True. The ECs were mostly Greek membership related.
2 Likes
Could be to pay for school and/or experience or as some universities put it “experiential education.”
Mine is doing 12 hours this semester because 1) has a lot of AP credits but doesn’t want to graduate early because then 1/2 of college experience would be online at home.
2) is doing a 15-20+ hour per week internship in her major field. She could get 3 credit hours added to her transcript for it, but with AP already has more than needed to graduate on time and why pay more for the credit hours than she is making at the internship.
3 Likes
Is there a credit limit that includes AP credit at the college that would require graduation after crossing?
I totally get that. Mine came in with about 40 credits but she has no interest in graduating early. Her program requires a minimum of 12 hours per semester. She usually signs up for 18 or so per semester just so she can takes extra classes that she’s interested in. If not for those credits she wouldn’t have that opportunity and why not take advantage of all those courses the school offers while she can? Sometimes she also has dropped an extra class if she doesn’t like it which by taking the extra hours also allows her to do.
Her major requires a paid internship for a semester during fall of senior year so she won’t be taking classes that semester but she’ll be working her butt off in other ways and making a good chunk of money so I guess that’s the trade off.
Their dad graduated a year early from college but in his case he was going on to medical school and had much more schooling. In this one’s case no reason to graduate early and I have encouraged her to stay all 4 years and take advantage and enjoy all her program has to offer!
3 Likes
It’s UNC. I do not believe so. The only maximum referenced in graduation requirements is maximum of 45 credit hours in any one subject area can be used. Many students double major, major + 2 minors, etc and a number of them change majors. Many come in with plentiful AP credits too.
This^^^^.(your last comment) . Not sure how you get 40 credits that actually all transfer but my son could of graduated a semester early but with his engineering degree he also had 2 minors. He loves his business classes… Says their fun (from your comments above). He took about 18 credits each semester but he is in his last semester and only has 13. Sooo much extra time… He worked all 4 years and like… Lots of extra time… 
… But somehow still to busy to text us back 
2 Likes
I don’t fully understand the rational behind not taking a full set of courses because of AP credits if tuition is fixed and already paid for (not based on the number of credits), unless, of course, the student has other better opportunities (or the need to work part-time). AP courses are generally inferior, with some exceptions at some schools, to corresponding college courses even if AP credits are given for them. If the student doesn’t want to repeat these courses, there’re always other more interesting college courses that the student can take.
3 Likes
nvm
Can we move off of AP credits, Bright Futures changes (which already has a thread), SAT for employment anecdotes, and similar OT posts please?
Sadly, these kids also fall into a gap. Their abilities are high but their options are low.
I watched the Mars landing yesterday. It was a great way to see the diversity of scientists on the project.
How many kids are we losing each year because public education is failing? Not only those who need extra help but those who can work at NASA. Makes me so sad. The path is too narrow for kids. Parents who can afford it, send their kids to private schools or online college classes. The rest are forced to navigate and compete for a tiny number of spots in specialty programs.
If we don’t invest in public education it will only get worse.
@happytimes2001 - i agree that public schools need help. we just left our low SES public school system after 18 years of being a champion and supporting it. There are definitely some changes that should be in place.
but we didnt necessarily leave because of the education - my 3 oldest out of HS+ are doing great - we left because of the lack of family support from other families. The kids at the schools are getting the same opportunities; its the lack or inability to have family support for some of the struggling kids. This affects everything. The schools and teachers try hard (from free transport, breakfast/lunch year round/ free ipads with internet, free tutoring etc) but the family life doesnt always support education. Getting buy-in from families poses an uphill battle for the schools.
How to do that?
2 Likes
The YMCA model can work. Getting kids to be peer tutors, bringing in local college students to help with inspiration and even on college apps. Workshops led by volunteers who are parents and student to fill in gaps. Tiny baby steps.
2 Likes
To be clear, my earlier “suggestion” was not a request. 3 posts deleted.
@MWolf “and are not getting grades, and are not graduating, based on the results of a series of standardized tests”
Factually incorrect as that definitely depends on the major, they may not be national standardized tests but for sure college or dept. For STEM majors, as the OP mentions, you’ll be taking lots of tests at least in the first couple years of college. And each stem major typically has another weed out class, like organic chemistry fore pre-meds, which is again based on tests. And if you do well there, guess what another test - the MCAT.
Whether you graduate with a degree in a stem major depends on tests, there’s no other way around that.
1 Like
Not just STEM majors! I mean, English majors aren’t going to do well if they can’t get past, say, critical theory, music majors aren’t going to do well if they can’t get past music theory, and so on.
Of course, these fields don’t generally have standardized tests associated with completing them successfully—but then again, unless a student is going to graduate or professional school, neither do STEM majors (except for those engineering fields where PE licensure is important).
So saying that success in STEM majors depends on tests, well, yes? But only in the sense that one takes exams while a college student and has to pass them to keep progressing through any program. They aren’t standardized in the way the SAT/ACT is, though—at most, they’re standardized across sections of the same course at a single university.
2 Likes
English,(and non-stem) majors are more likely to write papers than exams at many colleges.
There is an assumption here that not getting a tippy top SAT score means a student has an issue with test taking in general. I don’t agree with that. If that was true, TO admits would perform worse in college than their peers, however, any data available on that topic shows that there is very little difference between TO and other students.
3 Likes
Right, but they’ll have had exams in other courses.
Except perhaps at a very few LACs, exams will happen for every student in connection with their college education, regardless of major.
But not standardized exams.
I don’t quite get the distinction. Is it because standardized exams are multiple-choice exams?
No, I’m just drawing a distinction between standardized exams (because they’re the topic of the thread) and the sort of exams most college students face.
Once someone gets to college, the only reason they’ll ever take a standardized exam along the lines of the SAT/ACT again is if they’re going to graduate or professional school, or if they’re in one of the few fields with test-based professional licensure (e.g., some engineering fields).
I pointed that out mainly in response to an assertion upthread that I read as saying that standardized exams like the SAT/ACT are useful for college admissions, because college is basically prep time for standardized exams like the MCAT and GRE and so on. My main point is that it’s only a quite small minority of college students who will end up ever facing such standardized exams ever again after the SAT/ACT.
1 Like