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Credit for Smith-approved study abroad programs will be transferred according to the following rules:
Credit toward the Smith degree will be accepted for satisfactory academic work dsone at a foreign university or on a study abroad program only if the student has been pre-approved to participate. Credit for study abroad will not be given retroactively.
You may find that some or all of the courses for which you were pre-approved change once you begin the semester. The Smith College Office for International Study will work with you to help ensure that the new courses you choose may be approved for Smith credit. Use the course change form to seek approval for new courses. Contact us if you have questions.
Students must take a full course load, as defined by Smith College to receive credit equivalent to a semester or a year at Smith. The minimum number of courses required by a program may not be sufficient to earn 16 credits per semester from Smith. Any questions about the number of credits or courses that constitute a full load should be directed to the Office for International Study.
Students on Smith-approved study abroad programs normally earn 16 Smith credits for one semester, or 32 Smith credits for a full year, for successful completion of a full load of courses abroad. (Smith JYA programs may have a different total credit amount.) In exceptional cases, with written permission of the program director abroad and approval of the Class Dean and the Office for International Study, students taking courses in excess of a normal load may earn a maximum of 20 credits for a semester and 40 credits for the academic year.
A course taken abroad that duplicates the content of one for which you have already received credit at Smith may not count for degree credit unless explicitly approved by a Smith department.
Pre-professional courses such as most communications, speech, business, management, marketing, media, nutrition, library science, law, some journalism courses, and some computer science courses normally will not receive credit at Smith. Distance learning and internet-delivered courses are ineligible for transfer credit.
Performance courses will be awarded credit equivalent to their value at Smith (two credits for DAN and one credit for ESS). A maximum of 24 music performance, 12 dance performance, and 4 ESS credits can be counted toward the Smith degree; courses taken abroad that bring the student’s total performance credits above these limits will not receive credit. Group performance courses (choir, orchestra, etc.) will not receive credit.
Smith requires that students either study the local language of the host country or take courses taught in the local language of the host country during each semester abroad.
An Independent Study course may be undertaken abroad only when it is part of the curriculum of the host institution or program. Students wishing to carry out an independent study must receive pre-approval through completion of the Credit Evaluation Agreement Form. Upon the student’s return, the faculty member who signed the form will assess the written work for the independent study, and will notify the Office for International Study with the assessment. The amount of credit awarded will be based upon the Smith Special Studies credit criteria for the applicable department.
Smith does not grant credit for internships, but will consider granting credit for courses associated with internships that meet the standards of Smith College Special Studies course. Students who wish to include an internship on a Smith-approved study abroad program as one of their credit-bearing courses must attach the Internship Credit Evaluation Agreement with their Smith Study Abroad Application.
Grades for work completed on the Smith JYA programs in Florence, Geneva, Hamburg, and Paris are included in the Smith GPA and calculations for honors. Grades for work completed on other Smith-approved study abroad programs are recorded on the Smith transcript, but will not be included in GPA or honors calculations.
Low grades or credit shortages can result in academic probation or failure to make satisfactory progress toward the degree. Any credit shortage due to unsuccessful completion of courses abroad must be made up through summer school or by arrangement with the Dean of the Senior Class.
Courses taken abroad may be counted toward the distribution requirement for Latin Honors. The first semester of an introductory language does not count toward the foreign language distribution requirement unless it is followed by the second semester of that language.
Smith students are bound by the rules and procedures of the study abroad program and any host institution, including those for registration, course load, dropping and adding courses, and exercising any satisfactory/unsatisfactory grading option.
Students on two-semester programs considering returning after one semester should see Rescinding a Leave on the Class Deans web site. Students wishing to rescind their Study Abroad Leave should notify the Office for International Study and their Class Dean in writing. If a student rescinds her study abroad leave in order to register for classes in Northampton, that decision will be binding, and she will not normally be eligible to have off-campus study status reinstated.
Leave may be rescinded until the first day of classes each semester, however, the student is responsible for any non-refundable fees and deposits already paid to the study abroad program on her behalf. The student is also responsible for contacting Housing to request a room.
A students who withdraws from her study abroad program after the program has started is responsible for any non-refundable fees and withdrawal fees charged by the study abroad program, and may not return to Smith that semester if classes have already begun at Smith.
All study abroad students are required to submit an evaluation of their study abroad program to Smith at the conclusion of the program. Transcripts will not be forwarded to the registrar’s office for posting until an evaluation is received by the Office for International Study.
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