still graduate on time in June.
Prior to her trip, she met with her economics counselor to go over courses that were provisionally approved for her major, but approval for credit could not be finalized until she had sent the course syllabus and transcript to UCLA.
Once in Hong Kong, Tang e-mailed the syllabus for her courses to her counselor, but never heard back. When she returned to UCLA, she was informed by the head of the economics department that one of her courses was not at the UC-level and would not count for credit.
Tang said she felt the decision was unfair since the course had been provisionally approved and she had sent her syllabus to her counselor.
By the time she found out her course was not approved, it was too late to sign up for an extra class in spring quarter. She walked at commencement in June, but she needed to finish her credits with a summer session class. She paid $1,000 in tuition and had to postpone taking a job offer at a shipping company.
Students like Tang who study abroad sometimes face frustration because they cannot find out if their courses will count before they take them.
These students should turn to their departmental counselor to get guidelines and advice on whether their classes will count, said Corey Hollis, director of College Academic Counseling.
However, the Undergraduate Admissions and Relations with Schools office cannot approve a course until after it receives the syllabus and an official transcript because the office does not have the resources to evaluate all courses in advance, Hollis said.
Only students in the Education Abroad Program can be guaranteed that their classes will count for UC credit, as the UC system has exchange agreements with the schools students attend through EAP, which makes it easier to tell which courses are transferable. Students also have access to a database of previously UC-approved courses on the MyEAP website, said Mandy Sutton, a study abroad student services coordinator. But Sutton warns that the database is not comprehensive and that even if a course was approved in the past, students should not necessarily expect it to transfer, since the class may have changed its curriculum or have been approved by another UC with different standards in judging for credit.
For courses not taken with EAP, there is no database for classes that have been approved in the past.
Having such a database would be misleading, Hollis said. Since credit may be granted differently according to the program used, the admissions office is looking at multiple factors, and non-EAP schools are always changing their accreditation process.
“There have been students who have sat side-by-side in a class and one of them will not get credit,” Hollis said.
Students should be careful in deciding which classes are likely to be approved, she said. Classes that UCLA does not offer, such as cooking courses, will not be approved. Courses in areas such as management and finance are not as likely to be approved as classes more commonly offered at UCLA.
UCLA has tried to address this issue by creating the International Education Office at B-300 Murphy Hall, Hollis said. She advises students thinking of studying abroad to consult with the office for advice on what courses to take and guidelines to look for.
“UCLA should have better communication with schools through EAP, because if they could find out which classes are transferable, then students can plan schedules out better,” said Jane Sha, an alumna who also studied abroad in Hong Kong last fall.
Sha’s classes had been provisionally approved by her counselor, but she later found out some of the courses she had been planning to take were not offered. She rushed to find new classes, but could not get them pre-approved in time.
Only two of her four study abroad courses were confirmed for credit, forcing her to take on an extra General Education course the following quarter. She said UCLA does a good job of listing classes that were approved in previous years, but a complete list of courses is not offered.
