<p>Hey!
I am a member of the class of 2018 at Vanderbilt. While I could not be more excited about attending college, I am a bit worried that I do not have any credits such as AP or IB. I study in India and we follow the CBSE curriculum which does not offer advanced courses at all. Having said that, academics are very difficult in India and barring a few minor differences, CBSE=AP/IB level. I wasn't able to take the AP exams because it wasn't fitting in my academic schedule. So, does having no credits and having to take all intro level classes put me at a major disadvantage at Vanderbilt, despite that fact that I am very familiar with the course material?
I am planning on either double majoring in Math and Econ or having an Econ major and a math minor.</p>
<p>No, it doesn’t put you at a disadvantage, you’ll just have to take a few more classes than those who can skip the intro levels. For example, if you have AP calculus, you can skip the two-semester sequence and go straight to (sophomore level) advanced calc; if not, you will have quite a bit of company in the freshman level classes. If some of the material is familiar, all the better, you can focus more effort on the more challenging classes.</p>
<p>@vandyman thanks! That’s reassuring :)</p>
<p>welcome to the Vanderbilt family, Sophie. If you are admitted, 100% --Vanderbilt is thrilled to have you and has confidence in your ability to take on the coursework. Is there an international admission counselor? we call them “adcoms” on this board. I am sure there are one or two people in admissions who are the first readers for your region in India. Perhaps they can direct you to the proper academic advisor on campus for admitted international students with directions re intro math and econ coursework. It would be natural for an international student to have curriculum questions and somehow I believe there is a system in place for you on campus.
There may also be upperclassmen/Vanderbilt VUcepters who will be greeting you and talking with you or a Facebook group for international Vandy admits.<br>
The chairman of the Econ department for instance may have a pathway that has been considered for you since you are not the first strong student from India to matriculate to Vandy. It is quite possible that they want you to do the intro classes for instance. I would be directing a polite email in more specific directions on campus. </p>
<p>I will tell you that our Vandy grad only made a 3 on his AP Spanish exam in his senior year in high school so he signed up for the SAT subject exam in Spanish in June of his senior year in high school and made a higher score and was able to skip the intro courses in Spanish and to move onward into picking up other courses to satisfy the language requirements at Vanderbilt. So perhaps you should be digging into whether or not a Subject SAT2 in June (if available) would help you out (ie Math Level 2). These are one hour exams but do require preparation from their prep books as they are just different from AP exams. Vandy son was tired of course and distracted at the end of his senior year of high school but studied the weekend before and was relieved to be out of some of the Spanish courses as he personally didn’t seem to have any talent there. He walked in and took the SAT2 Subject exam without being enrolled ahead of time…showed up very early and paid a bit more money and took a seat. At another college, (not Vandy), I recall that SAT subject exams were offered in a couple of subjects once you got on campus to help with placement. There may be placement exams offered on campus that we do not know about to help you start in the right place. </p>
<p>Lastly, AP coursework is being taught better than ever in the US and most Vandy students have had some AP courses. That does not mean that all of your American classmates had good AP instruction. In our city, 2s and 3s are very common for scores and interest in AP success is weak. There will be classmates who have taken 8 or 10 AP courses with 4s and 5s and there will be American classmates who have had only 2 or 3 or even no AP coursework at your side. There will be American students also getting up to speed is my point. No doubt your study skills in India are very sharp and study skills will help you succeed at Vanderbilt just like at home. </p>
<p>You will have your own academic advisor and they will definitely seek answers for you as you start enrolling in courses. Congrats.</p>
<p>I know someone at vandy who is in your exact, and I mean down to the letter, situation. She plans to do ECON and MATH and so far everything is working out for her (she is TAing for Buckles next year last I heard). All you have to do in order to graduate on time is take 15 hours a semester, which is about the average anyway. I would also recommend to take intro level calc classes because the vandy math department is hard and skipping the “A” section might leave you in a bad position to take the “B” part of the sequence. </p>
<p>@Faline2 thank you for taking the time out to help me :)</p>
<p>Yes, we do counselors. I will be assigned a CASPAR advisor to help me out with picking my courses.</p>
<p>I did take the Math level 2 subject test and I got a 790. We have been doing differentiation , integration, differential equations , applications of derivates and integrals so we have covered quite a bit of calculus in India. But I agree with you, maybe it’s better to start with the basics.</p>
<p>AP Econ is slightly more detailed than CBSE Econ, but the topics covered are the same. I am nearly done with studying some AP Econ books just to gain that extra knowledge 
I’ll talk to my advisor about this, as you had mentioned. Thank you for your advice :D</p>
<p>PS -they made me a CV scholar so I was just feeling guilty about not being at par with the other students. </p>
<p>@Subcomfreak I do agree with you. Maybe learning the basics from Vanderbilt’s excellent professors is better than skipping to the harder classes. Thanks for your help! :D</p>
<p>with your strong showing on the Math Level 2 subject test, I imagine you will have some choices offered to you re where to start in math. There are many old threads on this board on the subject of the pros and cons of doing the first calculus sequence vs moving ahead. I would search the last discussions out. On this board a current student with the handle “Pancaked” often posts detailed and informative answers, so go back in her posts. </p>
<p>Thanks! </p>
<p>I didn’t have any credits either. It’s not something you should get too worked up about. </p>
<p>Thanks @dtotheustin09 !</p>