credits and APs

<p>I'm a senior in high school taking AP Calc and AP US Gov't.</p>

<p>1) What are the corresponding college courses for these APs?
2) Here is a FAQ and its answer from the MIT website:</p>

<p>
[quote]
I have placed out of several of the recommended courses due to Advanced Placement credit. Do I still need to take these courses even though my current college did not require me to do so?
Yes. MIT prefers that students take these subjects (calculus, physics, chemistry, and biology) at the college level. Remember that you can always place higher within each discipline depending on your abilities. If you are admitted, you will be granted credit for high scores on AP tests.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I do not particularly want to go to MIT at this point (I'm just using it as an example), but this answer is confusing. Does MIT want you to retake calculus before you transfer, or after? If before, then that implies that I should know which colleges I want to transfer to (and thus whether each accepts AP or requires that you retake the course, or both) before picking my courses this fall. What does it mean for a college to grant credit for AP but still make them take the course again? Wouldn't taking more advanced classes, so to speak, be more impressive to a student's course rigor? Or should one retake the basic freshman course(s) just for credit?</p>

<p>any advice related to this at all?</p>

<p>Since MIT is just an example here, let me explain the general case. Every college you go to will evaluate your AP credit based on its own policies. When I went to UW, all my AP credits counted for something specific, and they placed me out of most of the general education requirements. I transferred to Northwestern, and rather than taking that credit at face value, they re-evaluated all of my AP credit, and I lost a fair amount in the process. I had a 5 on AP french that used to be “French 201, 202, 203” and is now “2* French 2X”.</p>

<p>As far as re-taking calculus, the fact is that AP calculus [does</a> not look very much like college calculus at all](<a href=“http://chronicle.com/article/High-School-Calculus-The/63533/]does”>http://chronicle.com/article/High-School-Calculus-The/63533/). MIT wants you to do college calculus college-style, while others don’t care very much. Most schools will let you re-take things for which you have AP credit, however; if you know for sure you want to transfer to a school that will want you to re-take calculus, either do calc I/II or (if you like math) do some higher-level calculus (Calc III/DiffEQ/Vector Calc/Real Anal)*, which you may need anyway, and which may be an alternate way to show you have the math background you need.</p>

<ul>
<li>This is how the quarter-school math courses are often grouped; YMMV for semester schools.</li>
</ul>

<p>What course of action is more ideal in the transfer process? Choosing the more advanced class and doing well in it is a good sign, right? On the other hand, choosing the more basic class guarantees me credit, and that I don’t have to retake it, correct? This depends on the college(s) to which I want to transfer. Do you recommend that I do all the college research now and, of the schools in my list, consider each individual transfer policy; or is there a general route that people should take if they are planning to transfer?</p>

<p>On a larger scale, should I show what my desired majors are academically, or is partaking in extracurricular activities that reflect my interests enough? In other words, is taking general ed/liberal arts classes enough? I’m afraid that my college, CUNY Baruch, won’t allow me good course selection (as I’d be an underclassman and all), assuming the school even has much course rigor…can anyone give me any advice pertaining to that situation?</p>

<p>Anyone have any advice?</p>