I’m wondering, now that the first class has graduated with the Carolina Core requirement for all four years, what the impression has been? Are you able to satisfy more of the Core courses through normal courses in your major? Does it add enough extra courses to make a minor or double major difficult? Are Core classes crowded or hard to register for? It seems like a lot when you first look at it. My D wants to possible double major and study abroad, yet still graduate in four years. It looks like this may be tough.
I am hoping that I understand this link correctly: https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/undergraduate_admissions/requirements/for_transfers/credits_from_sc_technical_colleges/core_course_equivalents.php
I am making the assumption that if a student has credit via testing (AP, IB, CLEP) that gives credit for any of the courses listed in the transfer credit for core that they will equally get core credit for the test. I am hoping that is a correct assumption.
My d is graduating in May with a BSN (Nursing) . She was able to satisfy many of the core requirements with dual enrollment courses she had taken in high school and with AP equivalents.It wasn’t a problem at all . She didn’t double major due to the time constraints in the nursing major Jr. and Sr yr , however many of her friends ( non nursing majors) did do double majors and several have even changed their majors more than once, and they are all still graduating in 4 yrs. The core requirements don’t seem to be any more demanding than the Gen Eds required at most colleges . In d’s major several of the science / math courses were satisfied within the major itself .It didn’t seem to be an issue at all.
Also forgot to add, d is the only one of her 4 roommates who did not study abroad …seems like most of her friends were able to . Most of the classes are easy enough to get , however you may not always get the times you want in the more popular ones …but d never had a problem getting classes .She did have a few evening classes freshman and sophomore year though .
D straddled the new requirements. She looked at it since they could use that instead of how they started (and a couple of her friends did and did minors, travel abroad etc). For her it would have added two classes, one completely new and one that she could have covered with a class she wanted if she had known about criteria as a freshman. Didn’t really add more gen eds, just got more specific. I don’t think it will impact a double major. D could have done it, but since she had the choice she didn’t - she was double major and still took a good number of course just because (didn’t satisfy anything). She did have a lot of AP credit.
Just to clarify, I came in with 50 AP credit hours for various subjects. I’m a first year student and I only have a couple Core areas that I need to do. So yes, you can use AP and IB scores and transfer credit for the core.
I think in general the answer is yes, but may depend on your major. For instance, if you’re in engineering or want to be pre-med you might be advised to not use AP credit for a math or science course. Transfer credit from OOS schools may have to be addressed on course by course basis (instate colleges and tech schools have a reciprocity agreement about certain courses). D had lots of AP credit but didn’t end up using it all as some just counted as free credits and not under a specific area of study. As an example, D had AP credit from taking both AP English classes in HS, but each was equivalent to English 101 - she didn’t need it but once so she only used 3 of her 6 AP english hours to fulfill English requirement. The other 3 were just extra credit hours but didn’t satisfy anything. Anyway I hate to give a blanket ‘yes’ but will say USC is very generous with AP credit and it will help relax your schedule or make it easier to double major. But do not expect to 50 hours applied to 120 (or so) required.
If these answers matter before you commit to USC, contact an admissions counselor or someone your intended major and check it out.
^ important clarification, like most questions the answer isn’t always a yes or no. They are generous but there are some overlaps in AP credit (like taking AP Lang and AP Lit can both give you credit for ENGL 101). This is uncommon but it happens. Being advised to not use certain AP test scores does happen, and it’s usually for your major requirements. For instance, if my major required me to take a calculus class and that couldnt be exempted through AP scores, I could be advised to not count my AP Calculus AB score so I can take an easier Calculus I instead of Calculus II. I’m not sure which programs do this, and I would guess (albeit arbitrarily) that this is pretty rare, but it’s not unheard of.