Credits

The normal summer program of study consists of two one-unit courses in Vermont and one two-unit courses at Monterey and Oxford, where roughly half of the course is devoted to independent research.

In order to count towards a Bread Loaf master’s degree, all credits must have been earned within 10 years of a student’s initial enrollment at Bread Loaf.

MA candidates must earn a grade of B- or better, and MLitt candidates must earn a grade of B or better, in order to receive course credit. Credits earned at the Bread Loaf School of English are generally transferable to other graduate institutions.

Transfer Credits

Up to two units (the equivalent of up to six semester hours or nine quarter hours) of graduate credit may be transferred from other accredited institutions to count toward the Bread Loaf MA or MLitt degree. Transfer course credits cannot be counted for degree credit elsewhere and must be of a grade of B or better. Transfer credits cannot count toward a Bread Loaf degree after 10 years have elapsed since the course was taken.

Each course must be approved for transfer by Bread Loaf, preferably before the work is done. You should send all requests and supporting materials to the Bread Loaf office at blse@middlebury.edu. Please do not write the director with course transfer requests.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we temporarily accepted online courses for transfer credit to BLSE while academic institutions suspended in-person options during spring 2020, summer 2020, fall 2020, spring 2021, summer 2021, and fall 2021. This exception was not retroactive. Please also see Bread Loaf’s Directed Research and Writing program for remote credit options.  

Transfer Guidelines and Forms

Download detailed transfer guidelines.

Download the credit transfer form.

Auditing

Members of the Bread Loaf community may audit courses at our main campus in Vermont. The following conditions and fees apply.

• Auditing is not permitted in any Group 1 (Writing, Pedagogy, and Literacy) or Group 6 (Theater Arts) courses.
• Enrolled Bread Loaf students may audit courses free-of-charge with the permission of the faculty member. To get approval to audit, students should contact the relevant faculty member during the first week of the Bread Loaf Vermont session, before the first meeting of the class.
• Bread Loaf staff may audit courses free-of-charge with the permission of the Bread Loaf dean or director and the relevant faculty member. Approval from the dean/director (which may be requested in advance of the session) will depend on whether the auditing will interfere with job performance. Staff should seek approval from faculty during the first week of the session (before the first class meeting) only after they’ve gotten approval from the dean/director.
• Bread Loaf alums and partners of enrolled BLSE students may audit courses at a cost (per course) of half the per course tuition. They will need to get permission from the BLSE dean or director and from the course faculty once the session begins.
• In all cases, faculty set the terms of the auditing experience, which may include a commitment to complete all the course reading, to attend every class, to participate fully in class discussions and other classwork, et al.
• Participants do not get credit for auditing courses, and audited courses are not recorded on Middlebury transcript.