Here are some transfer advising notes for students planning to transfer to UM regarding:
- the new MD State AP Transfer policy regarding scores of
3
- the new 70 Credit Transfer Maximum Policy
- the new provision that all community college courses will transfer to four-year institutions.
There are considerations when advising current and incoming MC students who plan to transfer specifically to UM College Park or UM Shady Grove… and other MD schools as well.
AP Acceptance of Scores of 3 by the University of Maryland (UM)
UM
is still reviewing how AP scores of 3 will be accepted. The UM
Transfer Credit Services Center will publish a list of changes before next
May 2023 after MHEC has reviewed UM’s proposal to accept individual test scores
of 3. UM’s proposed list of how AP scores of 3 will be accepted is still
under review and it will be submitted to MHEC in January 2023
At UM, the new acceptance of scores of 3 will go into effect for students
taking AP tests starting this coming May 2023. Regardless of the
possible changes, this
policy is NOT retroactive, so students who have AP scores now from AP tests taken in May
2022 or earlier will still fall under UM’s previous standards where a scores of
3 are only accepted for two tests - AP English Language and Composition and AP
English Literature and Composition. (Reference: https://www.transfercredit.umd.edu/plc/APGenEd.pdf
).
Please inform all students who completed AP exams before this coming May ’23 that their scores will be accepted according to the AP Transfer Score charts showing now on the UM Transfer Credit Services website: https://www.transfercredit.umd.edu/plc.html#ap; and please give students the link to the Montgomery College AP Comparison Chart so that they can see any differences that may exist between how MC and how UM will accept AP scores upon transfer: https://www.montgomerycollege.edu/_documents/counseling-and-advising/transfer-resources/apcreditcomparisonchart10172022.pdf
The Long Version: - AP Scores and Transfer to UM
In
the past, MC and UM College Park have had variations in the way that AP scores
are accepted. It has always been important to inform MC students that
even though MC may have granted credit for an AP score of 3, when a student
later transfers to UM, the AP score of 3 may not be accepted.
Last year’s Maryland House Bill 966 regarding Transfer was passed to simplify the transfer process, especially for AP scores, and makes the requirement that all MD state public colleges will accept AP scores of 3. Institutions have until this January 2023 to submit plans to show how scores of 3 will be accepted.
We have heard that some UM disciplines are currently asking MHEC for exceptions to allow acceptance of a score of 3 as a Lower Level Elective rather than as a specific direct equivalent. For example, Economics @ UM has indicated that they may request an MHEC exception to allow the acceptance of a score of 3 for AP Macro or Microeconomics to be accepted as a Lower Level Elective rather than giving direct equivalency credit for ECON 200 or 201. The same may be true for other disciplines, example – Psychology may ask for a similar exception to accept a 3 as an LLE and still require a 4 for a direct equivalency of their PSYC 100 General Psychology. This is how UM currently accepts a score of 3 for AP English Language and Composition – students are given 3 credits of LLE for a score of 3, and are given credit for their ENGL 101 for a score of 4 or 5. If the exceptions are approved, then it will still be important to see how both MC and UM will treat the acceptance of AP scores in the future. Decisions are expected to be made and published by UM before May 2023 to inform incoming high school students who will be taking AP tests in May 2023. Nothing has been officially determined at this point.
In the meantime, you can still use the MC AP Comparison Chart https://www.montgomerycollege.edu/_documents/counseling-and-advising/transfer-resources/apcreditcomparisonchart10172022.pdf which was recently updated to show that some other four-year schools have already updated their acceptance policy – UMGC interpreted the new policy to accept scores of 3 as direct equivalencies to specific classes, so for example, a 3 in Macroeconomics will now be accepted by UMGC as ECON 201, aligning with the way MC accepts it.
Here is a refresher on the policy of “What Happens When MC Gives AP Credit for a Gen Ed Course based on a Score of 3 and UM Does Not Accept a Score of 3”
AP Credit transfer policy to Maryland State Public institutions: If a student satisfies a General Education Requirement at MC w/ an AP score of 3 (example, a score of 3 in Environmental Science @ MC fills a 4-credit Gen Ed Lab Science), then the MD public transfer institution should consider a Lab Sci. Gen Ed 4 credit requirement to be filled upon transfer, but for students who tested prior to May 2023, the student will have to 'make up' those 4 credits w/ transferable elective credits if a score of 3 is not accepted. Under the present policy, the student needs to take another 4 credit class, can be any open elective, to “fill in” the AP credit that is not accepted. The student doesn’t have to take another Gen Ed Science, that category is considered filled, so any elective credit will work. Students may need to work with their MD public transfer institutions to ensure that this policy is applied after transfer.
Another example of when to be
concerned about the discrepancy between AP score acceptances – MC may still give
students more credits for a score of 4 than UM will grant, example – AP US
History – MC gives 6 credits of HIST 201 & 202 to students with a score of
4, but UM gives only 3 credits of HIST 200 to students for a score of 4, this
will be another area to be aware of when advising students who are transferring
to UM. This area is also subject to possible change while MC is also in
the process of reviewing how scores of 3 will be accepted for all AP tests.
Do we have to remember
all of this? Not really –
if you see a student with ANY AP scores on their record and if they say
they want to transfer to UM, please provide them with the link to the UM
Transfer Credit Center AP Lists https://www.transfercredit.umd.edu/plc.html#ap;
, and also send them a link to the MC
AP Comparison Chart and give them a Starfish Referral for
Pre-Transfer Advising so they can sort things out directly with a UM
Pre-Transfer Advisor, even if they are in the beginning stages of taking
classes here at MC, to assure that they can get the most accurate information
directly from UM.
Regarding the New 70 Credit Maximum and UM
Not all majors at UM can absorb an additional ten credits beyond 60 credits of lower level (100- or 200) credits, so it will be important to make that distinction with students. For example, majors under the UM Smith School of Business require 58 credits that must be taken at the upper-level (300- and 400-level), so Business students will likely not be able to transfer more than 62 credits to UM.
This may be true for many majors at UM that have limited space for Open Electives; for example, Engineering and Biological Science majors at UM have little or no space in the Four-Year Plan for open electives and many have requirements for upper-level courses that can be taken only at UM. List of all UM Four-Year Plans: https://www.4yearplans.umd.edu/
MC will work with UM Pre-Transfer Advisors to develop a list of majors that will be able to accommodate additional credits beyond 60 taken at the community college level. For some majors, like Computer Science, it may be possible for a student to take classes beyond the 60 credits to fulfill additional lower-level requirements like CMSC 216 prior to transfer, but this will also have to be considered carefully to determine whether Financial Aid will continue to pay for only 60 credits required for an Associate’s degree in the future. Hopefully for majors where additional 100- and 200-level courses could be taken at MC, transfer agreements for credits taken beyond 60 can be developed to coordinate with Financial Aid to provide coverage.
Regarding the Transfer Provision that all CC courses will be accepted by MD public four-year institutions
This process is also still
under review by four-year institutions who may currently be asking for
exceptions. Regardless of whether there will be exceptions, even if all
courses from a discipline that UM does not offer must now be accepted, for example,
if all CMAP or NWIT courses must be accepted in transfer, it is likely that
they will transfer as Lower Level Electives (LLE’s) because no direct
equivalencies exist. Whether those LLE credits will be applicable to a
major such as Computer Science or Engineering depends on the amount of space in
the degree available for open electives/LLE’s.
This information is not presented as a criticism of UM by any means; they are exercising their right to ask for a review of how they propose to accept scores of 3 based on course content standards. In addition, if all community college courses can be transferred to UM, there are majors that have a fixed number of lower-level program requirements and therefore not all open electives/ LLE’s will fit into all degrees, just as this is the case for students transferring courses into Montgomery College degrees. Finally, increasing the transfer limit to 70 credits may be useful for some majors but not all depending on each degree’s minimum number of upper-level courses that must be completed at UM after transfer.
MC counselors and advisors need to use caution when advising students who are planning to transfer to UM so that we don’t misrepresent the new changes for students currently enrolled and also for those entering MC this coming Spring from high schools. Until UM’s publishes their new AP Score acceptance list, we cannot imply that all scores of 3 will be accepted just as MC accepts them, and we cannot say definitively that 70 credits can now be taken at MC and all will transfer to UM, as this will depend very much upon specific majors. We need to continue to refer students to UM Pre-Transfer Advisors either directly or by Starfish referral and continue to work with UM to get a better understanding of how the MD State Transfer Policy changes will apply to our students on a major-by-major basis.
Anne
Schleicher, Counselor (Part-time)
Montgomery
College Online Advising Services
