<p>So my daughter informs me that she registered with her counselor and he signed her up for 2 classes for which she passed out of due to AP credits (5's on both). Now we are wondering why she did this and her counselor is not returning her one email sent. Both classes are just pre recquisites and not in her major BTW. In the meantime, classes are filling up nad she cannot re enter the registration until like 2 weeks before classes start.
I am letting her handle this although I wonder why this happened?</p>
<p>Generally you need to discuss the placing out of classes with the head of the dept/
or that has been my experience.
Is it supposed to be an automatic thing at her school? What does the website say?</p>
<p>Did your D check that the school received her AP scores? Perhaps they weren’t sent? I know S’s scores from jr year were not sent at first because of a misspelled name.</p>
<p>We had opposite issue. We wanted S to take econ and calc at his college even though he could use his AP credit to pass out. We wanted him to take “their” classes seeing as he is a finance major. School told him they would not give him credit if he “retook” the classes. I didn’t mind him placing out of history or science just not classes related to his major.</p>
<p>At Ds’ school, their counselors recommended that they retake courses for which they got AP credit as a “safety” so that they’d “be sure” they had all the prerequisite info for future classes. Both ignored the recommendations (as they had no problems with the classes when they took them in high school) and did fine placing into the courses (taking the credit for the AP classes). I’d suggest calling if emails are not being answered and your daughter should escalate to get a response.</p>
<p>Explore the school website - the details might be available outlining each course, AP score required, and how credit is given…</p>
<p>At both my sons’ colleges, there was a written policy, available on the website that explained the AP policy and they varied significantly. For example, at Bowdoin, a 5 in AP calculus was required plus passing the next level math class before credit would be given and there was no credit for some courses - for example, AP geography no matter what the score. At my other son’s school an AP score of 3 or higher earned credit for any and all AP courses but if the same course was repeated in college no additional credit was earned.</p>
<p>At my son’s college, there are options that allow a student to use their AP credits and still take classes with first year students. For example, a student can use their AP credits for intro chem and bio, and take “accelerated” chem and bio classes for full credit. The accelerated classes are harder than the regular intro classes, but are designed for students who are not ready to jump into advanced classes as a freshman. A similar situation exists for statistics - a student can use their AP credit for a basic stat class and then take a harder intro stats class for credit.</p>
<p>At DD’s college, some departments gave credit for AP classes automatically, and others wanted the student to initiate some paperwork first. </p>
<p>At DS2’s college, everything was automatic (both AP and transfer classes)</p>
<p>At DS3’s college, the credit was given automatically, but to qualify for the next-level classes, one had to take departmental exams (in some departments).</p>
<p>The rules were different, but in all three colleges the counselors did not just sign up students for classes; they discussed student-proposed schedule (either during orientation, or by email) and registered the student for the classes they agreed upon. Most definitely, the counselors were able to override the system and make changes to the schedule if that was required (e.g. DD’s orientation was before her AP test results were available, so she had to ask to change her schedule after the results came back). The counselors were difficult to reach at large state universities, but they did email back after 5-7 days usually.</p>
<p>In spite of how AP markets itself, some places might consider the regurgitation of facts on a big old standardized test inferior to actually taking the college class. And while institutional or departmental policy may allow a student to earn credit or get a higher placement, your child may have encountered a counselor/advisor/instructor who personally disagrees with the policy and encourages students to go ahead and take the freshman classes. in this case, the student may have to push the counselor to get what she wants, but in the end, counselor will need to go with policy.</p>
<p>Are these courses prerequisites to courses in the major? The counselor may have experiences that have shown him or her that students using the AP credit struggle in the next course up. In this case, you’d think the counselor would have explained the reasoning for the class selections.</p>
<p>Email again. Then maybe have D start calling.</p>
<p>My D is in the same situation with receiving scores after registration closed. She had to petition to the University that the credit “be brought in” and now she will have to wait until the drop/add period a few days before school. Let your daughter handle this. Although it may seem that classes are filling, there will be tremendous movement in availabilities during drop/add.</p>
<p>Neither child used AP credits to place out of college classes. S wanted to take the college classes (isn’t that what college is for?) as they looked interesting and not merely introductory. D’s college didn’t accept AP credits and after taking multi-variable calculus and cell biology, she was glad she couldn’t place out. For them, AP credit was worthless and I wished I saved the money for the tests. If they were going to colleges with a less competitive student body, I would probably feel differently.</p>
<p>DS’ AP “credits” helped them register as if they were in a class above, but for the mostpart they didnt use them to place out of classes in their major. They were advised to retake the calc/physics (both are engineering majors) and one was considering premed so retood the chem and bio (IIRC).</p>
<p>I suggest that she continue inquiring. If she cannot reach the counselor, an e-mail to the academic advising office (or whatever it’s called at that school) would be reasonable.</p>
<p>There can be good reasons for not placing out of courses that you could have placed out of because of AP credit. But there can also be good reasons for accepting AP credit. And there can be administrative reasons why mistakes could have been made in the planning of her schedule. It sounds as though the conversation she had with her counselor was not as thorough as it should have been. </p>
<p>Every college has its own policy when it comes to APs, and it can even differ from department to department. My daughter used APs to place out of the prerequisites to her major in a top-20 school, and it worked out just fine. YMMV.</p>
<p>As others have written, it depends on the school on what they accept and how. I had back in the dark ages 5’s on several tests, and my school gave me credit, but for example, wouldn’t let me out of the lit core requirement even though I did the AP lit with essay wth a 5…</p>
<p>For courses into a major, like calc or chem or physics, it could be that the majors track in the school is different, is more rapid, teaches in more depth, and they feel the AP is not enough to give good basis for the next course up, it all depends on the school. Most of the music programs, specifically conservatories, don’t use AP scores on music theory and most won’t give you credit for them, they do placement strictly by exam and a lot of kids that get 5’s on ap theory won’t get placed out of theory 1, for a number of reasons (among other things, AP theory may not cover what the school does in theory 1, the school could use different terminology and symbology, lot of reasons)</p>
<p>At my kid’s UG the bio and chem kids were strongly urged not to use their AP’s in their major. They wanted them trained their way.</p>
<p>
yup. That sounds about right.</p>
<p>I was also concerned when DD opted not to take credit for her AP calc that she had gotten a 5 on. She did opt to go right for chem II though. Her roommate did the exact opposite. DD was right on both counts. Apparently in the calc II class, it was assumed that everyone had taken BC calc instead of AB. Both DD and her roommate had taken AB and her roommate was quickly in trouble in calc II. Chem II was right where DD should have been, but her roommate taking chem I was bored to death.</p>
<p>My DDs mainly did not use AP to skip courses in their major, except one of them used BIO AP to skip intro BIO, the weeder class, and move on to advance upper division classes. She felt very confident and it worked fine. That same kid was grateful she chose not to skip Calc & Chem. It really depends on the proficiency and understanding of each subject plus the rigor of the class at your school</p>
<p>Both DDs knew kids who were forced to skip intro classes and wished they had not as well as kids who were not allowed to skip and wished they had.</p>
<p>YK, I used to have the philosophy that you should stretch yourself, but as I contemplate my kids going away and getting adjusted and all that, I don’t see what the big deal is if they wind up taking a class that they got a 5 in (that is, not accepting the credit). Life isn’t a race, and if they’d rather have a bit of review of Calculus or Chemistry or whatever while they adjust to college life, well, there are worse things they could do.</p>