Cal Poly SLO in 3 Years w/ AP Credit?

State Forums
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<p>For purposes of convenience, I was originally looking into going to a community college to tackle general ed, but after reviewing my options, I may be reconsidering depending on what those options turn out to be. Basically, according to Cal Poly's AP Credit catalog, I'll have around 55 units of transferable credit from AP Exams alone (I'll have taken 7 by the end of my senior year). My question is, what are the chances I'll be able to skip a year and graduate within 3 years? If this is a possibility, how would it work? Would I be entering as a sophomore, or as a freshman (in that case skipping sophomore year)? Would this all depend entirely on the major program I choose? As I understand it, I would need about 182 credits to graduate, general ed and all, and subtracting credit earned from AP exams, the remaining amount of units I would have to distribute between three years seemingly wouldn't be too ridiculous. Is this reasonable thinking, or is there something I'm seriously misunderstanding (I'll never deny this as a possibility). Thank you for any explanations or advice.</p>

<p>(Note: All of this, obviously, is assuming I'll be accepted into Cal Poly in the first place, which is never a guarantee.) </p>

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<p>It actually is very reasonable thinking, just mainly not for engineering majors. I’ve seen someone get out in 2.5 years on AP credits at a CSU. As long as the major doesn’t have a ton of prerequisite barriers, you don’t run into difficulty getting your courses, and I said non-engineering major because those AP credits will actually count towards graduation because you’ll have leftover units that you need to clear out. Engineers at Sacramento State (my school example) are the only majors in which you need more than the minimum credit requirements because they have so many courses they need to take. If you’re efficiently using those 55 AP units on killing GEs, and skipping prerequisites 3 years is possible.</p>

<p>–I’m an Engineer at CSUS aiming for three years right now as APs have helped me a ton.</p>

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<p>Depends on your intended major. </p>

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<p>You need to check the requirements for your major and the general education requirements to see what courses the AP credits can be used for. If your major has a long prerequisite sequence (even after applying any applicable AP credits), then the length of that prerequisite sequence is the minimum number of quarters you need to attend before graduation. It is also possible that your major may have more than 127 units of required courses that your AP credits do not cover.</p>

<p>Here are CPSLO’s AP credit charts: <a href=“http://registrar.calpoly.edu/content/Degree_Progress/other_ac_credit”>http://registrar.calpoly.edu/content/Degree_Progress/other_ac_credit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>@tangentline‌ Thanks for your reply. So (according to your experience at CSUS) how likely do think it is that I’ll have difficulty getting necessary courses? My intended major is classified as an “engineering major”, so I guess I might face some difficulties then. Just out of curiosity, if you don’t mind sharing, what APs do you have?</p>

<p>@Deekku I’m strongly considering computer science.</p>

<p>@ucbalumnus I’ll look into it myself of course, but do you know if their computer science program has “a long prerequisite sequence”? AP Calc BC will obviously knock out a few of the math requirements, and several GEs will be taken care of as well, so if I plan accordingly, I feel like I might have a shot. Do you know if there’s a limit on how many summer courses I could take, hypothetically? </p>

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<p>I have known students who graduated from CSUs in 3 years, but not in engineering (that is not to say it is impossible). You can check out the degree flowchart for your intended major at <a href=“Welcome to the Office of the Registrar - Office of the Registrar - Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo”>http://flowcharts.calpoly.edu/mymap.php&lt;/a&gt; and also the proposed computer science classes to be offered by term at <a href=“https://www.csc.calpoly.edu/courses/proposed/”>https://www.csc.calpoly.edu/courses/proposed/&lt;/a&gt;. You can then figure out if it is possible but remember you may not get every class you want when you want it.
You can take a full schedule in the summer, but there are more limited class options. You can also take summer classes at Cuesta College or your local CC</p>

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<p>With that many credits, you would enter as a Freshman (with Sophomore standing). You can take summer classes at SLO (although selection is limited and the rotation schedule is used for registration). Also, during summer many students take classes online at Foothill Community College. SLO & Foothill are both on the quarter system. Cuesta is on the semester system (and the dates don’t always line up. This year the last finals at SLO would have ended on a Friday, mandatory move out of dorms on Saturday, and summer classes at Cuesta started on Monday). </p>

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<p>These are not exactly the APs I took, but are a list of essential ones to have to knock out GEs etc but check your university:</p>

<p>AP English Lang or Lit–preferably lit, foreign language, Biology, computer science A, Physics C E/M and Mech, Calculus BC, World History, US History, Art History (art credits out of the way), US Government, miscellaneous AP social science, miscellaneous area C (humanities) * 1-2 of them.</p>

<p>Check to see if SLO accepts these: Calculus BC, English Language/Lit, Computer Science A, and Physics C are key courses that will help jump an engineer knock off a year of the prerequisite chain (primarily Calculus BC).</p>

<p>As far as getting your courses, I don’t think SLO works on a units based registration system, or I don’t know. But at my school, you need roughly one year of priority ahead of what a student typically would take the class at on a 4-year plan. So to secure junior level courses, it is difficult without senior standing.</p>