AP & Credit for Courses Taken Elsewhere

ADVANCED PLACEMENT CREDITS

Students who have achieved a score of 4 or 5 on an Advanced Placement (AP) exam in high school in French, Italian, or Spanish language or literature may receive one Wesleyan credit for either or for each once they have completed the appropriate course at Wesleyan in the corresponding language with a grade of B or better.

Students who have received a 4 or 5 on any AP French exam may request credit for the AP course once they have completed any course given in French numbered 215-399 with a grade of B or better.

Students who have received a 4 or 5 on the AP Italian Language and Italian Literature exam may request credit for the AP course once they have completed any course given in Italian numbered 221 or higher with a grade of B or better.

Students who have received a 4 or 5 on the AP Spanish Language exam may request credit for the AP course once they have completed any course given in Spanish numbered 221 or higher with a grade of B or better.

Students who have received a 4 or 5 on the AP Spanish Literature exam may request credit for the AP course once they have completed any course given in Spanish numbered 230 or higher with a grade of B or better.

A single Wesleyan course may NOT be used to validate two AP credits.

Students receiving a score of 3 or lower for their AP course(s) are not eligible for a credit toward their Wesleyan graduation.

Courses taken at other institutions and courses taught in English will not serve to validate AP credits.

A placement exam score cannot be used to “realize” an AP credit based on a 4 or 5 on the AP exam; the students actually have to take a course at or above the required level to “realize” the AP credit.

Advanced placement courses are considered lower than the lowest course that counts toward our department's majors.  Therefore credits granted for advanced placement courses count for Wesleyan graduation requirements but not for department majors.

UNIVERSITY AND MAJOR CREDIT FOR COURSES TAKEN AT ANOTHER UNIVERSITY OR COLLEGE / MAJOR CREDIT FOR TRANSFER STUDENTS

For non-majors seeking university credit for a course or courses not taken through the Wesleyan Bologna, Madrid, or Paris study abroad programs or through a Wesleyan pre-approved study abroad program (see the Wesleyan Fries Center for Global Studies website for the list of pre-approved programs).

For majors seeking major credit for a course or courses not taken through the Wesleyan Bologna, Madrid, or Paris study abroad programs or through a Wesleyan pre-approved study abroad program (see the Wesleyan Fries Center for Global Studies website for the list of pre-approved programs).

For transfer students to Wesleyan who wish to have courses taken at their previous institution count toward our majors. The Registrar’s Office decides university credit for transfer students.   

Our courses in French, Italian, or Spanish are designed to build on each other from the first semester to the most advanced seminar (as in other structured programs such as Biology, Economics, or Mathematics). The pace, level, number, and kind of assignments are carefully calibrated so that students will be adequately prepared to move on to the next level, without rehashing skills and kinds of knowledge already studied at Wesleyan. For that reason we ask students seeking Wesleyan credit for courses taken elsewhere to demonstrate they are indeed equivalent to our sequence. To understand what we mean by equivalence, you should look carefully at each of the questions outlined below and determine whether the amounts and kinds of work in each category are indeed equivalent in the Wesleyan course you would normally take and the corresponding course you would like credit for elsewhere. For Wesleyan courses, you can look at WesMaps or request a syllabus from the professor who is next scheduled to teach the course. You would need to supply the information (as outlined below) for the course you would like credit for elsewhere. Students advancing, for instance, from 112 or 113 would need to ensure the language topics reviewed, the number and kinds of readings, the number and kinds of papers and exams, oral presentations and other evaluations, and the number of class hours correspond to those in French 215 or Italian and Spanish 221 in a course the student is proposing to take at another university or college. As the form below indicates, a successful petition depends on carefully matching the demands of a course taken elsewhere with a Wesleyan department course.

For courses taken at another institution to be considered for credit, students must request approval IN ADVANCE OF THE COURSE, not after the course has been taken.

To be granted credit for courses taken at another institution, two applications must be submitted. The university form is available in the Dean's office. The department form can be downloaded by clicking here. (This form is also available in the Romance Languages & Literatures [RLL] office). Transfer students seeking major credit for courses taken at their previous institution need only fill out the RLL form. On the RLL form, the student will provide the following information:

  1. Exact title of the course, the name and location of the college/university, and, if possible, the instructor's name. A link to or an attachment of the course's on-line description or syllabus should also be provided:
  2. Number of weeks the course meets:
  3. Number of meetings per week:
  4. Length (in minutes or hours) of each class meeting:
  5. Conversation sections and/or number of hours of lab attendance required (if applicable):
  6. For elementary and intermediate courses (French, Italian, or Spanish 101-112 or the equivalent), the name and edition of textbooks and topics to be studied, and supplementary teaching materials (workbooks, videos, on-line resources, etc.):.
  7. For upper-level courses (French 215, Italian 221, or Spanish 221 and higher or the equivalent), the readings and topics to be studied:
  8. Basis for evaluation in the course: e.g., amount and type of written work; number of quizzes and exams; oral presentations; participation; etc.:

Transfer students wanting to apply previous credits recognized by the university to the major will need approval by the department. All other students applying for permission to transfer credit should know that, upon returning to Wesleyan, they will be required to submit to the Chair of the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures copies of all written work and exams and a final copy of the syllabus used in the course. For elementary and intermediate courses, they will also be required to take the Wesleyan language placement exam as proof of their having advanced to the next level. For courses equivalent to the first semester of an ampersand sequence (FREN 101 or 111; ITAL 101 or 111; SPAN 101 or 111) credit will be awarded only after the student has completed the second part of the sequence (FREN 102 or 112; ITAL 102 or 112; SPAN 102 or 112).

Once the student has completed the RL&L form, he/she should submit it to Sherri Condon (scondon@wesleyan.edu), Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, 300 High Street, Middletown, CT 06459.