While you might think that this problem is limited to transfers between the University of Maine and unaffiliated colleges either in-state or out, it is not! I can personally vouch for the disastrous experience that I've had getting courses transferred from WITHIN the University of Maine system (one campus to another). This Fall they implemented a new software system (Main Street) that has in effect fragmented their entire system. Each campus is treated as such a different entity that they might as well be from different countries. Though they push their online classes and cross-campus enrollment, they make it difficult in the least for a student to succeed in the program if for just the sheer volume of bureaucracy involved. If you make the mistake of taking online classes that aren't based out of the branch you're enrolled in, you don't receive GPA credit and the classes have to go through a transfer evaluation process to be placed on your record. That means that if you are trying to graduate sooner rather than later and you need a final history class to fulfill a degree requirement and you notice that they're advertising an online history class out of Fort Kent, yet your enrolled at UMA, it will be an act of Congress to get credit for that class. I've never seen such a fiasco in my life.
A good example of this would be is if Maine Medical Center decided to make each of their departments 'unique'. All staff in the ICU would speak Spanish, but all staff in NICU would speak German. Patients would no longer be allowed to simply transfer from one ward to another, even if it was medically necessary. If you were in the ICU and needed to get to a step-down unit, you'd be stuck there until you got legal permission from your lawyer and the hospitals, as well as each head nurse in each unit, the President of the United States and maybe even Barney.
ycatzz's Comments
While you might think that
While you might think that this problem is limited to transfers between the University of Maine and unaffiliated colleges either in-state or out, it is not! I can personally vouch for the disastrous experience that I've had getting courses transferred from WITHIN the University of Maine system (one campus to another). This Fall they implemented a new software system (Main Street) that has in effect fragmented their entire system. Each campus is treated as such a different entity that they might as well be from different countries. Though they push their online classes and cross-campus enrollment, they make it difficult in the least for a student to succeed in the program if for just the sheer volume of bureaucracy involved. If you make the mistake of taking online classes that aren't based out of the branch you're enrolled in, you don't receive GPA credit and the classes have to go through a transfer evaluation process to be placed on your record. That means that if you are trying to graduate sooner rather than later and you need a final history class to fulfill a degree requirement and you notice that they're advertising an online history class out of Fort Kent, yet your enrolled at UMA, it will be an act of Congress to get credit for that class. I've never seen such a fiasco in my life.
A good example of this would be is if Maine Medical Center decided to make each of their departments 'unique'. All staff in the ICU would speak Spanish, but all staff in NICU would speak German. Patients would no longer be allowed to simply transfer from one ward to another, even if it was medically necessary. If you were in the ICU and needed to get to a step-down unit, you'd be stuck there until you got legal permission from your lawyer and the hospitals, as well as each head nurse in each unit, the President of the United States and maybe even Barney.
Great Job University of Maine!