Lighten up: A look at summer credit transfers

If you are like I am, you may have lately been heeding your parents’ daily reminders and scrolling through applications for summer classes. Studying during the summer is a valid and popular choice; many students plan to take the opportunity to do this study abroad. For many students, like athletes or B.S.E. students, studying abroad during the summer is far easier than leaving campus during the school year. Moreover, for those wishing to complete tricky distribution requirements or avoid five-course semesters, this is an ideal path to take.

Now, much to your (and your parents’) relief, you’ve found a great place for study and a topic that you love — say, economics in New York or art history in Florence. But between you and that “enroll” button stands an intimidating and discouraging path to receiving credit.

After meeting with a study abroad adviser, you must complete the “Approval Form of a Course Taken at Another Institution” and have your course pre-approved by the Office of International Programs and the appropriate departmental representative. But that pre-approval process entails requirements that are remarkably difficult to meet. Among other necessary criteria, your course must entail at least 30 contact hours spread over four weeks, can only satisfy LA, SA or ST distribution requirements (for A.B. students), cannot be an online course, must be similar in content to another course at Princeton and can only count as one of three or four credits (for A.B. and B.S.E. students respectively) taken outside the University. The list of requirements, mind-boggling and exhaustive in its entirety, goes on.

In a vacuum, these policies might not seem stringent. In practice, however, they create bizarre and often counter-intuitive situations that do more harm than good. Take, for instance, the very popular summer sessions at the London School of Economics. Each course has 36 contact hours spread over three weeks, with the high level of independent, outside-the-classroom work that characterizes a typical United Kingdom university.

Yet, even though the course runs six contact hours over the threshold for obtaining credit at Princeton, it squeezes its material into three weeks. The consequence is that it is rendered ineligible for credit. Instead, interested Princetonians must take two LSE sessions, adding up to a total of six weeks and 72 hours, for a single transferable credit. Such a problem is widespread, since a vast number of summer sessions, in the United States and abroad, are three or six weeks — not four.

If this array of guidelines and paperwork proves too much, the University points towards its esteemed Global Seminars program — courses taught by Princeton professors which are, in consequence, a far easier route towards course approval. Yet the spots for these Global Seminars are few and highly sought after, with generally only 12-15 spots available in each of the six seminars. An unsuccessful application will find you back at the drawing board.

This is not at all to fault the staff at Princeton’s Office of International Programs; in fact, they are friendly and helpful in the pursuit of credits abroad, and I highly recommend reaching out to them. Rather, I would posit that these arbitrary guidelines are one of many rigid stipulations set by the University when it comes to transfer credits.

Some such rules, such as the University’s disallowance of AP scores for credit, are not unusual. But others are quite strange. For instance, Princeton has historically been the only Ivy League institution to bar transfer students and, as a result, transfer credits from previous institutions. While this policy may change in 2018, it would not be surprising if the University were to remain tight-fisted with regards to transfer credits. The University also does not accept credits that are taken before a student is enrolled (i.e. during high school), even if the course runs the gamut of course guidelines.

One motivation for these University guidelines may be to fight against brand illusion and any diluting or cheapening of the Princeton diploma. In theory, these are not bad motives, and the Princeton name and diploma are indeed points of pride for alumni, faculty and staff. Yet we must acknowledge the drawbacks to such policies. Just as grade deflation increases anxiety about job prospects, stringent credit transferals can restrict students by allowing them to study in only the most familiar locations — those which have received Princeton’s accreditation. This might discourage students from traveling to unfamiliarlocations and defying the norm, or it may even discourage summer study abroad altogether.

This creates an unattractive image for Princeton, suggesting that the institution makes study abroad a secondary concern in order to protect its prestige and reputation. Moreover, by equating two creditsfrom another institutionto one Princeton credit, this policy might appear to represent an elitist perspective on Princeton’s behalf.

Studying abroad is a fantastic opportunity for cultivating a more global and open-minded education, and Princeton and OIP go to great lengths to endorse study abroad. However, the University would benefit from relaxing and simplifying its credit transfer process, for the convenience — and sanity — of its students.

Paul Kigawa is a freshman from New York, N.Y. He can be reached atpkigawa@princeton.edu.