Hey! My son is entering Michigan SMTD as a freshman this fall. He has several transfer credits from dual enrollment and some AP credits as well. The majority of his credits have been accepted as “Departmental Credit” (a generic sort of credit, it looks like) although a few have been accepted with named corresponding UM courses and credit.
He’ll ask at his advising appointment, of course, but I’d like to hear your experience on the process. Did all transfer credits count towards your non-SMTD electives (generic departmental credits and named equivalent UM courses) or only the named UM equivalent courses?
None of these are music electives or courses. I’m talking about the minimum 30 required non-SMTD elective hours.
https://smtd.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/STRINGS-PERF-2020-2021.pdf
Welp I can’t answer your question directly…but maybe this response will re
inforce what you may already know…and of course other people read these threads so…
Many moons ago when my D went off to a Big U with a conservatory, her AP credits were accepted at the U for gen ed classes and university credit. However the conservatory accepted none for her degree requirements. This is not uncommon based on what I have seen on this site…but regardless people have to check each school.
In particular, AP Music Theory was accepted by the U so she got maybe 4 “arts-related” credits toward the needed amount to graduate. But the conservatory did not give credit toward their music theory requirements. Still it was good to have taken it since a test was administered (pass/fail) for theory placement. Everyone was placed in theory 1 (there was an honors level available) or remedial theory (no college credit). Without AP Music Theory my D thinks she may have ended up in remedial theory (not uncommong for vocalists) putting her one year behind classmates that passed (Theory 1 was only offered in fall semester each year).
If you have a lot of AP credits it doesn’t necessarily mean you will graduate early. I think that my D had enough credits to graduate early but had not completed some of her degree “requirments”. She was however a part time student her last semster which made auditioning for grad school easier.
And I do recall being concerned if the school would actually receive and credit her AP courses correctly. The advisor meeting did make that all clear to my D…as she got a type of transcript that showed the classes as completed. The advior also explained how it all worked. Until I could see it in black and white it was hard to “believe” it would all work out…but it did…I guess these schools do it a lot…lol.
Thank you for your insight, @bridgenail! As always, you’re helpful.
SMTD string majors (maybe all SMTD, I don’t know…) have 30 credit hours of non-SMTD electives required. The choices are completely unstructured other than two required writing courses. I’m hoping the transfer credit my son was allowed will knock out some of those 30 credit hours. I’m wondering if the generically-awarded “departmental credit” will count against those required 30 or if they’ll only use the ones that were matched up with named UM courses. I guess we’ll see! He has advising on 6/22; I just wanted him to be able to plan ahead on his preferred selections in advance of registration. It will all work out.
U Michigan has higher tuition for junior/senior classification (by credit hours) so accepting transfer credits isn’t necessarily advisable unless they serve a purpose.
Ahhh…6/22 advising meeting…how exciting!