I agree with @2Devils . Most out of state colleges will not accept DE classes. AP classes are universal and all colleges will accept them, but only if your student meets the minimum AP scores for that college. My S23 is taking 2 DE classes and 2 AP classes next year. He’s expressed that he’s only interested in in-state colleges - for now. Being that he’s only a sophomore and his preferences may change, he understands the pros and cons of taking DE classes.
Oh and by the way, my S23 is being inducted into NHS today!!! Happy Friday!
Especially the highly selective schools. They use AP for placement but don’t give any credit. My D17’s high school (same as my S23’s) doesn’t have AP/IB as it has a specialized project-based curriculum and I believe a number of other well regarded private schools are moving away from AP as well so all of these schools will have their own way of doing the same kind of placement in the absence of AP scores. My D was able to place ahead in math and to place out of language requirement with University placement tests.
Just to expand on this I believe what many of these schools will do will offer a more difficult version of the class that a student would normally place out of with AP so that they aren’t forced to redo material they already know. For example, my D17 had already taken Calc 3 in HS which is MAT 201 at Princeton but instead of taking MAT 202 Linear Algebra she chose to take MAT 203 which was a more proof-based version of Calc 3 to get a deeper understanding.
A further example: Physics, 103 - General Physics 1 is the standard class most would take:
Description
To understand the basic physics needed for further study in science and engineering. Logical, quantitative approach to problem solving. Applying fundamental concepts to idealized, practical problems.
but they offer Physics 105 - Advanced Physics (Mechanics) for those that had AP and felt they wanted more:
Description
PHY105 is an advanced first year course in classical mechanics, taught at a more sophisticated level than PHY103. A prior calculus-based physics course, such as AP physics C or an intro college-level course, is assumed. The approach of PHY105 is that of an upper-division physics course, with more emphasis on the underlying formal structure of physics than PHY103, including an introduction to modern variational methods (Lagrangian dynamics), with challenging problem sets due each week and a mini-course in Special Relativity held over reading period.
In the research into this I’ve done in the past few days since the topic came up here, the vast majority of public colleges (well, the vast majority of colleges, but especially public colleges) treat DE courses as regular transfer courses. Not sure where you’re getting the idea that most don’t.
And many of the colleges that don’t take DE courses also don’t take AP credits, at least not in terms of getting kids out of taking required courses (that is, as others have mentioned, they may be used for placement or as elective credit at those schools—but so would DE courses).
– I think DE classes are accepted at a LARGE majority of colleges. there are around 3000 colleges in the US; most are not ultra selective.
But like anything - you need to check!
we’ve ran into just a few hiccups with the 3 older kids: one NAIA college DE credit didnt transfer; and a community college on a quarter system didnt transfer. Otherwise, we’ve been thankful for the DE (and AP) credits.
Helping my s21 transfer DE and early college credits to Boston University. They will give credit for DE classes that were not required for graduation from high school. So fortunately his high school counted the AOPS math classes he took before entering as high school math classes, so he should get credit for his DE Calc 3 class.
Had the first track meet of the season. S23 did awesome and ended up with a first, second and third place medals in his events. It was a much needed self-confidence booster for him.
Mine has his first meet today. At our very small school we don’t have a track or a jumping pit, but he’s trying long jump, hurdles and the 200. He wasn’t too excited about track (he runs XC, but running around a track is not as fun for him), but we encouraged him to join in hopes he’d be attending practices with friends rather than coming home to lie in bed all afternoon after school! He took up the coach’s offer to skip practices over spring break, and did spend most of the week lying around, but seems committed to it now…
My son views track as conditioning for football. He prefers sprints. His running buddies are all xc kids but my son says heck no to distance running. They threw him into triple jump 4 days before the meet and he took 3rd. So now he’s motivated to learn more.
@2plustrio That’s awesome! Also, I just read that FAFSA rules are changing and instead of parent you live with being the one whose income you use, it’s parent who provides the most support by the time our kids are applying. Might not effect you but really effects us.
Theater seems to be coming back. Mine is in a community theater musical plus school stuff coming up. They are doing seating so spaced its empty. School is seating at 25% capacity and the community theater is seating at about 40% capacity. Everyone is masked the entire time, which doesn’t exactly make for good theater but at least it does reduce the time lying around in bed doing nothing. He might be smiling more. Hard to tell under the mask
@Theaterforme Legally (and realistically) I have majority physical placement. Ex does pay child support but I legally pay for a higher percentage of shared expenses (the court order reflects all this). Ex makes more than twice my salary so not sure how it will all play out by the time s23 has to apply for college. Fingers crossed it works out positively for the kid (as dad may choose to pay little to none of the college tuition even though we both contributed to a savings for the kids college fund while married, ex now “owns” that account and has given $0 to our oldest son so far). I attempted to address this in our last court case but the lawyers/judge refused to force him to contribute.
Good to hear theater is coming back for yours! The musical my son did in February is coming out on video streaming in 10 days so I am told. I have been dying to see it! They too were masked for performances but hey, its better than nothing.
So I’ve been awol for about six weeks - our dog ran away because an idiot neighbor set off fireworks in the middle of the day. Our dog is like one of my kids. So naturally we dropped everything to search for her. I took time off work. We devoted all waking hours to finding her. It took 15 days. But we finally found her, and she was none the worse for wear. It was an exhausting search, involving a lot of money, professional help as well as lots of help from hundreds of people, and I think we both ended up with a certain amount of PTS from the ordeal.
But I’ve been behind ever since, and am only now finding the time to catch up on less pressing things like, oh, S23 and college. Hahahah.
Luckily, our kids also pretty much put their lives on hold, as much as they could, and so there’s almost nothing to report there! My son had a get-to-know-you meeting with the school’s college counselor, and reported:
“She said I’m doing everything perfectly and I’m on the right track
And she’s happy with my list because it has a lot of range.”
He took the Pre-ACT.
He got his first Pfizer.
And that’s about it.
So good news for my D23! She took the ACT earlier this month as sort of a “real life practice” for taking it next year for real, and ended up with a 32—a very pointy 32 (math 26, science 30, English and reading 35), but still a 32.
She’s not targeting high-prestigiosity colleges (postcollegiate employment in her intended field is all about success in internship placements in college, not college name recognition), so even though she’ll be chasing Big Merit Aid™ she might well be one and done with that score.
nice score!
will she have to take it again through her school? after a year at her new school, it could go higher (. . . not that she especially needs that . . )
That’s awesome! I had my son take the PSAT this year and he did well enough as well. Should have had him take the SAT so we could be one and done also! Most good musical BFA programs are at schools that are not tough academically to get in, so scores like that get big merit.
@2plustrio I was less than happy about the FAFSA change. It definitely does not work to our advantage. I wish I had been thinking about college when we got divorced. I would have done things differently for sure. Off to check the 529 balance now!
My DD took the PSAT, ACT, SAT this fall- her ACT at 34 was one and done but she wants to take the SAT again as she has a goal score. And she loves standardized tests
I’m trying to remain calm but I found out today my contract might not be renewed so that would mean any chances at free tuition would disappear. Which means we are back to square one and my son might have to pick an instate public option just like millions of other students. It wouldnt be the worst thing in the world but I would still feel horrible knowing he had the chance and losing my job cost him choices.
