Here at the College of Arts and Sciences Study Abroad Office, we want to equip our Academic Advisors and Subject Matter Experts with the resources necessary to support our students in all parts of their academic adventure abroad.
Initial Program Exploration
Our office encourages students to start planning for a program abroad at least one year ahead of a program’s start date. For example, if a student wants to study abroad in Fall 2026, then they should begin searching for a program and talking with their academic advisor by Fall 2025.
While this is not a hard deadline, students that decide to go abroad with less planning time may encounter more obstacles along the way. This means that like us in the College of Arts and Sciences Study Abroad Office, Academic Advisors can anticipate connecting with students early on in their study abroad process. On Education Abroad’s Program Portal, each program’s application prompts students to talk to their Academic Advisors as part of their eligibility requirements.
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For affiliate provider programs, students must allot 1 – 4 months after the program for the transcript process. Therefore, participating in these experiences during a student’s final semester to fulfill any remaining degree requirements is not permitted. For exchange programs, students are not permitted to participate in their final semester. This guidance is from the university-wide Education Abroad office.
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The College of Arts and Sciences Study Abroad Office strongly discourages any program for transfer credit within one year of a student’s graduation date. We don’t have control over when transcripts return from host institutions, nor how long Texas A&M Admissions takes to process the credits, but it can take 4 months after program completion.
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If, for example, a student studies abroad in a program for transfer credit during the Fall semester of their Senior year, they may not receive their transcript until late April or May, pushing their graduation into the Summer. Some students still take this risk, but we highly recommend they study abroad earlier, or choose a different program that does not involve transfer credit.
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Some resources for consideration when having an initial conversation with a student looking to go abroad include our Suggested Timeline and Education Abroad’s Program Comparison Chart. Students at this stage in the planning process may know the exact program they want to go on, but many of them may not have a clue. These resources, in addition to reviewing the student’s degree plan with them, should help students to identify a few program options and which term(s) abroad will make the most sense for them. If a student has no idea where to start in terms of program research, feel free to send them to the College of Arts and Sciences Study Abroad Office! We’ll equip them with the information necessary to have a more productive conversation with you about what may work for their degree.
Pre-Approval for Transfer Credit Form (PAFTC) Process
If a student is going on a program that involves transfer credit, whether an Exchange, Affiliate Provider Program, or Independent Experience for Transfer Credit, they must complete the Pre-Approval for Transfer Credit (PAFTC) form prior to departure. We strongly encourage students have this complete at least one term ahead of their program so that when it is time for them to register for these classes, they are empowered to select options that have already been approved. For example, a student that commits to a program abroad for Summer 2025 should have their form completed by the end of Fall 2024.
Encourage students to ensure that a program has a wide range of courses that could potentially work within their degree plan. We recommend students get double the courses they plan to take abroad approved for transfer credit.
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For example, most summer programs are 2 courses (6 credits), but we would encourage a student to try to get at least 4 courses (12 credits) approved. If a student is doing an exchange program for a full semester, we encourage them to get at least 8 courses (24 credits) approved. This helps mitigate any issues that may arise during the registration process (e.g. schedule clashes, enrollment caps, prerequisites, etc.), just like here at A&M. In Europe/UK, course schedules aren’t solidified until much closer to the term’s beginning (or even when the term starts), so a student may not find out about an issue until a few weeks before departure or even when they get to campus. It is always better to already have back-ups in place than to re-start the form for new courses.
To help ensure students get their forms completed on time, we ask that Subject Matter Experts review and return their portion of the form within 5 business days and that Academic Advisors also complete their portion of the form within 3 business days when it is passed onto them. To support you, our team has created the following guides and resources:
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Pre-Approval for Transfer Credit Process for Advisors Guide
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This guide gives assistance on the form section that only the Academic Advisor should fill out. It also highlights when it is appropriate to sign off on the form, which is when all other sections have been completed appropriately. If a form is sent to our office with blanks but has been signed by an advisor, we must return it to the signing advisor to complete the missing pieces and re-sign.
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College of Arts and Sciences Pre-Approval for Transfer Credit (PAFTC) One Pager for Students
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Students receive this guide several times and it can be used to redirect students when they have not followed instructions. For example, if they have not included the syllabi for the courses listed on their form or have reached out to their Academic Advisor for their signature prior to collecting all Subject Matter Expert signatures.
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College of Arts and Sciences Subject Matter Expert (SME) List (as of October 2024)
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Subject Matter Experts and Academic Advisors can use this guide to direct students to the appropriate Subject Matter Expert for a course or redirect students who may have submitted their form to the wrong Subject Matter Expert. For example, this is useful in a situation where the Subject Matter Expert in your department determines that the proposed course does not fall within their subject matter area but believes that a counterpart in another department may be able to correlate the course to a course within their department instead. You can send this list to the student and/or let them know where to go next.
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Course Registration, Degree Adjustment & Course Changes While Abroad
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Each program type has a different registration process that is facilitated by Education Abroad (not the Arts and Sciences Study Abroad Office).
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When a student completes their program, Advisors will sometimes need to complete Degree Adjustments to finalize the placement of the transfer credits in the student’s degree plan after the host institution’s transcript is received by A&M (this can take 1-4 months after a program is completed). If you have a student who encounters issues with transfer credits not adjusting as intended after a program, please redirect them to us at artsci-studyabroad@tamu.edu. We will be able to connect them to the right offices at the university for assistance.
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Students making changes to their course schedule while abroad should be directed to Education Abroad’s office for reflection in their Howdy Portal by emailing tcabroad@tamu.edu. We always want students to be aware that dropping courses to below full-time status (12 hours in the Spring/Fall or 6 hours in the Summer) on a study abroad program may impact their financial aid and scholarships eligibility. We encourage them to reach out to Aggie One Stop before making those decisions.