Transfer Credit and Early Enrollment (Program Overlap) Policies
Transfer Credit
Students may propose that appropriate courses taken elsewhere be transferred for credit at IU.
Courses to be transferred must have been taken for graduate credit at an accredited institution. Each course to be transferred must be equivalent to a course offered at Indiana University and must have been completed no more than 10 years prior to matriculation (7 years for master's students). Transfer is approved by the department in which the equivalent course is offered and by the director of graduate studies. Departmental practices vary; an interview or examination may be required.
Lessons, chamber music, ensemble, and similar courses may not be transferred, nor may transfer courses satisfy entrance proficiencies in music history and literature or music theory. Review courses may not be transferred.
It is not possible to transfer a course that has been used to fulfill a requirement of a completed degree.
MM, MME, and MS students may transfer up to 6 credit hours; MA students may transfer up to 8 credit hours. Doctoral students may transfer up to 30 credit hours. No course may be transferred unless the grade is B or higher.
No transfer of credit is accepted toward the requirements of any diploma program, nor for a doctoral minor in music.
How to propose a transfer
Please make an appointment to speak with the Graduate Academic Advisor if you are considering asking to transfer a course. You will need:
- Information about the course: when and where you took it, who taught it, and what IU requirement you hope to use it for. The Graduate Academic Advisor will fill out an appropriate form with you when you meet.
- A syllabus for the course.
- All the written work for the course, including quizzes, exams, papers, report outlines and so on.
- An official transcript showing the course and the grade you received.
Music Bibliography
If you have taken Music Bibliography at another university and believe that the course was equivalent to MUS-M 539 Music Bibliography, follow the procedure listed above. It is possible to have a Bibliography course taken at another institution fulfill the Music Bibliography tool subject requirement at IU even if the course was taken toward a degree requirement of a completed degree. For a Music Bibliography waiver request, it is not necessary to make an appointment with the Graduate Academic Advisor. You can drop off your coursework in the Music Graduate Office during normal office hours. If you submitted an official transcript for your admission to IU that includes the final grade for that class, then you do not need to bring another copy of your official transcript.
Languages (grammar requirement)
If your degree requires the grammar of one or more foreign languages, and you took the language(s) in question at another university, you may potentially be able to have that particular language requirement waived.
You will need to submit an official transcript that shows that you took the language for the appropriate number of semesters with grades of "C" or better (please note that a grade of "C-" does not fulfill the requirement). The transcript needs to include the title of the course, the number of credit hours taken, and a letter grade of "C" or better. Courses taken for Pass/Fail grades, courses taken as an auditor, or transcripts that do not include the title of the course will not be accepted. The title of the course needs to be clearly (according to the judgement of the director of graduate studies) a foreign language grammar course and not "culture" or "reading knowledge" or "translation."
Please note that if you need "one year" of a language and you took the language courses at a school with a quarter system, you need to take three quarters.
Please make an appointment to speak with the Graduate Academic Advisor if you are considering trying to have a language waived based on work you did at another university. (Note that a formal transfer of credit is not necessary.) Courses taken more than 10 years ago (for doctoral students) or 7 year ago (for master's students) cannot be used.
If a course is not listed in the transcript in a way that allows the music graduate office to accept the transcript to fulfill the requirement, you can choose to take the MFYLE or use another method to fulfill the requirement.
Early Enrollment (Overlap)
Graduate students in their final semester of coursework for a degree or diploma program may be eligible to use courses taken that semester toward a new program. Students changing to a new program without completing the first (e.g., moving from a PDSP to an MM) may also be eligible to use coursework from their final semester of enrollment in the old program toward the new program. Note that coursework used to satisfy graduation requirements of one program may not be used to satisfy graduation requirements for a subsequent program.
General Guidelines
- Early enrollment is restricted to coursework taken only in the semester immediately preceding enrollment in the new program. Courses taken more than one semester prior to the start of a new program are never eligible.
- Students who wish to propose early enrollment should submit a petition at the beginning of the semester before matriculation in the new program (i.e., during the early enrollment semester)
- All petitions are subject to the approval of the director of graduate studies
- Early enrollment, if approved, is contingent on the student's acceptance into the new program
- Students changing programs are strongly encouraged to determine how their plans affect their financial aid eligibility by consulting with the Music Admissions and Financial Aid office (for any type of music financial aid), the Office of Student Financial Assistance (for federal loans and grants), and/or any other financial aid offices
Additional restrictions
Students moving from a diploma program (PDSP, PDOS, PDCM, or AD) to a degree (master's or doctoral) program
- Lessons, chamber music, recitals, and ensemble are not eligible for early enrollment
- MUS-F 519/419 Orchestral repertoire taken as a PDOS student is not eligible for early enrollment
- MUS-M 669 Seminar in String Quartet Literature taken as a PDCM student is not eligible for early enrollment
- Courses taken while a student is ineligible for the new program (e.g., because the student does not have the required TOEFL score for the new degree prior to the semester in which the course is taken) are not eligible for early enrollment
Students moving from one diploma program (PDSP, PDOS, PDCM, AD) to another diploma program
- Except as noted below, early enrollment is not permitted
- If a PDSP, PDOS, or PDCM student is admitted to the AD program, the student may count all coursework in the semester in which the student is fully admitted to the AD program toward the PDSP, PDOS, or PDCM (e.g., if the student plans to complete the PDSP, PDOS, or PDCM that semester and begin the AD in the following semester) or toward the AD (e.g., if the student plans to abandon the PDSP, PDOS, or PDCM in favor of the AD). The coursework may not be split between the programs.
- PDSP and PDCM recitals cannot be counted toward the AD or vice-versa
Students moving from a master's degree program to a diploma program (PDSP, PDOS, PDCM, AD)
- Review courses, lessons, chamber music, recitals, and ensemble are not eligible for early enrollment
- MUS-F 519/419 Orchestral repertoire is not eligible for early enrollment for the PDOS program
- MUS-M 669 Seminar in String Quartet Literature is not eligible for early enrollment for the PDCM program
- Students who have no more than 3 credits of academic requirements remaining to complete their master's program may enroll in the diploma program, provided they enroll in 10 credits as required for diploma students in addition to their remaining master's credits.
Students moving from a master's to a doctoral degree
- Recitals and ensemble are not eligible for early enrollment
- Courses taken while a student is ineligible for the new program (e.g., because the student does not have the required TOEFL score for the new degree prior to the semester in which the course is taken) are not eligible for early enrollment.