My D’s school gives elective credit toward graduation for some in addition to placement for others (e.g. calculus). Not sure how this will play out as she chooses her major/minor subjects. We told her to view the AP credits (3) as insurance policies in case she needs to drop a class, an opportunity to explore other subject areas, or so that she can take a lighter load when she’s working on her capstone project when she’s a senior.
As it turns out, A2. In one major (mathematics), child was able to start with Calc III and will not have to take an equivalent number of hours in other courses to finish the major. Otherwise, anyone transferring in more than 36 hrs (whether AP/IB/DE or regular transfer student) was considered to have 1/2 the embedded curriculum (gen eds) done. This allowed for a double major and a minor.
Had my program not been refunded (and hence the tuition benefit lost), it would have been all about “B.” Get done faster.
My daughter plan included adding 2 minors, In Neuroscience and Music. The AP credits did not give her any other advantages. She had priority registration as a benefit of being in Honors college, not because of AP credits.
Keep in mind, that some credits may not result in skipping the Intro classes. For example, in some programs, pre-meds are not advised to skip intro Bio, intro Chem. That was the case for my D. Her intro Bio class went thru AP material in the first 2 weeks then they moved on to the new material. Good that she listened to her adviser and did not skip this class. So, if in doubt, you better talk to your advisory at college.
D. could not graduate earlier and had to add minors because she was in a program that did not allow to graduate earlier than in 4 years and 5 years for engineering majors.
So, a lot of what you do with AP and dual enrollment credits depend on your specific situation / program / major.
You forgot one- get sophomore et al standing earlier and therefore get to register earlier (except second semester- the AP credits don’t kick in until after the first freshman semester and registration starts sooner than that). Theoretically be eligible for classes requiring sophomore standing earlier but that requirement can be bypassed.
Son was able to take more electives. He did the Honors sequences for physics and calculus so those AP versions were just for interest and not being as bored in HS, plus advancing his class standing. He could have graduated in three years but would not have had the courses to do well, much less get into, a grad school- plus he would have had to take GREs sooner. He took some grad level math courses as an undergrad for his Honors degree the fourth year. He overreached for highly competitive math grad programs then changed his mind and did a fifth year undergrad to finish a comp sci major in addition to his honors math one. Seeing the fate of even elite credentialed math PhDs he likely did just as well to work for a while (still being intellectually challenged in his work). Oh, and it was instate, therefore relatively cheap.
Eons ago there were no AP classes- except perhaps in a few places. We had to take all of the required courses and they had Honors versions of the “Sophomore Lit” they no longer offer because the top students will usually have taken enough AP Lit in HS. People do get into medical schools after three years without a degree- their undergrad schools typically award the BS (in medical sciences perhaps) after successful completion of the first year of medical school somewhere. And some did CLEP exams eons ago- plus I knew a math major who went to medical school after graduating in three years. We chemistry majors had too many lab hours to swing that.
My D should be able to get several AP credits at the schools she applied to…
Her plan is a combo of A and C, if possible.
I am encouraging her to take the full 4 years. We can afford it, and it’s an opportunity to get in more electives. She’s talking of taking a second foreign language and would like to have time for a minor.
Higher class standing may not necessarily be an advantage, if the priority for a specific course favors those with lower class standing. For example, an introductory course may give priority to frosh/soph undeclared students who may need it because they are considering a major that needs it, while junior/senior students are presumably just taking it for breadth. So a frosh with junior standing may have difficulty getting into that course. At some schools, there is also class level which is based on number of semesters attended, not credits earned, so that can be used to determine registration priority.
Also, schools which charge higher tuition for higher class standing and include AP credit charge the student the higher tuition earlier.