Brown's AP test policy

<p>Does Brown not provide any credit for AP Comparative Government and Politics?</p>

<p>I checked on Brown’s website, and it stated that it did not accept AP (U.S.) Government and Politics. But as for AP COMPARATIVE Government and Politics, it did not have any details or information listed. I’m assuming that this means that the test cannot provide any credit at Brown but does anyone know for sure?</p>

<p>I was going to call them but I believe that they are closed on weekends, like most colleges.</p>

<p>Brown doesn’t give credit for any AP exams, in that to graduate you have to take 30 courses no matter how many AP exams you’ve taken. AP classes enable you to place out of some courses – like calculus – and take a more advanced class. I don’t know for sure, but I doubt the political science/public policy concentrations allow you to skip required courses for any AP exam.</p>

<p>From this web page, it seems clear that the Political Science department doesn’t provide credit for any AP’s.
[Advanced</a> Placement Information](<a href=“Advanced Placement Exams | The College | Brown University”>Advanced Placement Exams | The College | Brown University)</p>

<p>You need 30 credits at Brown to graduate with a Brown degree and that won’t include any credits that might be awarded from your AP course/test. So it seems to me that the real issue is advanced standing so you don’t have to repeat the course. You will have to talk to the department about it, or perhaps the Dean’s office. I would email rather than call.</p>

<p>In my daughter’s experience, taking an advanced class or one where she didn’t have the prereq’s was just a matter of speaking to the professor and perhaps your advisor. But that is in a math/sci area and may be different. For instance she had AP calcBC, so while she didn’t get awarded credits for it, she was able to go right to Multivariable calc (thought in hindsight maybe she shouldn’t have.)</p>

<p>If the department has a policy not to allow the advanced standing, I’m sure it is because they strongly feel you will benefit from taking the class at Brown.</p>

<p>You do need 30 credits to graduate, but that doesn’t mean AP credits are useless at Brown. They can fulfill certain concentration or major requirements so you don’t have to take those classes again. You can also use them to graduate early if you qualify for “advanced standing”.</p>

<p>[Advanced</a> Standing](<a href=“Advanced Standing | The College | Brown University”>Advanced Standing | The College | Brown University)</p>

<p>You’d still have to take 30 courses, but since you can take up to five classes a semester, that can be done if 7 or even 6 semesters.</p>

<p>Thanks for all the information!</p>

<p>By the way, I never intended to use any AP tests to “skip” courses, only for the possibility of attending a more advanced course instead. So, I guess Brown’s AP policy is a nice fit for me in that respect :).</p>

<p>BrownParent:</p>

<p>Oops. On the website, for the line that says “Political Science: Government and Politics,” I had interpreted the “Government and Politics” part as indicating the AP U.S. government test. I now realize that that entire line is the department name. The two lines above it naming the English departments mislead me into my prior mentality. Haha, well, thanks for indirectly bringing that to my attention–question solved. :D</p>

<p>benjaminx: unless you’re trying for a 5th year master’s, or a double concentration or something, it seems sort of silly to try to graduate early, as you’ll still have to pay Brown for a 4th year worth of tuition (though I’m not sure, some of that may be able to be applied from summer tuition paid). Which actually makes sense: we don’t want people leaving here after only three years, because then they’ll either have crammed in too many classes, and not gained the social experiences of college, or they won’t have explored enough courses, which is part of the point of the open curriculum.</p>