Which grad-program transfer credit policies are best?

Recently, one of our readers shared a post-hoc admissions dilemma about transfer credit. In brief, they accepted an offer of admission to a PhD program believing there to be a reasonable chance of transferring credits from their previous institution. However, once being admitted, they were initially informed that their credits would not transfer - so they wrote into us at the Cocoon asking us for advice. A few days later, the same reader wrote in with an update: their program reconsidered, and accepted one (but only one) of their previous courses. That's good news for them of course (as Amanda wrote, it's better than nothing!). However, the reader's general situation--both before and after the update--raises an issue I think might be worth discussing: how liberal should PhD programs be in granting transfer credit or adjusting course requirements for transfer students? 

What do you all think? As I've never run a program myself, I may not be in the best position to say. However, I have been on the student side of things, and thought it may be helpful to share my own experience.

I began my graduate career at Syracuse University in the late '90s. I was in the program for two years, and received A's in all of my courses during my time there--including courses on metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of language with John Hawthorne (now at USC), Ted Sider (now at Rutgers), Dean Zimmerman (also at Rutgers), William Alston, and some other really good people. I think part of the reason I did well at Syracuse was that it was such an exciting experience: I was reading really high-level stuff (Lewis' On the Plurality of Worlds, Williamson's Vagueness, etc.) for the very first time, and because I found it so new and exciting, I found myself inspired like I never had before. I was intensely motivated to understand the stuff I was reading, debate it with my classmates and professors, come up with new arguments, and so on. 

Alas, during my second year, Hawthorne, Sider, Zimmerman, and Brian Weatherson (now at Michigan) were all hired away by other schools. Because I was worried about how their leaving would affect my professional prospects (they were the professors I had worked most closely with while I was there), I decided to transfer to Arizona. And, all things considered, I'm glad I did! I'm not sure I would have ever gotten into moral and political philosophy had I not transfered there - not to mention the fact that I ended up taking all kinds of cool courses I might never had otherwise taken, including courses in AI programming, computational linguistics, and philosophy of biology and physics. All things considered, Arizona ended up being great!

However...there was one thing that gave me a lot of trouble: you guessed it, their transfer credit policy! I don't know what their policy is like now, but when I entered I recall them accepting only two courses from Syracuse. While that's better than nothing, it wasn't the lack of transfer credits that bothered me so much as the courses I needed to take because I couldn't transfer more credits. Because here's the problem I faced: I ended up having to retake several courses nearly identical to ones I had already taken at Syracuse. Why was that a problem? Well, maybe I should have responded better, but the honest truth is that when I first got there, having to retake similar courses led me to become a bit bored and listless. It just wasn't exciting to have to read Frege, Russell, and others on proper names all over again; or to have to once again learn about internalism and externalism in epistemology again, and so on. I had just spent the last two years reading, thinking, and debating those things! Because I felt like I'd "been there, done that", for the first time doing philosophy I felt uninspired. It just wasn't fun to have to read the same things again, debate the same things again, write papers on the same things again, and so on.

I know, I know: I should have been better than that. Maybe I should have found a way to be inspired by the chance to go through important philosophical works again. Fair enough (it probably didn't help that I went through my first big romantic breakup at the same time - but that's another story!). In any case, I didn't handle it that well. Because I wasn't excited about having to retake classes, I got off on the wrong step: my concentration wasn't there, my work was a bit uninspired...and I ended up losing my confidence and struggling to find it again (which, fortunately, I did). Anyway, I'm not going to blame my difficulties on the fact that I couldn't transfer more courses. Again, I think I should have handled it better. Nevertheless, I can't help but wonder whether grad programs might consider these kinds of possible side-effects in their transfer policies. For, even if one can handle it well, I can't help but wonder whether other transfer students find similar situations dispiriting - and whether it might be good for programs to have transfer-credit policies that don't put new students in dispiriting situations.

What might such policies look like? Allowing more transfer credits is one obvious possibility. But it's not the only one! Notice that, for my part, it wasn't the lack of transfer credits that bothered me. I loved philosophy, and would have been happy to take more courses, not fewer. The only thing I had trouble with, again, was having to retake courses I had basically already taken. So, maybe--even if an institution has limits on transfer credits--a better policy would be to permit students to substitute different classes for classes taken at their previous institution. Of course there should probably be some limits on that - but, if I were a transfer student now, something like that would sound really great to me.

Anyway, what do you all think? How do PhD programs handle transfer credits these days? If you were a transfer student, were you satisfied with your institution's transfer credit policies - or, did you have trouble with them? I'm curious to find out!

Comments

[PhD Student]

Thanks, Marcus, for the post. I’m the reader mentioned above. I want to say a little bit more about my case. I attended a terminal MA program before enrolling in my current PhD program. My areas of interest lie in X and I don’t have much interest in Y. I tried to be interested in Y but didn’t succeed though I took three courses in Y before. One of my reasons for transferring credits is to avoid taking courses in Y again. However, my current program does not allow me to transfer more than one course from my previous institution which makes it inevitable that I will take many courses in Y again. This really frustrates me. Anyway, I don’t want to sound like I have a bad feeling about Y.

[PhD Student]

Hi, Marcus. I wonder if you could say a little bit about how you managed to transfer to Arizona? That may help those who consider transferring. Thanks!

[RexII]

PhD Student: would they allow you to take non-Y classes instead, given your background? You might petition to see if they would allow a substitution. You wouldn't take fewer classes, just different ones.

FWIW, I was able to petition out of a few things in my PhD program. E.g., we were supposed to take a Master's exam after finishing the MA coursework, to see if we merited admission to the PhD program. I was able to petition out of the Master's exam, based on the strength of my coursework, and jump straight to the PhD program. I was also able to alter the language requirement to get it to fit my interests better.

[PhD Student]

To RexII: No, they don't allow me to do that. I have to take courses from a variety of subfields. Besides, the courses for next semester mainly lie in Y. I don't have many choices then.
That is why I'm considering transferring to programs in Canada or UK where I'm not required to take many courses.

[Michel X.]

PhD Student: How many courses are we talking about in the first place? While some Canadian programs may require fewer courses than their American counterparts, that's mostly for students coming in with a Master's degree. They also fund you for a much shorter period of time.

I didn't transfer. But FWIW my (Canadian) education featured 20 (philosophy) courses and a thesis as an undergrad, six courses and a thesis as a Master's student, and ten courses as a PhD student (plus a further 20 audits and two reading groups). That's 36 courses and 3 theses. Some of the courses I took for credit were repeats. Most students don't audit quite as much as I did, but otherwise my philosophical education was pretty typical for Canada.

I don't think it's really in a program's interests to grant too many transfer credits. This is because the point of coursework isn't just to beef up one's philosophical education (although surely that's part of the point). Rather, I think a big part of coursework is giving the student some time to explore new subfields, to give the student lots of practice developing their research and writing skills, and to ensure the student's integration into the department community (peers and professors alike) and professional network. It helps to introduce department members (especially potential committee members) to the student in question. Rushing through a program hampers at least those last few goals.

Starting over at a new program may be a little annoying, but it sort of restarts your funding and research clocks too, and gives you more time to cultivate your AOCs, to present and publish your research, etc. And it can give you a chance to get a head start on the dissertation, depending on when you transferred.

What makes the most sense to me is to grant transfer students exemptions from requirements (e.g. breadth, logic) that they clearly fulfilled at their prior institution. In theory, that should then free up the student's course selection a little.

[PhD Student]

Michel X.: I didn't do my undergrad in philosophy. But, for some special reason, I have already spent five years in grad school and taken 20 grad courses in philosophy. My current program requires me take another 12+ courses. That is what annoys me.

[Michel X.]

I see. But if you were to transfer, you'd have already done a full year of coursework where you are, plus however many courses are required at the new program (unless it's in the UK). Wouldn't that total be pretty close to the same?

[Amanda]

PhD Student, I could totally get why you are annoyed about being mislead. However, it seems to me not the best option to switch programs, especially not to one in the UK or Canada (if course work is your only reason for switching). I mean, if you get into Toronto or Oxford than okay. Most other programs do not have great placement records, and unlike the US where non-top schools prepare you well for teaching jobs, UK programs do not. I am not sure about Canada. Anyway, my guess is that by the time you switch you will have eaten up a lot of time with the transfer, and then you might not be in as good a place to get a job. If you want to save time I would just start working on your thesis early so you can get that done is less time than most. It's your choice, of course. But that is my 2 cents.

[PhD Student]

Thanks for those replies. The basic idea is that I have to spend another 5+ years if I choose to stay at my current program. If I transfer to another program which allows me to transfer some credits, then it seems that I will also spend 5+ years in grad school. Though the completion time will be the same, there will be a significant difference if I can end up in a better program.