Undergraduate Prior Learning Credit Forms and Resources
The Prior Learning Undergraduate Portfolio is a collection of documentation proving acquired college-level learning from your non-college experiences, like work experience. Below are 8 steps to completing your portfolio.
Cover Letter
Although not required, please submit if you have specific information regarding your portfolio that you wish to point out.
Tabs I and II - Personal and Educational Information)
Academic History
- CMU History*
- Transfer Credit Evaluation Report*
- Transcripts from other institutions if you transferred in any credits.
- *These documents are available in your student account portal.
Tab III - Table of Contents
There are separate forms for Work, Training and Life Experiences Table of Contents. If you are not submitting for all of these experiences, please remove blank sheets before printing and scanning to send.
- Tab III-1 Work Experiences: You are only going to list the work experiences that you are using for competencies. If you have a work experience that you are not using, it does not need to be listed here. List in reverse chronological order with your most recent first.
- Tab III-2 Training Experiences: List your training experiences that you are submitting for consideration in reverse chronological order, i.e., the most recent experience first, then the next most recent, and so forth.
- For each course, workshop, or seminar, indicate whether you have included (1) an outline or class description; (2) information on instructor’s credentials; (3) verification of completion; (4) specific documentation of in-class and out-of-class hours. Do not submit training experiences that are not or cannot be specifically documented by a source other than you or a relative.
- If you are submitting courses listed as No Credit on your Transfer Credit Evaluation Report, you just need to list the course name, date, sponsor (school) and number of credit hours.
- Tab III-3 Life Experiences: List your life experiences in reverse chronological order, i.e., the most recent experience first, then the next most recent, and so forth. Do not submit life experiences that are not or cannot be specifically documented by a source other than you or a relative.
Tab IV - Work Experiences
This will be completed for each job or position. The work experience tab consists of four parts:
- Cover Sheet – with job/position-specific information (company name, dates, contact name of supervisor or other colleague)
- Part A – Job Description list your roles and duties for the position. This can be listed in bullet points or paragraph
- Part B – your Competency Assessment(s) Depending on the number of credits you can earn for the position, (reference the Easy Reference Guide for Determining Number of Potential Credits) you may have from 1 to 5 competencies per position. You will complete a form for each competency you request. These are fillable forms that have font and size already determined – do not change them. Each form has two fillable pages to use for the 750 – 1,000-word assessment of that competency.
- Part C -Documentation – following the last competency for each job/position, you will include your documentation of your work. The evaluators will need verification from a supervisor, manager, or colleague that can verify that you were in that job/position during the dates you indicated in your information. If you cannot obtain those, please contact the Prior Learning Coordinator. Do not include more than is necessary here – the evaluators do not need performance evaluations, documents you created on the job, or multiple items included.
Tab V - Training Experiences
This will be completed for each course or training experience
- Accredited university – If you receive “No Credit” on your CMU TCE, you will submit the transcript from the accredited university and the CMU TCE. Highlight the No Credit courses with on both documents.
- Non-accredited and other training - include your written assessment(s) of the training(s) and what you learned (see Reference Guide for hour requirements for credit). You should also include the syllabus and/or documentation of training (transcript, certificate etc.)