<p>My first post and I am a Dad of a HS Junior who be going to Class of 2014 in some college.
I read a lot and see most of the students applying to colleges have APs taken and scored very good like 5s and 4s.. They also got accepted in good colleges of their choice.</p>
<p>My question is are they getting credit for these AP courses in the Colleges ? or they just good to be used for admission purposes. I would expect that if someone took 12 AP courses then he or she should get 2 semester of Credit or atleast 1 semester..</p>
<p>So what is the experience out their after taking these AP courses. Does it saves on college year or not.??</p>
<p>My S is planning to finish 12 APs, he already finish 4 of them, (5,5,5,4). his GPA is 4.0 (out of 4.0)and 5.89 (out of 6.0). Junior Rank 1/643, Few ECs, Math state Championship, Finish Mini Med School, +++. Expecting to score 32+ in ACT and trying for 36 superscore.
He planning to go Pre-Med or Med Program (7yr). Looking at UChicago, WUStL, DUKE, Stanford, Harvard, NorthWestern, Norte Dame, UMiami, Vanderbilt and few more like Ohio State and UILC...
Will go where he gets more FA/Merit Scholarship or Free-Ride..</p>
<p>Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>AP credit policies vary. Search for “AP credit” on each school’s web site to find out its policies on:</p>
<ul>
<li>Credit units for AP credit</li>
<li>Subject credit for AP credit</li>
<li>Placement into more advanced courses for AP credit</li>
</ul>
<p>Note, however, that many medical schools do not accept AP credit for the pre-med courses (e.g. chemistry, biology, physics, …). A student who skips the introductory courses with AP credit will typically have to substitute advanced courses in those subject areas for pre-med purposes. Check the pre-med forum for more on this.</p>
<p>Each college handles AP credit differently, so you should check the individual websites of the colleges your child will apply to. Our D will have 24 credits for her AP courses, but she will most likely either double major or double minor instead of lopping off a semester. Our HS, however, promotes the benefits of paying for the AP test by telling parents it could save us a semester of fees in college.</p>
<p>I agree that each School has it own policies regarding AP Credits, some give you nothing and some do. Also depends upon the Program you applying for, Pre-Med, or Pre-ENG or some other Liberal Arts. My S HS keep pushing its students to go for more AP courses. My S told me that some of the Senior who made it to UIL UrbanaCh* got 9-10 AP courses credited and they have almost 1 less year of University and will finish in 3 years then the regular 4 yrs.</p>
<p>Now Pre-Med might be different for each University’s as mention earlier. But I still expect that students who put a lot of effort in basic courses like English, Math, History, Physics and chemistry and get 5s should get the Credit. But the other side story is that they want their Students to have that Experience in their School settings rather then in a HS. They like that a student went through that extra mile but they still want the student to have that rich experience in their Campus…</p>
<p>Note that not all colleges give subject credit for any given AP test because the AP syllabus does not cover all of what is in the college’s course. For example, AP chemistry may be given 0, 1, or 2 semesters’ worth of freshman general chemistry credit, depending on the college. Also, the AP score thresholds may vary – some may only give credit for scores of 5, rather than a “passing” score of 3. Also, some AP courses are typically year-long high school courses but are given at most subject credit for a semester-long college course (e.g. psychology, statistics, calculus AB, computer science A, human geography, etc.).</p>
<p>If the student is allowed to skip an introductory course with AP credit, it is a good idea to check the college’s old final exams for that course, in order to verify that the student knows the material that the college expects from completing that course. Old final exams are often available on the college’s web site these days.</p>
<p>dad for 2014 - time to change your name to dadfor2018, or maybe dadfor2017, if your kid does well on his AP tests… Your son will be “Class of 20XX” based on the year he graduates.</p>
<p>re: Money - Harvard & Northwestern are 100% needs met, so no scholarships, or merit money - but if you can get in, and can only afford to pay $5k, and the bill is $60k, Harvard & NU pay the rest. Sweet deal, if you can get in. </p>
<p>re: is AP worthwhile? Yes. My son, was going to be class of 2016, but because he did well on a lot of APs, he was offically a “freshman with sophomore standing”, and now listed as class of 2015. But Real Life is not that easy… he plans to co-op which will push him back to Class of 2016. </p>
<p>And as someone suggested, check each college’s website for what credit you will get. And even though my son got a 5 on AP Physics, he wasted his money - NU only gives credit for AP Physics B-C - Reg AP physics is not calc based, so N/G. Other schools might give credit for it. </p>
<p>Good luck dad for 20XX!</p>
<p>Regarding AP physics…</p>
<p>The B version is non-calculus-based; at best it may be accepted in place of physics courses for biology majors (not all colleges accept it even for that). However, many biology majors have pre-med aspirations, at least initially, so they need to take physics courses in college anyway (and the physics for biology majors courses do not lead to more advanced physics courses, so they end up retaking the intro-level courses).</p>
<p>The C version uses calculus, but acceptance is not universal either. Some colleges organize the curriculum differently (e.g. the first semester may contain more than just mechanics). Also, at many colleges, E&M is taught with multivariable calculus, so the AP version would not be seen as equivalent.</p>