@myloves- here are things I have seen from my experience as a teacher in OH. I do not pretend to be an expert on any/all scenarios. My school (ranked 6t in the state last year) offers some college credit plus- which are classes taught at the HS and credit if offered through a local community college. Those are accepted In state- very difficult to transfer out of state. There are also classes offered online- some students do them during a free period at school, others outside of school, some of those are quite rigorous and transferable (my own D did one through northwestern) it depends on what you took and from whom - caveat emptor. DE Courses done AT local CCs and/or via regional Us are fine instate, but are a struggle the further you go. Example- a number of my students do courses via Cleveland State or Kent State- both “real” accredited universities. The valedictorian of this year’s class spent his last 2 years taking classes at Kent - but very few of them would transfer to his most competitive acceptances (Vanderbilt and Wake Forrest) - he ended up picking OSU (where he got terrific $$). As I understand it - the “most competitive” colleges- Ivy etc all- will not accept either AP or DE credit… BUT the qualified candidates are still expected to have those on their applications- again, it’s a question of rigor.
@bfahopeful - lots of HSs encourage DE B/c it can be cheaper (and simpler) for them- still be careful out of state. Even large state universities don’t always work- for the same reasons that if you switch colleges not all of your credits transfer.
Again, I “like” AP best b/c it is a national system (though FAR from perfect) - therefore the “most” schools will accept it b/c it is apples to apples- everyone took the SAME test- and was scored in a controlled atmosphere. Therefore, it has the widest spread. Fair warning however, many competitive schools (like NYU) only take 4/5, not 3s
All good info. Thx @toowonderful
Luckily the college courses did transfer across the country as did AP credits for my daughter.
I think the college courses she took were not truly DE. They are offered through a joint program with the school system and the university. We paid for them -more expensive than AP but cheaper than enrolling as a college student.
I agree that the more competitive the college is the less likely they are to accept the transfer credits or AP credits or IB credits. Best to check with each college if that is your end goal. As @toowonderful mentioned these same
Colleges may not accept the credit but want to see that students took such courses to challenge themselves.
My daughter did DE her senior year of HS taking all her classes at a community college here in the NW. Luckily CCU took all of her credits and allowed her to petition credits taken to fufill her college Core requirements. They accepted all the petitions and she only has 2 core classes left to take out of an original 13 required Core classes. SUPER happy about that! Anyway, people might look into whether or not the university you choose has a petition option when trying to get cc/de credits accepted.
If we had to do it over again, my D would have taken no AP classes. They hurt her more than helped her. She would have done more dual enrollment. As it was she came into her college with 17 credits, included both English requirements, music theory and math. Of course, she didn’t apply to any truly rigorous academic schools, but she would have done better gradewise in straight classes than in her AP classes which would have given her a higher GPA and better merit scholarships. Just another view point.
My D has 7 APs under her belt-earned As in all. If there were any question as to whether she could earn the A (say, in Math) I/we would have encouraged her to take the Honors or Gen-Ed track. Rigor is great: But it’s a life skill to understand one’s strengths and weaknesses. We can’t all be great at every subject. And I agree with @bfahopeful : It would probably be beneficial to expend some academic resources ($ & brain cells) on test prep.
I don’t think there’s a “right answer” here, just a lot of perspectives! This is mine: Our oldest child (not a performer) took lots of AP classes, had a decent GPA (not super-high), did really well on the ACT, and got a full ride to a college in state that knew about our academically challenging high school.
2nd child, MT D who just graduated from college, took English/History AP classes, no math/science, but made B’s in some, as well as in some of the higher level non-AP math/science classes she took to get an “Advanced with Honors Diploma.” BIG NOTE: PHYSICS AS A SENIOR TO GET AN ADVANCED WITH HONORS DIPLOMA WHEN YOU DO NOT LIKE MATH IS A REALLY BAD IDEA! LOL - the physics tutor still remembers her! She also had high ACT/SAT scores, but because many schools she applied to took unweighted GPAs, she lost out on lots of scholarship money! She got college credit for her APs but still had to take the required English class. APs went towards gen eds.
Now child #3, also a D, is taking only English AP classes, and will add AP Stats as a senior. That’s what she decided she wanted to do. I hate that she is making “easy A’s” in most of her non-AP classes, but since she wants to act, we are hoping a higher GPA and a few AP classes will look better on applications, and she had a good ACT score, so having her tutored to hopefully get a couple of more points. We need scholarship money to help pay for school - in that mid range that we get no money but can’t afford to pay full tuition.
I just want to say again that my advice is directed towards academically competitve schools- which was the focus of my own kid’s search, and the direction lots of my own students (who are not generally BFA kids- muggles so to speak) are headed. There are lots of great (and highly artistically competitve) BFA programs at non- academically competitive schools - who may be MUCH more open to a variety of types of credits. But since the OP (who hasn’t returned to the thread) had asked about NYU, and I had specific experience with transferring credits there- I jumped in. So know your list- and plan accordingly.
@songgirlsmom I felt very similar that a B in AP ends up hurting more than helping in terms of unweighted GPA and class rank. Best to take AP and get an A. lol.
@MTmom2017 please keep us posted on D #3. Her plan is what I hope my #2 will do. Would love to hear your thoughts about her experience when all this is done.
Great thread. Interesting perspectives all around.
My oldest (daughter) entered college with 47 credits from APs and one dual enrollment class. The APs helped to eliminate many core/gen ed requirements. The dual enrollment was just for credits (marketing–didn’t apply to any of her requirements), and she was able to complete both BFA Acting and BA French majors in her four years in college. The advanced standing also allowed her to register for classes and housing earlier than the other kids in her ‘grade.’ My second (son) entered with 37 credits. He just finished freshman year (BFA Acting), is done with all core/gen ed requirements, is halfway done with one minor and has added a second minor. He will also have plenty of time later to take extra theater department electives once he’s finished the intro/prerequisite classes next year.
It’s hard, but if your kid knows what s/he wants in a college, it’s easier to know whether that AP/dual credits are worth it or not. This is true of liberal arts kids too. My son’s friend goes to Northwestern, and it was definitely expected that a student take AP classes in order to be admitted to the school, but only the highest scores were accepted as credits.
It is hard to predict what schools will accept regarding classes that give college credit. NYU accepted language credits that were from Hofstra University for a class called “College Spanish.” D took the class senior year and the classes were held at the HS. I believe they accepted 6 credits for that. However, they did not accept college credits for Anatomy and Physiology which was a much more difficult course and she needed to pass a difficult standardized test (administered by Pearson) in order get college credit through Excelsior College.
It seems that the difference is that Hofstra has a physical campus and Excelsior College does not. When I called before she took the exam and before I paid for the test, NYU said they thought they would be accepted, but in the end they were not.
Overall though, keep in mind that for NYU acceptance is based 50% on academics and 50% on the audition. And they do want to see rigor, decent grades and high enough test scores.
@lovetoact That is a dream scenario!