美国、加拿大、澳洲转学分课程描述
本文由夫子课描执笔外教老师Norah Andrews用英文撰写，文后有中文译文：
Undergraduate credit transfer (including the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and more) has become a popular trend in recent years for studying abroad. Many students, for various reasons, such as missing the opportunity to attend an overseas university directly after high school or being disappointed with domestic undergraduate education, hope to transfer to an overseas university while minimizing the waste of credits earned domestically. Additionally, some students who have completed their undergraduate degrees may wish to pursue a second degree at an overseas university (e.g., in Canada, computer science or accounting majors). Transferring from a domestic to an overseas university during undergraduate studies provides these students with the possibility. Compared to attending an overseas university directly after high school, transferring during university can save a significant amount of expensive tuition fees, which is an appealing aspect of this trend.
Discussing undergraduate credit transfers could take tens of thousands of words, as the academic standards in North America and Australia are much more rigorous than those in China. Attempting to interpret American credit transfers using shortcuts common in China is not serious. After all, when an overseas university accepts your transferred credits, they are responsible for your education. They must be able to stand by the knowledge you have gained when they issue your degree certificate. This is why some students bring a simple English course description written by an agent to teachers and wonder why their transfer credit requests are rejected or only a few scattered credits are transferred. It is actually quite clear: a reputable North American or Australian university cannot waive your course credit (and the associated 3000 foreign currency tuition fee) based on such a simple and rudimentary course description. Therefore, to transfer credits to an overseas university, not only should the course description be well-written and comprehensive, but your attitude towards the transfer process should also be serious, as foreign universities will take you seriously.
The most important aspect of transferring credits to an overseas university is not the personal statement (PS), letters of recommendation (RL) from professors or supervisors, or an impressive CV. Believe me, the academic advisor reviewing your application will not spend more than 25 seconds on these materials (imagine yourself as a reviewer with 200 students’ PS, RL, and CV to read daily; the way you skim through them is how American university reviewers will read your materials). What truly determines your transfer outcome is your English course description/syllabus. A high-quality course description that meets the requirements of American universities for credit transfers should contain many elements to support each course, allowing overseas university professors to understand your knowledge structure in China at a glance. For more information on the specific elements required in a course description, you can refer to the promotional materials provided by some institutions that specialize in assisting with course descriptions for credit transfers.
Many students ask whether they should translate the Chinese course descriptions provided by Chinese universities. This question has been asked countless times, or rather, it’s not a question at all, as students often assume that they must translate the Chinese course descriptions directly. Regardless of whether this should be done, very few Chinese universities can directly provide a complete set of Chinese course descriptions (even top-tier universities such as Tsinghua and Peking University often have students requiring assistance with course descriptions), and even fewer can provide them in English. Even when they are available, they often fall short of the requirements of overseas universities.
It is important to dispel this misconception. Chinese universities do not always produce the best materials. Why? Because, frankly speaking, the people who write these materials in Chinese universities are not always focused on academics when they write them. Often, they are asked by a dean to write a course description to be posted online, or to be used for evaluation or ranking purposes unrelated to academics. Relying on these materials directly would be a joke, considering the countless errors in the English translations.
Moreover, directly translating domestic materials is not advisable. We must understand that the purpose of submitting course descriptions is to gain approval from overseas universities for the content learned in domestic universities, which will then allow the transfer of credits. However, the content studied in domestic universities often differs from that in overseas universities, and sometimes may not be comprehensive enough. If you directly use the translated course descriptions, it can be difficult for the credits to be approved by overseas universities. This is why it’s essential to refer to the course structure and content of overseas universities when preparing course descriptions and make substantial modifications to align them with the target overseas universities. This is what an English course description for credit transfer should encompass. Unfortunately, very few people in China can genuinely help students achieve this and maximize their transfer credits, either due to a lack of understanding or insufficient ability.
Suitable student groups for credit transfer:
- Current or graduated undergraduate students;
- Current or graduated junior college students;
- Students who wish to integrate into North American/Australian education as soon as possible and gain a competitive edge in future graduate school applications;
- Students who have long desired to study at an overseas university but lack the financial means to cover the entire four-year tuition.
Important points for English course description preparation:
In the 120-credit, four-year curriculum of American and Canadian universities, General Education is included. All students, regardless of their major, must study foundational courses, such as humanities, history, psychology, biology, engineering, etc. Therefore, when preparing course descriptions for credit transfer, students should not solely focus on writing major-related course descriptions (e.g., accounting students only writing course descriptions for accounting courses and ignoring foundational courses like computer applications and humanities). Foundational courses can often result in a high number of transferred credits, as demonstrated by students who have used professional services for course description preparation.
译文由夫子老师翻译整理如下：
本科转学分（包括美国、加拿大、澳大利亚、新西兰等）。是近些年流行起来的一个留学的新趋势。很多同学因为种种原因，例如错过了高考后直接入读海外大学的机会，或是对于国内本科教育比较失望，在读了一短时间后希望能转入海外大学同时尽量少的浪费国内已修学分，以及一些本科毕业希望修读海外大学第二学位的同学（例如加拿大的计算机，会计类专业二学位）。而本科国内转学至海外大学则为他们提供了这种可能性。相比高中即直接入读海外大学，大学阶段的转学反而更是节省了一大笔昂贵的海外大学学费，这也是其吸引人的地方。
其实说起本科转学，真的要细细说来，可能要写到几万字。因为北美或是澳洲的学术毕竟还是比国内严谨很多，如果想用国内的一些取巧的办法来解读美国转学分，其实是很不严肃的。毕竟转学分过去就意味着接收你的海外大学要对你负责任，既然承认了你的学分，那么未来在发给你学位证书的时候，他是要对你的所学负责的。这也是为什么常常有同学拿着一份中介給写的很简单的英文课程描述找到夫子，说不明白为什么提交上去后被大学把转学分的要求给拒绝了，或者只转了零星的几个学分。其实这个真的不用多解释，一所像样的北美/澳洲大学怎么能够靠你提供的一份如此简单甚至可以说是简易的课程描述（往往每门课只有几句话、小半页纸），就给你免掉学分呢。如果你每门课的课程描述就是几句话，大学就免掉你这门课3000外币的学费，这确实有些不切实际了就。所以，想转学分到海外大学，不光是课程描述要写的很规矩很充实，对于转学这件事的态度也要很端正很认真，因为国外的大学对你会很认真。
然后我想说，转学分到海外大学什么最重要—-不是个人陈述PS，不是导师或者上司的推荐信RL，不是华丽丽的个人简历CV。请相信我，你的评审官（Academic Advisor）在看这些材料的时候不会超过25秒。（好比你是评审官，每天有200个同学给你PS、RL和CV让你读，你扫读的样子就是美国大学评审官读你材料的样子）。真正决定你转学结果的，只有你的英文课程描述（English Course Description/Syllabus 这两个怎么叫都可以）。一份符合美国大学转学要求的优质的课程描述，需要包含很多元素在内，才足以支撑一门课，让海外大学的教授一看便能了解你在国内的知识结构。具体课程描述包含的要素，可以稍微看一下夫子课描的宣传片中的介绍，比较靠后的段落已经提到了。
很多同学问：课程描述这么重要的材料是不是要翻译中国大学的中文课程描述呢？
夫子想说，这个问题已经被同学问过千百遍了，或者说这不是问题，同学脑中的固定模式就是要照直翻译国内大学的中文课程描述。暂且不说该不该翻译，首先夫子团队做了这么多年的转学分课程描述，真正碰到的能直接出具一套中文课程描述的中国大学，真的是少之又少（清华、北大也经常有同学来夫子这里制作课程描述），而能出具英文的，几乎就没有碰到过。即使真的有幸看到了，样式也是与海外大学要求的差之千里。
夫子一定要为同学扫掉这个误区。不是中国大学出的就是最好的。为什么？因为恕我直言，大学里真正写这些材料的人其实写这些材料的时候也并不是真的为了学术而写这些材料，往往是院长说某某老师，你把这个写一下，我要挂到网上，或者写出来摆一下做个评估评比等此类和学术毫无关联的事情，在看那些错误百出的英文，直接拿来用是要闹笑话的。有的老师教书都只会念课本，谈何让他写英文的教学大纲，而他自己都不能写，大学里又能指望谁来写。不是说这些中国大学的课程描述不能满足转学的要求，而应该说它们很多时候连最基本的学术要求都达不到。其次，照直翻译国内的材料并不可取。我们要明确，自己要做的是转学。而提交课程描述的目的就是为了要获得海外大学对于国内学习内容的认可，从而认可后把国内的学分转出去。但是国内大学很多时候学习的内容和海外大学还是有一定脱节的，或者说内容不够全面，真的照直写，很多时候学分是很难被海外大学认可的。这就是为什么课程描述制作的时候一定要多参阅海外大学的课程设置和课程内容，对于现有的课程描述做大幅修改，尽量贴近海外目标大学的内容。这才是转学分英文课程描述所应该具备的。很可惜，国内真正能为同学做到这些以达到转学分最大化的人很少，要么是不了解，要么是尽管略知一二但能力不够。
转学分适合学生群体：
1.在读或已毕业本科学生；
2.在读或已毕业专科学生；
3.想尽早融入北美/澳洲教育，在未来申请研究生中增加更多竞争筹码的学生；
4.向往海外大学已久，但财力不足以支付4年全部学费的学生。
英文课程描述制作注意事项：
美国和加拿大大学的全部4年120学分中包含了General Education(通识教育)，所有学生无论任何专业，均需学习基础课程，包括人文、历史、心理、生物、工程等等，因此在转学过程中，不应只关注专业课程的课程描述写作（例如，会计专业的同学，在制作课程描述过程中只写与会计课程相关的课程，而不写基础课程如计算机应用以及人文课程等）。基础课程在转学分的过程中往往可以转出很高的学分，这已经在我们曾经服务过的同学中得以体现。
