UNM Computer Science

Advanced Placement Transfer credit

Advanced Placement

The department subscribes to the general policy of the School of Engineering with regard to advanced placement credit earned by examination.

Because computer science programs vary greatly, students transferring from other institutions should not assume that computer science courses they have taken elsewhere can be applied toward the 43 hour computer science course work graduation requirement.

Courses not accepted toward the 43 hours may be applied toward the 130 semester hour graduation requirement as general electives at the discretion of the undergraduate advisor.

When necessary, the transferring student may elect to informally challenge the appropriate courses to demonstrate equivalent knowledge. Exceptions are made for students with a significant amount of work in computer science. In such cases, Computer Science course equivalency of transfer credits will be determined on an individual basis and normally without challenge exams.

Students wishing to receive substantial credit for course work taken at other institutions should be aware that they must satisfy the residency criteria for a degree at UNM as well as the specific requirements for a degree in computer science. Students should also be aware that the evaluation of transfer credits may vary from department to department. Courses transferred by another department or the university as a whole may not apply toward the Computer Science degree. Final transfer credit evaluation is done by the department offering the degree.

The Computer Science Department usually does not accept vocational or associates degree courses in computer science since these courses are frequently based on a low level of mathematics preparation. However, the department advisor will attempt to place the student at the proper level in our curriculum.

Subsequent to successful course performance at UNM, transfer credits will be reevaluated. As a general rule, students who complete a course at UNM with a grade of C- or better will be awarded transfer credit for prerequisite courses taken at another university up to the lesser of the number of credits actually taken at other institutions and the number of credits established for the equivalent UNM courses for which credit is being granted. The department accepts credit toward the graduation requirements for advanced standing from high school or life experiences according to the following general rule, which is School of Engineering policy:

The department grants credit toward the degree for performance on nationally administered examinations only when specific course equivalency has been established by the university department associated with the subject matter of the course.

Under current university guidelines this means that the department accepts:

Subject CLEP and AP tests administered by CEEB: The department accepts an unlimited number of credits subject to their acceptance by the relevant department (see The University of New Mexico Catalog, p. 27).

English 101 and 102 will be waived if the student obtains:

1. An ACT score of 25 or higher (prior to October 1989)
2. an ACT score of 29 or higher (after October 1989)
3. an SAT score of 570 or higher (prior to April 1995) or
4. an SAT score of 650 or higher (after April 1995)

When a student is exempted from English 101 and 102, the student's total credit requirement is reduced to 128. All students must have at least 128 acceptable semester hours to receive a bachelors degree. Therefore, students exempted from English 101 and 102 may have to take additional hours to bring their total to at least 128.

Note that the department and the School of Engineering are considerably more restrictive than the University as a whole about acceptance of credit based on scores on the ACT and general CLEP.

Transfer Credit

Transfer credit is evaluated on a case-by-case basis. For more information, contact the .