Study Abroad Credits Mishap...in danger of not graduating on time

Parent Cafe
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Please let this be a lesson for those who may be reading this … always get study abroad coursework evaluated and approved in advance. When my D studied abroad through a partner school program, she choose the classes she wanted to take - a couple extras, since she couldn’t sign up early - and had them evaluated by her Registrar’s office. She knew which classes would count toward what requirements, and she knew how many credits she would receive for each. It is always risky to assume.

OP, you will want to give the dean or whomever you speak with a syllabus from each class you took. What you are trying to show is how many contact hours were required and how many out of class hours were required. You may be able to get something in writing from the study abroad school regarding in/out of class requirements, which will assist you in making your case.

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Fight. Demonstrate with your Syllabus and the book how much information was covered and appeal this decision. Demonstrate how much time was spent in class and outside of class, and demonstrate how it was harder because it wasn’t in your native language (if true).

Do not just accept this.

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Tranquil- all due respect, this is terrible advice.

Fighting is hardly the right tone or approach to take here. A humble/hopeful stance is likely to yield better results.

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I think at the very least they should be willing to waive the credit hour limit so that she can take a fluff course for the extra 3 hours. Hopefully that won’t be necessary, but I definitely agree that it’s better than staying another summer just for 2.5 credit hours.

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Thanks everyone for your advice. My school did exactly that @DmitriR. They increased the credit limit and I was allowed to enroll in an additional course (decided on a not too strenuous film class) and will be able to graduate in May. From this, the study abroad director said she would put clearer grading policies on the website. Ill accept this and carry on. Thank you all again

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Glad you found a solution. Keep up on that film class… sometime that kind of class is more work than students expect.

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Congratulations, @strongbeans12. You solved your problem and created a positive change for future students. Good work.

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Hope you enjoy the film class! If I took one senior year spring and really regretted I hadn’t taken any earlier. One of the best classes I took in college. (It was a fair amount of work though!)

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Proud of you! And good luck for the rest of the semester.

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similar situation happened to mee in highschool, i eventually got my vp from the school which i studied abroad in to validate that the courses i took were full credit/ honors courses