<p>Wow. So many people with so many AP's. I myself had 15 by junior year, with a lot self-studied ones (I know a lot of schools don't even allow people to take AP exams without classes, and don't allow people to take said classes until junior year).</p>
<p>In retrospect, I really don't think it was worth it. College board and Siemens gave me a piece of paper congratulating me on spending God knows how much money. </p>
<p>And what's more, I think I'm only placing out in Physics and math, because I really don't think any other APs could come close to a rigorous course at MIT. While it looks impressive to have a long list of APs, there are other things you could do with all that time (and money!)...</p>
<p>Well, for 5s on humanities APs you get 9 units of general elective credit. It won't pass you out of anything, but it will help if you want to double-major! Yay.</p>
<p>
[quote]
And what's more, I think I'm only placing out in Physics and math, because I really don't think any other APs could come close to a rigorous course at MIT. While it looks impressive to have a long list of APs, there are other things you could do with all that time (and money!)...
[/quote]
Then again, if you're in a less-than-competitive state where you can have a good shot at the Siemens AP award, the $2000 from that makes up for exam fees pretty quickly. I doubt that AP classes come close to MIT ones in any subjects, least of all physics and math, but they are a useful means of proving knowledge (and some level of ability) in a wide range of fields.</p>
<p>And whirlwind, I really hope you get the scholarship! I'm rooting for you - we'll just keep our fingers crossed.</p>
<p>Okay, I might as well add a few random philosophical musings on AP tests. What I think is cool about the idea of "self-studied" AP tests is that they offer an outlet to kids who like to learn new subjects that aren't available at their schools. Sure, regardless of APs, students can learn whatever they want, and from an idealistic standpoint we'd assume just that, but we can't discount college admissions entirely. There should be some concrete and meaningful way for students to say "I really love this subject and I've spent my own time on it," and AP tests - while not perfect by any means - help to fill that void.</p>
<p>What don't I like about AP tests? First, when compared with the curriculum and standards at a place like MIT, they're ridiculously easy. They resemble shallow first-year survey courses (not a surprise - those are what AP tests were created to emulate), covering lots of material in almost no depth. How can 65% on so many tests scale to a 5? Don't get me wrong - there's nothing inherently bad about low percentage scores being "good," and many of the most challenging, worthwhile tests have ridiculously "low" cutoffs for high scores (take the Putnam competition). But these tests have low average scores because the questions are difficult, and that's not the case on AP exams. AP questions are, taken on an individual basis, quite easy, indicating that low scores actually result from the sheer volume of material covered. I don't think that's a productive setup.</p>
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Well, for 5s on humanities APs you get 9 units of general elective credit. It won't pass you out of anything, but it will help if you want to double-major! Yay.
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lol... I'm upset that we can't triple major anymore. A friend and I definitely wanted to do math/physics/EECS, haha.</p>
<p>Well, you can still do math/physics/EECS, you just can't get three degrees anymore. But what's more important, actually getting the degree or getting the knowledge and experience it represents?</p>
<p>Do they still have national winners in the Siemens AP awards?</p>
<p>With the changes in the past two years, it's no longer worthy to aim for that award. First they moved the announcement to Spring, so most winners cannot put it on college apps. Now they dilute the awards with more winners, although it probably gets harder to win in states like California and Texas.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Well, you can still do math/physics/EECS, you just can't get three degrees anymore. But what's more important, actually getting the degree or getting the knowledge and experience it represents?
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Yeah, this is true, and it's generally reassuring. We could just turn one of them into a "minor," even though we satisfied the major requirements. To be completely honest, we partly just thought it would be cool to have three degrees. Not the most mature attitude, I know... ; )</p>
<p>Haha, don't let me pretend to be above liking the idea of >1 degree. If I were so high and mighty, I could have just gotten an official minor in biology instead of busting my chops to double (ie I could have taken all the classes I'm interested in, but wouldn't have had enough credit outside the GIRs to double without taking UROP for credit three times).</p>
<p>The idea of dancing at graduation with multiple diplomas is really alluring.</p>
<p>hmm... I wonder how many units of credit beyond the GIRs someone double majoring in something and EECS and then doing the M.Eng. in EECS would need. It looks like 270 total are needed just for the M.Eng. in EECS (at least according to this semi-cryptic sentence):
[quote]
A total of 90 units (66 units including 42 Grad-H units, 36 of which must be in Course VI, plus 24 units of Thesis), and 180 undergraduate units beyond the General Institute Requirements.
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But then you already need 270 units beyond the GIRs to get a double undergraduate degree... so if you majored in something other that EECS too, it's not entirely clear how much credit you would need.</p>
<p>hmmm... well, it looks like I could probably get a double degree in economics and EECS (with M.Eng) with a minor in math (one that satisfied the major requirements), but I'd have to take an average of slightly more than 5 classes a term, plus get out of a few things with advanced standing (but these would be math things that I'm already plenty familiar with - the calc sequence, differential equations, linear algebra). lol... that might be a fairly insane plan.</p>
<p>edit... sorry, I'm afraid that I've diverting this thread from its intended purpose. I'll head to the "what can I tell you?" thread instead.</p>