<p>I don't even know if this is possible, but I thought I'd ask.</p>
<p>Thus far I have passed 4 AP Exams, and this year I'll have another 6.
As far as I know, 5 AP exams roughly equate to 1 year of college. I also know that some colleges limit how many AP credits one can use.</p>
<p>However, is it possible, at any school in the Pacific/Southwest, to utilize AP exams, summer sessions, and CLEP exams to earn an undergraduate degree in 2 years? I plan to major in Psychology, then move on to med school and Pyschiatry.</p>
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<li>Don't you plan on enjoying college?</li>
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<p>2.I can't think of anywhere that allows you to use over a certain amount of AP credit, and even if you can, it's only to get into a more advanced class, not get out of something</p>
<p>I think it would be really hard to complete all of the pre-med requirements, study for the MCAT, plus complete all of the requirements for a degree in Psychology, all the while maintaining a high GPA and participating in various ECs (for med school), in two years. In my opinion 3 years would probably be the shortest amount of time you could complete everything and retain your sanity ;).</p>
<p>It'll also be easier to complete everything in a shorter number of years if the college you apply to has few if any required courses (core curriculum).</p>
<p>Thanks for replies, everyone. They are much appreciated.
Celebrian, I posed this question because I have limited resources, and the sooner I can actually start earning, the sooner I can start paying my loans.
Videogamer, I may be mistaken, but those I've spoken to tell me that they were exempted from freshman year at UC schools (and Denver University) from having passed 5 AP courses. Can anyone else confirm/dispell this?</p>
<p>I think if you worked extremely hard and didn't do anything else, you may be able to get your BA in 2 years, HOWEVER if you are really planning on doing premed, there is no way. There are a lot of difficult requirements that can't all be done in a few semesters, and medical schools would prefer that you take the time to really get to know the subject materials before you rush off to the MCATs and applications.</p>
<p>VERSTEHEN - A question - what do you mean by - I passed the AP's?? what scores did you receive??</p>
<p>Most schools will only allow a student to bring in so many AP's for credit - and that is IF they accept them at all - the schools you will be considering will have a list of AP's and what score they require for each one - in order to be considered at all. And if 5 are accepted - that is the equivalent to 1 semester - not a whole year.</p>
<p>Many schools will also have a limit of how many credits you can carry per semester - especially for freshmen - an overload usually requires approval by the school.</p>
<p>So the fastest you could most likely complete a college curriculum for a bachelors - would most likely be 3 years - including summer sessions probably. You are really pushing the envelope if you think you can do all of the requirements in 2 years - especially as psych courses tend to be progressive in nature.</p>
<p>If you intend to go on to medical school - you will also have MCAT's to consider and also you may want to think about being involved in the school in some way - other than just a very studious student - they want pretty well rounded candidates these days.</p>
<p>colleges will only accept ap credits with at least a 4 on the test, some subjects you need to get the 5. also, i dont know what schools you're looking at, but at my college, we needed an equivelant of 32 classes to graduate, expecting that you take 4 per semester, the average number for most colleges. you think you can handle 8 classes per semester, plus all the labs, and do well enough in them to get into med school? and have a social life?</p>
<p>The University of Kentucky (I know it's not a stellar school, but we're like top 75 public now or something) accepts scores of 3 for plenty of AP exams. If you get higher on certain ones, you get better rewards, but if you make a 3 on almost any AP exam and come here, you'll get something for it.</p>
<p>In regards to finishing early, I know of a guy here who is triple-majoring, I think, and averaging 27 hours a semester (which is equivalent to 6 classes, at the very least). Do that, if you want, but don't plan on getting a job as well, or honestly having much fun in college.</p>
<p>I have checked the UC charts, and they accept scores of 3 for credit, though not for a certain class.
(Ex: my 3 on US history will give me credits, but not History credits)</p>
<p>I think I'm resigned to 3 years of school, with EC's to appease the med schools. Thanks all.</p>
<p>Is it possible to do in two years? Yes, but very difficult. You will need a college that accepts all those AP scores you have and gives credit. Having 5, even if accepted, could be as little as one semester or closer to two depending on courses. For example, you might get 8 hours credit for each of Calc BC, Physics C, and Chemistry, but APs in history, literature and many others will get you at most 3 hours credit each and to reach sophomore status at colleges on the semester system you usually need 30 hours total. You need to check what each college does in that regard and it is usually on the college's website. </p>
<p>There have been those who did it in two years -- one person from Cornell used to post on these boards. He did it by taking 30 hours or more a semester plus 9 hours during summer school. The barriers to doing so, besides just having to take a huge number of hours at one time are:</p>
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<li><p>Cost: a lot of colleges have a set tutition cost for 12 to 17 or 18 hours but then charge you the usual hourly rate for any more above the max per semester so you have extra tuition (and book costs) and you do not get additional financial aid to pay for it. (Cornell, mentioned above, does not charge additional tuition for extra hours.) Moreover, colleges will not give aid for summer school.</p></li>
<li><p>Very often an incoming student has to get special permission to exceed the allowed 17 to 18 hour maximum in the first and second semester.</p></li>
<li><p>Prerequisites: in your major particularly, there will be a number of courses you cannot take before completing others. Though I cannot speak for psychology generally, that can sometimes mean it is impossible to take a course until you have taken 3 or 4 others and each of those prerequisite courses could be sequential meaning you cannot take the second one until you have the first, the third one until you have the second, etc. That can obviously make it difficult to get done in two years.</p></li>
<li><p>Most colleges have general education requirements you have to meet in such things as writing courses, humanties courses, social studies, language, science, and math. A major problem with completing those in two years and also doing your major will be scheduling. You may want to take some courses in the summer but they are not offered in the summer. Two or three courses you may need that you would like to take in the same semester may be offered only at the same time so you cannot do them all in the same semester. An upper level course you may want in your first year may be full before you ever to get to register because juniors and seniors have registration priority; likewise one of those general ed courses even at freshman level may be full. In fact, assuming you are willing to kill yourself taking huge numbers of hours and the school actually allows it without extra tuition cost, it is scheduling problems, more than anything else, which are most likely to do in any plan to get done in two years.</p></li>
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<p>It's certainly possible to complete a bachelor's degree in psychology in only two years. I had 9 AP exams (both English exams, so I really had 8 non-overlapping ones) which gave me 47 hours of credit, and I completed a double major in Computer Engineering and Math at UIUC in 2.5 years. If I had done only the Computer Engineering degree, I could have finished in 2 years, so Psychology should be much easier because it has fewer requirements and its classes rely less heavily on prerequisites and sequences.</p>
<p>However, since you're planning on medical school, I don't think you can reasonable expect to finish in any less than 3 years, because you need to actively participate in ECs and volunteering and many med schools do not accept AP credit for their pre-med requirements.</p>
<p>No, I don't regret finishing early at all. I'm having a great time in my PhD program at Stanford, and seeing as how it takes many years, I'm glad I saved a bit of time.</p>