On This Page

The University of Miami affirms the practice of accreditation of U.S. post-secondary academic institutions by the following regional accreditation agencies: the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, the Higher Learning Commission (HLC); the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE); the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE); the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU); the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC); and the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC).

Acceptance of coursework and/or degrees completed by students for admission to the University of Miami and/or as transfer credit will be based on accreditation by these agencies. Acceptance of coursework and/or degrees from international post-secondary institutions will be based on country-specific accreditation/approval.

Transfer Credit Policy

The Transfer Credit policy applies to all undergraduate students, regardless of their status upon initial enrollment at the University of Miami.

  • Regardless of the number of transfer credits accepted by the university, students must still meet the following requirements:
    • At least half (50%) of the credit hours required for the chosen major(s) must be completed through the University of Miami. 1
    • At least half (50%) of the credit hours required for any minor(s) must be completed through the University of Miami. 2
    • Transfer work must have been taken within 10 years from the date of initial matriculation into a bachelor’s degree program at the University of Miami.3
    • All credits must have been earned at a regionally accredited institution, as stated above.
    • The final 45 credits toward a degree must be completed through the University of Miami.
  • 1

    Please note that some degrees/majors have more specific requirements for foundation coursework. While they may require more than 50%, they cannot require less than 50%.

    2

    Please note that some programs/minors have more specific requirements for foundation coursework. While they may require more than 50%, they cannot require less than 50%.

    3

    Some disciplines may require more recent course enrollment; if the discipline experiences more frequent advancements in research or knowledge, the department may require a student take a newer course. 

In addition, each course accepted for transfer credit must meet the following eligibility requirements:

  • Only a course that received a letter grade, or the equivalent for international programs, is eligible. Courses taken on a “pass/fail,” or “satisfactory/unsatisfactory” basis will not be accepted for transfer credit.
    A grade of C or higher was earned for the course. Note: a grade of C-- or lower will not be accepted.
  • Each course must either align with an approved University of Miami course or be equivalent to courses taught at the University of Miami in terms of nature, level, rigor, and content of, as determined by the university faculty.
  • A course that has been accepted for transfer credit from another institution may not be retaken at UM. This is considered an illegal repeat.
  • A student may not (re)take a course at UM where a test score (e.g., AP, IB, AICE or CLEP examination) has been awarded credit/equivalency. There are some specialized programs (e.g., PRISM) where a student is required to take a specific course from UM faculty. In those cases where test credit has been awarded, the credit for the test will be removed to ensure a student is not receiving double credit for a particular course.
  • Upper division course requirements (300 level or above) at the University may not be satisfied with 2-year college courses.
  • Students may not be enrolled at another academic institution during any period the student is enrolled at UM. This includes concurrent semesters (e.g., Spring semester); semesters or quarters that overlap enrollment dates (e.g., Spring Semester & Spring quarter); or other non-standard terms such as an Intersession or Winter term. Summer intersessions and sessions A, B, C, and D constitute a single term. Therefore, a student enrolled at UM in any summer term will not receive transfer credit from another institution completed during the same summer.
  • Students should check the Miami Academic Transfer Equivalency System (MATES) to see if courses from other institutions have been pre-approved for transfer credit.
    • If a course is pre-approved, it will be accepted for credit subject to the transfer credit policy; the school or college will determine how it applies toward the student’s degree.
    • If a student takes a course that is not pre-approved for credit, the request must go through the official university approval process. Please note these courses are not guaranteed to be accepted for credit or count toward degree requirements.

Military Credit

The University of Miami will award up to six (6) elective credits with the submission of the DD 214 form, which shows veterans were honorably discharged. Provide the Undergraduate Admissions office with your official military transcripts, which may be ordered through this website, along with a copy of your DD214 (military discharge document).

Courses not Accepted for Credit

The following types of courses will not be accepted for transfer credit toward a UM bachelor’s degree:

  • Courses deemed as vocational, remedial, physical education, or ROTC courses, including but not limited to the following:
    • Accounting Labs
    • Basic Chemistry Instrument
    • Business Statistics Lab
    • College Preparatory
    • Co-op Courses
    • Criminal Law Procedures
    • Elementary Math
    • Food Service or Hospitality
    • Health i.e., First Aid, CPR, Fitness for Life
    • Intensive English
    • Internships and Work Experience.
    • Nursing
    • Paralegal
    • Physical Education
    • Practicums
    • Pre-Applied Music
    • Remedial Courses (in any subject)
    • Secretarial /Office Systems Classes
    • Seminars and Workshops
    • Skills Courses
    • Student Success, Support Courses
    • Technical Classes e.g., Networking computer classes (CET Prefix), Respiratory Therapy (most classes that lead to an associate degree in technical and vocational areas are not awarded transfer credit)
    • Vocational Courses
  • Coursework that duplicates coursework for which credit has already been received.
  •  Any coursework taken elsewhere while simultaneously actively enrolled at UM.
    • For example, a course that begins or ends after a UM term has begun; or
    • An online course that overlaps with a UM term.
    • Our summer term includes multiple sessions, so a student may not take a Session A course at UM and a Session B course elsewhere.
       

 Transfer Credit Process

Work taken at other institutions will appear on the University of Miami transcript in separate entries as:

  • The total number of transferable credit hours attempted, and quality points earned, regardless of grades, and
  • The total credit hours transferred, which shall be the total credit hours for which a grade of C or higher was earned.

The University does not have a forgiveness policy for transfer courses. 

After being admitted and enrolling, a student must submit any final college transcripts with grades, AP, IB, AICE or CLEP examination scores for review by the end of their second semester at UM. Any documents which are submitted after this time will not be reviewed and credit hours will not be awarded.

Transfer credit courses are awarded credit but not the grade or quality points as it pertains to a student’s UM cumulative GPA. The only time transfer grades will be utilized is in the calculation of awarding Latin Honors upon graduation. Please see the Latin Honor policy for specific details.

A student who wishes to appeal the outcome of his or her transfer course evaluation (i.e., the course was found not to be equivalent to a University of Miami course or not satisfy a particular requirement) may submit a petition for curriculum substitution through the MATES site under Transfer Evaluation Appeal.

The petition will require the transfer course information and a selected reason for the appeal. In addition, supporting documents (e.g., course description, syllabus) and other pertinent material related to the course need to be included to ensure a thorough review and consideration of the petition.

The petition will go to the department offering the course or in charge of the discipline. The department chair or designee will make the final decision.

  • Denied petitions will be given a reason for the denial via email.
  • Appeal decisions are final.

The University of Miami reserves the right to assess the proficiency of any student in coursework transferred from other institutions and to disallow transfer credits in courses in which the student cannot demonstrate acceptable proficiency as determined by the respective department chairperson.

High School/Dual Enrollment

Coursework completed under a high school/dual enrollment program is subject to the above rules. Additionally, to seek credit for college-level work completed prior to matriculation (pre-college credit) into an undergraduate program, students must:

  • Request that the external college or university send an official college or university transcript and course syllabus to the University of Miami for transfer credit evaluation.
  • A student must submit these college transcripts with final grades for review by the end of their first semester of enrollment at UM. Any documents submitted after this time will not be reviewed and credit hours will not be awarded.
     

Miami Academic Transfer Equivalency System (MATES)

The University of Miami has a transfer course database* where undergraduate students can search for currently approved transfer courses or submit transfer courses from another institution for review by UM faculty. Students may not go to individual schools or departments with a transfer request; all requests must be submitted through the transfer course database regardless of whether a student is looking for pre-approval for a future course or post-approval after a course has been taken.

Undergraduate students interested in taking courses at other institutions must complete the Transfer Credit Evaluation Process for transfer credit to be accepted by the University of Miami. Students are responsible for consulting with their academic advisor/Dean’s office to discuss their plans to transfer credit and to request information on specific policies and procedures regarding transfer.

This process will:

  • ensure that a uniform process is followed for accepting outside work toward a UM degree.
  • ensure that the student is aware of and follows all policies and procedures.
  • confirm that courses taken at the outside institution will transfer back to UM correctly.
  • ensure that decisions to award credit for transfer work are made only by qualified faculty.

If a student is requesting pre-approval for a future course at another institution, the request to take a course at another institution should be submitted during the semester prior to taking the course or courses. This is to ensure enough time for the request(s) to go through the evaluation process.

Once the course(s) has been completed, the student must submit an official transcript to the University of Miami within one semester of completing the course. Requests received after this timeline may be rejected**.

*The transfer database will be reviewed and updated each summer. Dates in the database are good from August 1 to July 31 each academic year.

**The University of Miami reserves the right to reject applications for transfer credit for courses taken without pre-approval.

How Transfer Credits Are Posted

There are 3 outcomes for transfer credit requests:

  1. A course is approved as an equivalent for a numbered course at UM (“equivalencies”); these may count toward a major, minor, or cognate, or which serve to fulfill General Education proficiency requirements. They will count toward the completion of a degree.
  2. A course is approved for general credit only (“elective credit”); these courses may only count as elective credit toward the total credits for a degree.

  3. A course is not approved and will not be accepted for credit nor posted to the transcript.

All courses that have been accepted from another institution as either an equivalency or for elective credit are considered transfer credits.

Transfer credits may not be used to meet the last 45 credits in residency requirement.

Domestic institutions utilizing a semester calendar-approved transfer credits will mirror the number of credits awarded by the institution. For example, an accepted course originally awarded a 4-credit course will receive 4 transfer credits at UM.

International credits and/or half or quarter-semester credits from any institution, including domestic universities and colleges, may not be awarded full units of UM transfer credit. For example, a course earning 5 European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits, if approved, is awarded 2.5 transfer credits at UM. Similarly, a 4-credit course taken at a domestic institution on a “quarter” system may only be approved for 2.67 hours of UM transfer credit. Students may confirm the number of credits posted via CaneLink. As the University of Miami does not recognize partial credit, a transfer course that is not awarded a whole credit, e.g., 2.67 credits, will only count as 2 credits toward their degree total. Partial credits are always rounded down.

Transfer Credit from Institutions Abroad

  1. Courses taken through the UM Study Abroad program have a separate process and are considered UM courses. Please see the section on Study Abroad credits for more information.
     
  2. All transcripts from institutions outside of the United States must be evaluated by a National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) accredited evaluation service for a course-by-course evaluation and grade point average that is sent directly to the University of Miami.

Documents received from students or their proxies will not be considered for transfer credit.

Courses taken for transfer credit at study abroad programs, or other non-U.S. colleges or universities, that have an accredited U.S. institution as their “institution of record” are treated as U.S. institutions, assuming the transcript is issued by the domestic U.S. “institution of record” and are evaluated accordingly.

Specific Department Rules
 

COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES

  1. MATH: Calculus courses must have prior approval from the respective department to receive equivalencies.
  2. PHYSICS: Physics courses must have prior approval from the respective department to receive equivalents.

  3. Math, English, and history courses completed online will not be accepted without prior approval from the respective department chairperson.
     


MIAMI HERBERT BUSINESS SCHOOL

After being admitted to UM, students must complete all business coursework in residence, including coursework required by the Business Core and specific coursework for the business major and minor areas of specialization. 

  • Any appeal for an exception to this policy must be submitted in writing to the Office of Undergraduate Business Education, before completion of the course.
  • For students seeking to transfer to MHBS from another university, please see additional information here.
  • Additionally, please be aware that students must have earned a grade of "B" or better in MTH 161 (4 credit hours) or MTH 151 (5 credit hours) or MTH 140 and MTH 141 (8 credit hours) or UM equivalent credit on the UM transcript for MTH 171. Please refer to the University of Miami Department of Mathematics Transfer Equivalencies page for more detailed information concerning equivalent math course approval.