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Prospective Student Resources
Thank you for your interest in St. Mary’s College of Maryland! SMCM welcomes and values the experiences you bring to our campus. Choosing the right college to complete your degree is a big decision. SMCM offers you a rigorous, relevant, and experiential liberal arts education that will prepare you for a 21st-century career and a lifetime of success.
Transfer applicants are students who will have completed at least 12 semester hours of college-level coursework (after high school graduation) OR have attempted at least one semester of full-time coursework and maintained enrollment through the add/drop period (after high school completion).
Choosing a Major
Academic Planning
Prospective transfer students are encouraged to follow the appropriate degree programs at their current institution that will be beneficial toward a degree at SMCM. Consider using these resources to guide your planning process:
- Research different major options if you are undecided or still considering multiple interests.
- Explore potential career or graduate school options, and make sure the courses and majors you are considering are appropriate given your skills, interests, and abilities.
- Work with our Registrar’s Office to see how your transfer credits will be applied to your degree at SMCM.
- To determine how long it may take you to earn your degree, use our major checklists to plug in your courses after they have been evaluated by the Registrar’s Office.
- If you need assistance with academic planning for transfer, work with someone from our Office of Student Support or Registrar’s Office to determine how previous coursework may apply to your degree at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Identifying any general education and major requirements, and creating a plan for completing your degree will help make the transition from your current institution to St. Mary’s College of Maryland a smooth transition.
Transfer Credits
In order to have an official evaluation done, students must submit an official transcript to the Office of Admissions when applying to SMCM. However, students can always submit an unofficial transcript to the Office of Admissions or the Registrar’s Office for an unofficial review of how their credits will transfer.
- The maximum number of credits that can be transferred from a two-year institution is 70 credit hours, and 90 credit hours from a four-year institution. The combination of all credits transferred (including, for example, AP/CLEP/IB) may not exceed 90 credits.
- Credit by Examination: Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), Cambridge, and general CLEP credit may be awarded. For AP, a minimum score of 3 is required; for IB, a minimum score of 5 for Higher Level (HL) exams and Standard Level (SL) exams; for CLEP a minimum score of 50; Cambridge A-Level and AS-Level exams with a grade of A*, A, B, or C.
- The college will convert quarter system transfer credits into semester hours. A semester hour is equivalent to 0.67 of a quarter-hour. European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits will be converted by the following formula. 2 ECTS = 1 US credit. Students must earn at least 3 semester credits for the class to count toward any SMCM requirement.
- Credits that are transferred will be excluded from the computation of the grade-point average at St. Mary’s College.
- Students transferring with an AA, AS, AAT, AFA, or ASE degree from a Maryland community college fulfill the Core Curriculum foreign language requirement as well as each of the six areas of the Core Exploration requirement. However, these students will still be required to complete CORE 301 (please see the Core Exploration Requirements section for the complete requirements).
- All of our transfer policies can be found in the College Catalog
Community College Partnerships
You can use these resources to help guide you in what classes you should be taking while enrolled at your community college. If your community college is not listed, reach out to us and we will work with you and the school to make sure you are taking the correct classes to transfer to SMCM.
Newly Admitted Resources
Congratulations on your recent admission to St. Mary’s College of Maryland! Once you receive an admission letter from the Office of Admissions, you are officially considered to be a New Transfer Student. In order to understand your admission letter, register for your courses, and prepare for your first semester, there are a few important steps for you to follow.
Confirm Your Enrollment
Understand Your Major
Attend New Student Orientation
Understand Your Transfer Credits
Plan Your Finances
Find Housing and/or Plan for Your Commute
Enrolled Student Resources
Transcript Re-evaluation – Complete this form if you need a single course or several courses re-evaluated from your transfer credits. Did you change majors since enrolling? This may be a reason to take another look at your transcript.
Career Center – students have access to a multitude of career counseling and preparation opportunities.
Advising at St. Mary’s
AP/CLEP/IB/Cambridge Equivalencies
Other Resources
Degree Requirements
Resources