Getting Credit for Previous Work

[ShiningInShadows]

So now that I'm officially in, I'm trying to balance all the logistics of wrapping up projects at work, cutting my person budget by 80%, and moving to a new area with prepping for my program. One of the issues I have to tackle is getting syllabi from my Master's program which I finished back in 2008. Should I contact the departments secretary or the head of the department? There's been some major shake-ups in the faculty since I was there and I preferred to take classes with adjuncts in the first place so I'm worried about having to track down people for this.

 

I've been told thus far that I need to get the sylalbi but any other factors related to successfully getting credit for previous grad work would be appreciated.

[TakeruK]

It might not be enough, but most schools keep archives of old "Course Calendar" or "Course Catalogs" online. Find the year(s) you were in your program and look up both your masters requirements and the courses you took. Usually they are not so detailed as to provide a complete list of readings, assignments, etc. though. But I think contacting the department secretaries would work -- I'd imagine that profs have to file their course syllabi with the department! For others reading this thread, this is why it's very useful to keep a copy of the syllabus that was handed out / made available online!

 

At the schools I got into, they didn't really like to give credit for previous grad coursework (I also had a Masters before starting PhD). The most I got offered was the waiver of a "minor requirement" in my PhD, but at that school, this waiver would still put the total amount of coursework required above all the others! The most common thing I saw was that if I had a course in X before attending my PhD school, and if X is one of the core courses of the PhD program there, then I could get a waiver on X and take another elective (or a more advanced course on X) instead. That is, the total number of courses is not reduced, but I could get more freedom. They also gave me the option of retaking the course anyways to get a deeper understanding, which is what I'm doing.

 

At one other school, they actually told me there are zero required courses. The only requirement is the ability to pass the comprehensive exams, and while most students take them after Year 2 (courses are offered every other year, so this is one full cycle of the courses), I could challenge the exam after Year 1 and be done with courses early. That option didn't work out for me since the courses that I had taken in my Masters were the ones being offered in what would be my first year there, so I would still be missing half the courses when it's time to challenge the exam!

[tie]

I am in a somewhat similar position. I finished my master's about 10 years ago and decided to go for the PhD. Since it had been so long since I was in school, I took a couple of graduate classes at a local university. It gave me some good LOR writers and helped me realize that I really did want to go for the PhD. When I was visiting the PhD school I will attend this fall, the POI told me I had to have copies of the syllabus and they would transfer in classes, but there was a limit to how many they can transfer. But he preached that they need the syllabus to make sure the work was on par with their program.

That being said, I would try to get copies of the syllabus.