Sorry if this is a stupid question, but once my kid has committed to a college, is there any downside to sending the school all her AP scores with the free score report offered by College Board?
For instance, if she decides she wants to take a lower level calculus class instead of testing out of it with her AP score, is that still generally allowed if the school has already received that score? (That is, can she send all scores, then pick and choose which AP scores she wants to use for class credit?)
Also, is there any downside to getting a bunch of course credit through APs and achieving sophomore or junior class status when she arrives on campus? Has anyone ever run into problems at the back end getting classes needed to graduate in a shorter amount of time or exceeding total credits allowed in certain instances?
She will probably also be in Honors courses that could limit her ability to use the credits — we will have to figure all that out.
But is there any reason not to just send the full score report to begin with?
Most, though probably not all, colleges allow taking a lower level course than one places into with an AP score. However, if the student is a pre-med, doing so will have to be reported as a repeated course on medical school applications, which will look like grade-grubbing to medical school application readers.
Beside the pre-med consideration, a student considering using an AP score for advanced placement may want to try the old final exam for the course allowed to be skipped to check knowledge against the college’s standards.
There are some colleges where upper level class standing results in higher tuition, and credit from AP scores counts for that (e.g. University of Michigan). Texas public universities also have a $1,000 rebate for graduating in the minimum number of credits (up to +3), where credit from AP scores in excess of 9 credits counts against that.
Also, be aware that higher class standing is not always better for class registration. At some colleges, high-demand introductory-level courses give registration priority to students with lower class standing, so that students who may need them as prerequisites to their majors get them before those (presumably) taking them as out-of-major electives of general education courses fill them up.
So you have to look at the specific college’s policies to make sure that the AP scores will give something useful, or at least be harmless.
Thank you! That’s exactly the kind of info I was looking for!
She does not have an interest in med school — are you aware of any other grad school programs that might frown on taking a class that could have been skipped?
Don’t know specifically, but if the professional school has undergraduate course requirements that could be skipped by AP credit, look into whether (a) using AP credit to fulfill the pre-(whatever professional school) course requirement is accepted or frowned upon, and (b) whether repeating AP credit for that pre-(whatever professional school) course requirement is frowned upon.
Also note that a college may have a policy that if you take a college course that substantially duplicates the material represented by AP credit, you will not get credit for both. This can affect calculation of credit toward the number needed to graduate, or class standing.
At my daughter’s school, junior status and above has a higher tuition. Parents carefully plan when to submit scores such that they don’t incur the higher rate any earlier than necessary.
Edited: Oh, I see that someone already mentioned this point. Sorry for the duplication.
The free score report includes senior year AP exams. They will be reported before the student knows what they got. Are there any downsides if a score of 1 or 2 is reported to the college you have committed to?
However, if the student is a pre-med, doing so will have to be reported as a repeated course on medical school applications, which will look like grade-grubbing to medical school application readers.
What do you mean by this? Is it that someone interested in premed shouldn’t submit the AP scores to the school (but the med school will see it anyway?)
It means that if a student gets AP credit for CHEM 101 but then takes CHEM 101 at the college anyway, the student will have to mark CHEM 101 as a repeated course on the medical school application.
oh, so its fine as long as chem101 wasn’t taken? does this apply for classes required for a major (but not for med school)? I’ve taken one dual enrollment class that I may have to retake in college, how will that look, especially if I say I did it in high school?
sorry for all these questions, but i don’t have much info on this process
Any course that is a repeat of another course or AP credit covering substantially similar material will have to be marked as such on the medical school application.
Skipping pre-med courses with AP credit has its own set of issues. See the sticky thread in the pre-med section of these forums.