Advising Transfer Students
Academic Advising
Transfer students are assigned a faculty advisor based on the student’s declared major or academic interests. In most cases, the advisor is the chair of the major department or one of the student’s first semester instructors. This close academic connection helps establish a stronger advising relationship during a transfer student’s first year. As is the case for any student, transfer students may change advisors at any time.
Evaluation of Transfer Credit
Transfer students are required to provide official transcripts from all previously
attended institutions. The Registrar’s Office then completes an evaluation of transfer
credit. One copy of this evaluation is given to the student, and another is included
in the advisee’s folder. Credit may be awarded for grades of C or higher. Courses
in which the student earned a Pass or Satisfactory grade may be considered with the
proviso that the institution awarding the grade considered the pass or satisfactory
grade as equivalent to a C or better. No credit will be awarded for course work in
which the student earned C-, D+, D or D- grades. A student may transfer a maximum
of 60 credit hours. The Skidmore transcript will note the number of transfer hours
awarded and the institution at which the course work was taken. The grades will not
be figured into the Skidmore GPA; grade point averages are only calculated from work
done at Skidmore.
The evaluation process involves an attempt to match the coursework taken elsewhere
to topics and content areas available at Skidmore. In some cases, specific courses
may be referred to a department chair or program director for review. Course descriptions,
available in college bulletins, are generally used as the basis upon which a decision
is made. The student may be asked to provide additional information, such as a course
syllabus to help a chair or department representative make a decision about transfer
credit.
Degree Requirements
Students who have not yet completed at least 12 credit hours at another institution
will need to enroll in a Scribner Seminar. All other transfer students are waived
from this requirement.
For the most part, transfer student are held to the same guidelines and expectations
as all students, with few exceptions. For example, some transfer students will have
completed QR2 before QR1 based on an evaluation of coursework at their prior institution.
Other students may arrive at Skidmore as juniors without having completed the EW requirement.
As always, carefully review the student’s degree audit to check for requirements that
have not been fulfilled.
Because transfer students almost always arrive at Skidmore with advanced standing
(compared to first-year students arriving at the same time), it is important to track
their progress accordingly. Your very first advising appointment with a transfer student
may thus focus on preparation for study abroad or a discussion of collaborative research
opportunities during the academic year or summer, topics usually not broached with
new students until later.