Colleges accepting fewer APs (Emory)

Applying to College
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<p>Academics: College Will Accept Fewer A.P.s
Mithu Maheswaranathan
Posted: 12/5/06
A new policy will cap the credit students can receive for taking classes outside the University or advanced placement courses to 32 hours.</p>

<p>The Admissions and Scholarships Committee, a standing committee of admistration, faculty and student representatives, changed the policy last year. It will take effect for incoming freshmen in 2007. </p>

<p>Thomas Lancaster, senior associate dean for undergraduate education, said the faculty and administration wanted to ensure that an Emory degree be earned predominantly through courses taken at this university to maintain the quality of the Emory degree....</p>

<p>Lancaster did not have numbers on how many students entered with 32 or more credit hours. But he said there is a concern that A.P. courses do not necessarily reflect the level of difficulty of college-level courses.</p>

<p>He said the College Board designed the A.P. program to help highlight the "best of high school students."</p>

<p>"However, over the last two decades, A.P. has been used as a way of raising the standards of high schools, but many faculty feel it is not college credit," he said. </p>

<p>Currently, Emory awards credit for A.P. courses in which a student earned at least 4 out of a possible 5 on the national exam. That will not change under the new policy, Lancaster said.</p>

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<p>Other colleges have already started to do this.</p>

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<p>Yeah starting last year Harvard is only accepting a score of "5", for example.</p>

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<p>As is Penn. And it doesn't get you out of their many distribution requirements either.</p>

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<p>Some schools don't even take all the tests anymore. You have to get all 5's, and can only get credit on a select number of tests.</p>

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<p>"However, over the last two decades, A.P. has been used as a way of raising the standards of high schools, but many faculty feel it is not college credit."</p>

<p>They are right, AP classes and exams are harder! (In the humanities at least.)</p>

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<p>yup, i heard that caltech doesn't even accept 5's</p>

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<p>I think they should due away with AP classes, they should just make HS harder so that you cant take AP's as you wouldn't have enough time.</p>

<p>There is no way AP credits are harder to obtain than actual classes. If anything they are dumbed down to make learning capable to immature minds.</p>

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<p>What are "credit hours"? .... :rolleyes:</p>

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<p>vanderbilt limits it to 18 hours, none of which can count towards the "core" liberal arts requirements</p>

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<p>Not unusual...</p>

<p>USC limits people to 32 semester credits from AP as well, and requires 4 or 5 to get class waivers for certain classes only.</p>

<p>While I kinda ended up on the wrong side of this (since I had so many AP credits) I think it's probably a good idea...freshman level courses here definitely have more depth and rigor than the "comparable" AP subject.</p>

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<p>I don't know why this "5" requirement is any sort of stretch. Hell, I wasn't Harvard quality by any means and I only received 5s on tests.</p>

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<p>Depends on the college. Many students at State Unis report their AP courses were harder than college ones.</p>

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<p>Wellesley only accepts 5s and limits credit to 4 courses of the students choice</p>

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<p>i agree with you</p>

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<p>I still don't know what "credit hours" are....</p>

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<p>a 3 credit course has 3 hours of class a week and thus has 3 credit hours, If you have a 5 credit course the same pertains.,</p>

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<p>
[quote]

What are "credit hours"?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>four credit hours = one semester class</p>

<p>I am glad to see this policy change, although I wish the change was more drastic -- I think Emory and many other top colleges should stop granting AP credit altogether.</p>

<p>In the AP classes I took, the everyday course became really irrelevant because you could get a passing grade on the AP test by self studying. In fact, self studying was often much more useful than working dutifully in class because AP test prep books give you a very good idea of the test's content, whereas classes often add in extra information and just generally cover different things. If colleges want to reward their admits for their self studying abilities, then colleges should just administer credit equivalency tests themselves. Colleges know their own curriculum better than the college board does. (I think some colleges already do this for some classes, like calculus at UChicago?)</p>

<p>In addition to reflecting self-study more than an actual class, the AP program gives students unfair advantages over each other. Giving AP credit rewards students who attended a high school with many AP classes and punishes students who attend a school with few or no AP classes. This comes back to bite the unfortunate student who attends the latter in several ways -- not able to do a double major when peers with AP credit are able, unable to take desired upper level courses within major, and also unable to register for classes earlier than many peers because these peers have a higher class status and earlier registration period, thereby making it impossible to get into popular classes. Generally, I think it is a good thing to have all incoming freshman on an equal playing field, and abolishing AP credit is a policy change that reflects this ideal.</p>

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<p>not all classes are 4 credits, some of my classes are 1 credit and some are 5. and some are 2,3,4</p>

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<p>And in the quarter system, generally a 3-day a week class is 3 credit hours, and a 5-day a week class is 5 credit hours. Ensembles or a class that meets one day are usually 1 credit hour.</p>

<p>Colleges usually require no fewer than 12 and no more than 18 credit hours per semester or quarter, which would be 4 to 5 classes, give or take.</p>

<p>Blaze--I don't see how you can possibly "level" the playing field unless you dumb down all U.S. high schools to the lowest common denominator. Some kids can't conquer calculus in HS; others finish calculus and go on to multivariable in HS or their local CC. Would you hold them back or require that they repeat calculus?</p>