Elective Credits = Earlier Graduation?

Student Lounge College Life
1

<p>(I'm sorry if this has been placed in the wrong forum, I did try to search in order find the appropriate one.)</p>

<p>Hey, guys!
So, if the state schools I plan to apply to for an undergraduate 4 year college next year offer around 4 elective credits for my < 2 AP exams, am I able to graduate a year early if I desire? I will have only taken 4 AP's (English Lang, English Lit, Psychology, Government and Politics and have completed Adelphi Spanish (6 credits in total to be paid for) and Dowling Precalculus (3 credits paid). 4x4=16 16+9(college class credits) =25</p>

<p>It appears that around 25 credits is equal to a single college year of college. Would these "elective credits" provide for me the ability to graduate a year earlier? Does the term elective indicate anything of notability?</p>

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<p>12 credits a semester is normally the minimum required to be considered full time. But at 24 credits a year it would be impossible to graduate in 4 years in most cases as most degrees require more than 96 credit hours. My daughters degree for instance requires a little over 120 credits so to graduate in 4 years she would need to take 15+ credits per semester. Most students I know take more than 12 hours a semester.</p>

<p>But, yes, if your credits count for classes that are a part of your degree then they can help you graduate early, or at least on time without taking too high a course load each semester.</p>

<p>Though at my daughter’s school the AP classes you listed would only count for 3 credits.</p>

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<p>You might be able to graduate in four years. Only about less than 60% of college students enrolled in four-year institutions graduate within six years.</p>

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<p>[Binghamton</a> University - Academics: Harpur College of Arts and Sciences: Academic Advising: Transfer Information: Advanced Placement](<a href=“http://www2.binghamton.edu/harpur/advising/transfer/ap-credit.html]Binghamton”>http://www2.binghamton.edu/harpur/advising/transfer/ap-credit.html)
I computed the approximate AP exam equivalency as being 4 as suggested by this page at SUNY Binghamton, one of the schools I plan to apply to.</p>

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<p>Don’t take too many electives because that will effect your academic progress towards your major. Take all the electives you want as long as you complete all the required courses.</p>

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<p>I think you misinterpreted my initial post. I was referring to advanced classes taken in highschool that count as college credit electives. :/</p>

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<p>It depends on your school. I know at certain schools only some classes can be deemed “electives” so those credits may not help you depending on your field of study. In that case, you may have AP credits that don’t really matter or count towards much. At my school, you need a certain amount of just random electives, which can be any class, so in that case AP credits do help me. I got 18 credits, which isn’t too shabby.</p>

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<p>See if you can find the required curriculum for your intended major and match up AP credits to courses in the curriculum. Many of the classes you mentioned will count as free electives so they will take care of some credits but some curriculums require electives to be “advanced level” (i.e. 200 series not 100 series like Psych 101) so it will depend on the school and the major. Also most schools won’t let you use AP for courses in your major so if you are going to be a Psychology major your AP psych might not get you any credit.</p>