<p>I vaguely remember other posters saying that they did not apply their AP scores for AP credits at Yale. Why should students not apply for AP credits at Yale?</p>
<p><a href=“http://yalecollege.yale.edu/content/table-acceleration-credit”>http://yalecollege.yale.edu/content/table-acceleration-credit</a></p>
<p>Okay, AP at Yale is super confusing. Basically, AP credit doesn’t do you much good at all. You can get “acceleration credit” but I’m not convinced it actually helps much. You can only use it if you want to “accelerate” (graduate early) by one or two semesters. I think there’s also a rule about you have to schedule yourself such that your final semester is a spring semester and so on and so forth and what have you. You can’t use them towards distributional requirements (which is what most of my friends at other schools use AP credit for). Yale is also super selective in the credit that it takes, so even though I did well on 15 AP tests, I’m only eligible for a few acceleration credits.</p>
<p>I haven’t met too many people who plan on accelerating, and I’m not sure why you’d want to leave the Happiest Place on Earth sooner than you have to!</p>
<p>There are a few other situations where AP scores can help you. For example, you may be able to use your AP score for placement, such as in foreign language. This would get you out of taking Yale’s placement test.</p>
<p>^^ Actually, the AP foreign language score determines how many semesters of a foreign language you must study at Yale.</p>
<p>Score a 5 on AP French, German, or Spanish = 1 semester of same language
Score a 4 on AP French, German, or Spanish = 2 semesters of same language
Score a 3 or below in AP French, German, or Spanish = 4 semesters of a foreign language
Score a 5 on AP French, German, or Spanish AND a 4/5 on AP Latin = exempt from foreign language</p>
<p>See Foreign language distributional requirement : <a href=“A. Requirements for the B.A. or B.S. Degree < Yale University”>http://catalog.yale.edu/ycps/academic-regulations/requirements-for-ba-bs-degree</a></p>
<p>^ Yale’s website seems to indicate that you /have/ to get a 5 on the AP French, German, or Spanish exams to only need to take one semester of that language. You can have a 4 or 5 in only the AP Latin exam if you want to take only one semester of Latin. Otherwise, a placement exam has to be taken to determine placement in most instances. I don’t think you can ever be fully exempt from taking a foreign language regardless of whether you score a 5 on AP French, German, or Spanish AND a 4/5 on AP Latin.</p>
<p>“Students who have studied a foreign language before matriculating at Yale but who have not achieved a score of 5 on the Advanced Placement test in French, German, or Spanish, or a score of 4 or 5 on the Advanced Placement test in Latin, must take a placement test offered by the appropriate language department or, for languages in which no departmental placement test is offered, consult the appropriate director of undergraduate studies.”</p>
<p>I don’t know the rules for Yale, but something related that might interest you is that very few students at Brown use AP’s for credit, even in the few areas it is allowed. You don’t really need them, hardly anyone wants to graduate early or take less classes. Another thing is that they are not equivalent to the level offered at such colleges. AP Chem for instance, is just considered a prerequisite for the entry level Chem course at Brpwm–if you didn’t have that, you’d have to take a no credit prep class. AP CS couldn’t touch the intro CS courses. Now using your AP Calc BC to make your next class Multivariable calc is fine but wanting credits for it? Why bother?</p>
<p>Hi new parent here and first time send a child to college so please pardon my lack of knowledge - wouldn’t one of the reasons to graduate early be that the student/family want to save a year or a semester worth of costs, $30K-$61K? </p>
<p>There are pluses and minus for using acceleration credit to graduate early: <a href=“Race to the real world - Yale Daily News”>http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2009/11/11/race-to-the-real-world/</a></p>
<p>@Bearsgarden, on balance, saving a year or semester’s worth of costs might not appeal to everyone. I am probably not alone as a parent whose child was accepted to Yale and would probably have been accepted to any number of schools that would have offered either a free ride or reduced COA. Even though we’ll be paying full freight for Yale, it works for our family, and we’re happy to pay.</p>
<p>Not to be flippant, but “why push to get out of a place early that you tried so hard to get into?”</p>
<p>For us, we hope that some math and science APs place our son out of introductory courses. Math 230 anyone?</p>
<p>Gibby, thanks for the link :)</p>
<p>Bearsgarden, that’s what I was wondering about as well.</p>
<p>One comment about foreign language placement, that I’ve mentioned elsewhere: don’t automatically go into the level that the testing suggests you are qualified for. If you are on the borderline, or think that your high school language prep wasn’t that great, consider taking one level lower, even if it means an additional semester. Try to find out just what is involved in the level before you sign up. I give this advice from painful personal experience.</p>
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<p>In some cases, the value of AP credit is to reduce the risk graduating late. An extra semester can cost more money than graduating a semester early can save, due to scholarships or financial aid potentially running out after eight semesters. However, Yale does not count acceleration credit for AP against the minimum number of courses to graduate unless the student graduates in fewer than eight semesters, so the AP credit buffer against late graduate does not apply at Yale.</p>