There is no reason why credits from abroad should not transfer to schools in the USA. The student should work with the school to make sure it happens, and we can help too.
Procedures:
1) Students meet with their Guidance Counselor and create their study plan for which credits must be taken at the student’s school in the USA and which credits that the school will accept from abroad.
2) The student must make sure that the study plan is agreed upon and signed by their Guidance Counselor so that should that Counselor depart, they will have proof that the study plan was agreed upon prior to the student’s departure.
3) The student then structures his/her schedule to accommodate the classes that must be taken at the school in the USA.
4) Students should be sure that their host school knows that they will need documentation of their course work while abroad. This should be done within the first week of attending school, ideally at their first admissions meeting.
5) While abroad it is the student’s duty to keep records of what he/she studies. This is done by keeping the syllabus of each class, and by keeping all quizzes, tests, homework, and any official documentation that the school abroad might be able to give to the student.
While we will do what we can to assist them in planning, students are entirely responsible for arranging their academics prior to departure and while on program as we can not help them when they return.
Suggestions for obtaining academic credit for your AFS experience:
• Talk to your school guidance counselor prior to departure and ask about how to receive credit for courses taken abroad. Write down and save any agreement you come to about the transfer of credits.
• Take a current transcript of courses taken in your US school, along with course descriptions and grades received to your host country.
• Take classes abroad for which you might be given credit, such as math, science, history, art, English and your foreign language. (Just remember that in non-English speaking countries, English is taught as a second language. So, you will most likely learn grammar, not literature, in an English course abroad.) Most high schools will give all or partial credit for these types of classes if you do well in them. Some colleges may even give you credit for your foreign language skills. Click here to read more about the college advantage.
• Keep a record of your school year. Use the Academic Record Form to list all of your courses and write a detailed description, in English, of each class. Include all subject areas covered. You may also want to bring home samples of your work and add a profile sheet of your host high school, if one exists.
• Ask your teachers to write a letter about having you as a student in their class. They may choose to write it in their native language if they do not know English and you can translate the statement for your school.
• Bring all the papers home with you. Make sure that all this information is collected and in your possession before the school closes for vacation. Do not mail them or allow someone else to be responsible for getting these records.
• To get college credit for your “new” language, take the CLEP (College Level Exemplary Placement) test soon after returning home. All colleges offer this test or know where it is given. For a summer abroad program, you could earn up to 8 credit hours and for the year or semester abroad program you could earn up to 15 credit hours. This amount of credit will vary from college to college.
• It is your responsibility to ask for an official transcript from your host school. AFS cannot help you once you have returned home.