<p>Is anyone able to help me understand how the AP policy at Tulane works? I have read the official blurb on the school website and see the table explaining what credits and courses are awarded for what score, but it's still rather fuzzy.
For instance, my son will come in with the potential to claim over 30 hours of credit, but several of the courses he plans to take again (eg physics, in which he got a 4, but because he plans to major in an engineering subject, therefore wants to consolidate his mastery of the subject rather than jumping into a more advanced level course). Is it entirety up to the student as to which classes he wishes to use AP credit for?
Also, does how they are used or not used play out to affect the student's status/rank for course registration in the spring? How does the student inform the school which /how he wants to proceed?</p>
<p>I don’t think the student has much control over how AP credits are distributed. Also, FYI - after receiving a letter grade for a course in which AP credit was granted, you lose or “waive” the AP credit. For example, my child got a 5 on this AP Chem exam and was awarded 8 credits for Gen Chem I and II (and the labs for both) before he started last Fall. However, as pre-med, he had to take those courses. Those 8 AP credits disappeared after he received grades for those courses. I think his status for Spring registration was indeed affected because he “lost” some of the AP credit he came in with. You can see your child’s AP credit distribution in Gibson under Online Academic Transcript I think. Look for “CR” in the letter grade column. The specific course for which AP credit was granted will be listed.</p>
<p>It looks like for any course he wants to retake he needs to not submit the score. Here is a link I found: <a href=“http://tulane.edu/advising/upload/AP-Chart.pdf”>http://tulane.edu/advising/upload/AP-Chart.pdf</a></p>
<p>As you can see on the first line:
</p>
<p>They later say
</p>
<p>They also say all scores should be submitted, but that doesn’t make sense for his case. There is a phone number for advising in that document, I strongly encourage him to call and discuss his plans and the best steps to take in detail with them.</p>
<p>Thanks to you both for your help…one thing I do know is that when scores are submitted by the college board for specifically APs, your student can not pick and choose what to submit…ie they all go to the institution (as opposed to SAT I and IIs where the student specifies exactly which test sitting gets sent).</p>
<p>@justmehere, you have clarified what wasn’t clear…the school didn’t mandate what courses your son chose to retake (despite the submission of a score of 4 or 5) and the credits just fell off when a duplication showed up on the transcript. And whatever is on the transcript when it’s time to sign up for classes is how your preference"rank" is determined.<br>
Again, thank you both!</p>
<p>What @Justmehere said is what I had always understood as well, which is that you could take courses that you had gotten AP credit for and it just wiped out the AP credits. After all, if you are pre-med you have to take Freshman Chemistry no matter what you got on the AP exam. But then I found those statements within the advising part of the website and it seemed to contradict that. That’s pretty much why I bailed and suggested calling the advisors directly. If he does call, let us know what the final word is. Because chemistry might be the exception to a rule due to the med school requirements.</p>
<p>I doubt this, since bio, physics, and calc are also requisites for most med schools. I agree that the wording was fuzzy which is exactly what prompted my query. Sometimes just hearing directly from someone who has already ran the gantlet, so to speak, is most helpful.
If my son does put a call in, I’ll be sure to follow up.</p>
<p>@vandyeyes - Yes and no. As I understand it, med schools will allow you to use the AP credit for Intro Physics, Bio and Calc as long as you take higher level courses in those subjects. Chemistry is the only one that they insist you take the freshman level course no matter what. There might be some exceptions at certain med schools, but that is how I have seen it done in the past. Also about half the med schools don’t actually have a math requirement. It is too bad they don’t standardize more somehow.</p>
<p>Certainly if anyone has more and better info, we would love to hear it.</p>
<p>The only AP credit accepted at my D’s med school is English. </p>
<p>Just to be clear, though, @kreativekat, do they insist on retaking freshman physics and Calc or do they accept if they use the AP credit to place out of those courses in order to take higher level ones? That is what I read on numerous med school sites.</p>
<p>Welcome back, btw. Long time no see.</p>
<p>:) Thanks FC. Yes, you are correct (at least for her school)- as long as they complete the same number of hours and lab work is done in more advanced classes then they can use the credit hours to fulfill the prerequisite requirements. So essentially, you don’t save any hours in terms of fulfilling med school prerequisites, but you could rack up the hours for college credit if you are up to the challenge of more advanced classes. But it’s important not to forget that GPA does factor into med school admissions obviously, so there could be a significant advantage to repeating the lower level class in my opinion. </p>
<p>When she was an undergrad student at Vandy, she was advised to repeat the coursework because in their opinion an AP class, while recognized for credit purposes, didn’t compare to college coursework. Repeating the lower level class also assures that the student is prepared in exactly the same way as their peers as they enter into more advanced classes. This was the advice she received and it has paid off in med school. Repeating the classes solidified the foundation that she began in high school. She gave up the hours of AP credit, but those classes still prepared her for the college level coursework better than those who had not had the AP class.</p>
Does Tulane give credit for certain scores on AP Government and Politics? It is a very popular course at my school but i’m not sure if that is true for the rest of the country.
Based on the most recent postings I can find, this course does not receive any credit. But to be 100% sure, best to call the advising office at Tulane. If you find out that it is different than what I found (or didn’t find), please let us know.
My son did get credit for this. Let me go look at his transcript and see what it counted for.
ETA -he received credit for POLA 2100
Oh, cool. In looking at the AP credit charts on the Tulane site, I might have been misled by the description. Or not. Is “AP Government and Politics” the same as AP POLITICAL SCIENCE (U.S. Govt.). which gets 3 hours credit for POLA 2100, as dolphnlvr said, or is it the same as AP POLITICAL SCIENCE (Comparative Govt.) which gets gets 3 hours credit for POLC 2300, as long as you get a 4 or 5 on the respective AP exam? Or is it something else altogether? Because if what @Thr123 was referencing is the same as one of those, then they have always been on the Tulane AP credit charts.
My son took AP Government and Politics so it must be the same as AP Political Science.
I think so, now that I see that listing. What else could it be?
@fallenchemist @dolphnlvr6 Here’s a list of all of the AP courses: https://apstudent.collegeboard.org/apcourse
AP Political Science (US Govt) pretty much has to refer to AP Government and Politics and AP Political Science (Comparative Govt) presumably refers to AP Comparative Government and Politics, which are two completely different courses. AP Comparative compares political structures and processes in different countries, while AP Gov is US government and politics. (Who knew my poli sci background would come in handy on CC?)
Thanks, @Arlmom2!