<p>I've been finding different answers to this question, so I figured I'd just ask straight up. Is Berkeley (specifically Haas and L&S) generous with their AP Credit? </p>
<p>The website says that certain APs (US History, English Lit, Calc, etc.) with scores of 4 or 5 allow one to place out of classes, but a lot of APs are missing from the list. It simply says that other APs may allow for placement out of Breadth requirements. But I've read on this board that one cannot AP out of breadth (hence the reason for this post). </p>
<p>What AP classes allow someone to place out? Is there an up-to-date list that shows the credits received for certain exams? I'd like to know where I'd start at Cal as far as freshman vs. sophomore status goes. </p>
<p>Can anyone shed some light on this?</p>
<p>[Office</a> of Undergraduate Advising: 7 Course Breadth](<a href=“http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/requirement/7breadth.html]Office”>http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/requirement/7breadth.html)</p>
<p>The following CANNOT be applied to the Seven Course breadth:
- Advanced Placement
- International Baccalaureate credit
- Courses numbered 84*, 97, 98, 99, and those above 190
- Courses fulfilling the Reading and Composition, Quantitative Reasoning, or Foreign Language requirements</p>
<p>So I have to take seven courses that I may have already taken the equivalent of in high school? Are AP Credits or Dual Enrollment Credits essentially useless then? </p>
<p>What do you take after fulfilling breadth requirements? Do you start at the very bottom of your major’s required course list or do you start at the intermediate (~201, etc.) level? </p>
<p>I guess I’m just wondering why I wasted time taking so many APs if I can’t even use them for the ******** classes that I was trying to get out of in college. I support Berkeley’s desire to “form a foundation for a liberal arts curriculum” but I already formed the damn foundation by working my ass off in high school…I just wanna start my major.</p>
<p>Community college classes may fulfill breath requirement, but you’d have to check [Welcome</a> to ASSIST](<a href=“http://www.assist.org%5DWelcome”>http://www.assist.org) to see which ones do.</p>
<p>Typically people don’t take all of the breadth classes at once. They are spread out throughout the four years. Also people use them to balance out their major classes so that they don’t have a difficult semester with high coursework. In other words, you can start taking your major’s required courses right away. Sometimes even these required classes for your major could satisfy one of the breadth requirement. You’d just have to plan ahead so you don’t take classes unnecessarily. Check this website [Office</a> of Undergraduate Advising: 7 Course Breadth](<a href=“http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/requirement/7breadth.html]Office”>http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/requirement/7breadth.html) to see which classes satisfy which requirement.</p>
<p>Other universities could be more generous in allowing you to use AP credit to waive out of classes. UC Berkeley is not one of the more generous ones. And as a side not, if you hadn’t taken APs in high school, you might not have seem as a competitive candidate as you were now.</p>
<p>Orchid, thanks for that clarification. I was under the impression that you had to fulfill the breadth requirements before you began your major courses, but I’m glad to see that’s not the case. </p>
<p>Regarding the competitiveness standpoint - I have no doubt that the APs contributed to my admission, which is why I was so surprised when I thought that they wouldn’t be given any credit. I realize now that I shouldn’t be concerned after all.</p>
<p>Some AP credit is useful for purposes other than the L&S 7 course breadth (where it cannot be used). For example:</p>
<ul>
<li>AP English: 4 on either fulfills reading and composition A; 5 on literature fulfills A and B (except in the College of Engineering)</li>
<li>AP calculus: see the <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-berkeley/1305840-freshman-math-faq.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-berkeley/1305840-freshman-math-faq.html</a></li>
<li>AP economics: 4 on both exams fulfills Economics 1 for the economics major; 5 on both exams fulfills Economics 1 for the business major.</li>
<li>AP psychology: 4 fulfills Psychology 1 for the psychology major</li>
<li>Students in the College of Engineering may use AP credit for up to two lower division humanities and social studies courses.</li>
</ul>
<p>For other AP tests and majors, check the department of the major.</p>
<p>AP credits are also counted towards the minimum total units to complete a degree. For L&S, you need 120 units minimum and 3-5 scores on AP count for 2.7 or 5.4 units each - that adds up to a year or more of units for quite a few incoming students, since an ‘average’ semester of 15 units sums to the 120 units in four years. </p>
<p>In addition, AP credits advance your ‘status’ for registration priority compared to your incoming peers. Their is quite a bit of randomness in the date assignments but in general, Someone who enters with AP and CC credits is going to get an earlier appointment than those with fewer total units, which helps snag a spot in high demand classes you might want to get into, particularly in the first few semesters when your overall non-AP status is Freshman or Sophomore, as the general priority is multiple major/degree, senior, junior, soph, and freshmen (ignoring specific athletes, disabled students and other special categories out as they are relatively small numbers).</p>