<p>I've been thinking about graduating a semester early.</p>
<p>How many credits do you need to graduate? I have 4 acceleration credits already, and I know you need 5 to skip a semester, right? Do you take 10 credits/yr and graduate with 40 credits? I also have a course I took 2 years ago at my local community college over the summer. I earned an A- -- does anyone know if those credits transfer?</p>
<p>How does it work?</p>
<p>A&S requirements are 32 credits for your first major, and 37 minimum for a 2nd if you can share 5 credits with your first.</p>
<p>With the credits you have, you can easily graduate a whole year early and save yourself $50k. Assuming your CC credit doesn’t transfer, as policies vary by department, you would need to take 28 credits over 3 years. That translates into two semesters of 4 classes and 4 semesters of 5 classes, which is easily doable.</p>
<p>I think you only need 34 credits (in A&S, not Eng.) to graduate. Beyond that, the only issues would be the distros and the requirements of your specific major.
As a result, most semesters in A&S require only 4 credits; two must have 5. (It’s the reverse in engineering, which is brutal by comparison.)</p>
<p>So unless there is a separate university policy against it (and some private universities have begun instituting such policies), early graduation might be possible. Keep in mind, however, that spring semester senior year can be about as good as it gets. Any stress is done with (especially if you have applied to graduate school for the following fall); it is pure pleasure!</p>
<p>I defer to Detail ^^, since I am not a current student (VERY far from it).
These were the rules in my day; but I had looked at the following before I wrote the above post: [Undergraduate</a> Education at Tufts University](<a href=“Homepage | AS&E Students”>Homepage | AS&E Students)</p>
<p>Oooo WCASParent may be right that it’s 34 for A&S students, I’m not sure. I guess that makes it a bit more fair for Engineers ;)</p>
<p>This means an average of 5 credits a semester (to graduate a year early), which means that you may need to take one summer session to give yourself some breathing room. Most grad schools only take new students in the fall though, so if you only graduate a semester early you don’t actually save a year, but it’s certainly doable at 4 credits/semester.</p>
<p>
If only tuition was free :)</p>
<p>Can you graduate in three and a half years with no credits as a freshman?</p>
<p>34/7= 5 classes<em>6 semesters + 4 classes</em>1 semester, so yes, assuming you don’t drop courses.</p>
<p>I want to be an IR major, so I need 8 semesters of a language. That’s the only problem - I have to pass out of a semester or two of Spanish in order to be able to graduate in 6 semesters. Besides… I kind of want a senior year - even if it’s only a half a year, lol.</p>
<p>Thanks Detail! You’re always so helpful.</p>
<p>Also, I heard there’s a residency requirement at Tufts…? Is that true? I’d have to petition out of it, apparently.</p>
<p>Edit: “Many students are unaware of this rule and near the end of their Junior year they see that they will have more than enough credits, and ask about graduating early. We have an 8 semester rule. You must attend Tufts for 8 semesters in order to get your degree, but there is the ability to get advanced standing. That advanced standing comes from; earning 4 AP credits before you arrive at Tufts for one semester or 8 AP credits for two semesters or by taking 4 credits at Tufts Summer School or at Talloires Summer School.”</p>
<p><a href=“Events Calendar | Office of the Secretary of the Faculty - Arts, Sciences, and Engineering”>Events Calendar | Office of the Secretary of the Faculty - Arts, Sciences, and Engineering;
<p>So yes there is a residency requirement. You MUST come in with at least 4 credits… gah, that means I have to get a 4 or 5 on 2 exams this year!</p>
<p>Neethus1:</p>
<p>That is the same information we received from the Dean of Undergraduate Education concerning the residency requirement and graduating early. My D came in with 7, so it is possible! (actually, you technically come in with zero and then they add them to your transcript in the early Fall). </p>
<p>Good Luck on your AP exams!</p>
<p>Thank you :)</p>
<p>Does anyone know about my community college course? I hope that counts for credit…</p>
<p>I think I’m going to take the summer session route and earn 4 credits that way to graduate a semester early.</p>
<p>So for early graduation, they’d rather force you to take summer courses than to allow you to take 5 per semester? Sometimes I just don’t get these idiotic policies. How could they possibly believe that summer classes>a good internship?</p>
<p>And the force unlimited meal plan in a buffet style dining hall is always fun. Can you say freshman 15?</p>
<p>
It depends on the IR department’s policy. You could probably email them and ask if you’re curious.</p>
<p>Summer sessions = extra tuition though, right? So how would that save money in the long run, if the goal of graduating early is to save money?</p>
<p>If I could remember correctly, summer sessions are $1400 dollars per class. 4 classes would be $5600, a bargain compared to the $20,000 tuition of a regular semester.</p>
<p>Plus you would gain a half of year of work to make some dough.</p>
<p>^ Yes but there are plenty of other fees. Look it up… there’s at least a couple thousand tacked onto that for “fees”.</p>
<p>And thank you, I think I will e-mail them.</p>
<p>And, unless you live near there, there’s the whole housing cost thing…</p>