I’m not sure what department it would be for each school. In my son’s portal for Berkeley it has action items to send AP scores and transcripts and outlines how, when, and by whom those items will be evaluated for credit. I think if you called admissions they could point you in the right direction.
Non college vent.
Father in law smokes a ton of cigars. He just showed up for brunch in a sweater that looks like a cat peed on it but its actually just cigar smoke streaks. It smells so bad.
3 Likes
An integrated BS/MS degree generally doesn’t involve a Masters level thesis, but just some additional advanced courses. It isn’t necessary for admission to a PhD program for most well-prepared students who would pursue PhDs. However, it may help some graduates from lesser-known schools, particularly international students.
2 Likes
Thanks!
1 Like
That makes sense,Thanks!
1 Like
Many schools will list what AP credits they will take right online. Typically, more elite schools like JHU are somewhat stingy about giving AP credit— they often allow students to place into higher classes but won’t count AP towards graduation requirements. You should check with each school to get a sense of their policies.
3 Likes
Yes we are looking in the websites.
For example UMD needs 40 general credits and she has 19 credits which may count towards that. Overall it requires 124 credits and she has 19 credits if that is approved. Which is pretty good.
1 Like
Yea but my son has far more credits than needed. It’s more the course sequencing.
Hopefully it works out for you but I would not assume an early graduation until you can confirm it.
What happened is my son had flexibility to do a minor, almost two with various gen eds out of the way. Maybe even had enough room to double major.
But finishing engineering early wasn’t an option. He had one friend who graduated one semester early.
You’ll have to find your specific situation. I’m just saying find out for sure vs assuming.
Best of luck.
6 Likes
I agree that’s why we are trying to research and then confirm with respective schools before making the decision.
I’m assuming my son will not be able to finish a physics degree early because of the major course sequence. He has 64 units of dual credit and AP credit so he should have a lot of flexibility in his schedule to take a light load and take classes he’s interested in.
6 Likes
Update on S23’s decision process. He plans to major in mechanical or materials engineering. It has been interesting to watch him eliminate schools for various factors, and especially interesting to me how many of the higher ranked or more reachy schools have fallen off the list because they aren’t as strong in the things he actually cares about.
Still on the short list: Oregon State, UC Davis, Cal Poly SLO. He thinks it is between the first two… but hasn’t visited Cal Poly yet (that will be next week)…
Eliminated: UMN-TC, UW Seattle, UCSD, UCSB, UCI, UCSC, Pitt, Ohio State, UConn, UBC, U of Toronto, McGill, CWRU, Northeastern
19 Likes
You picked a good collection of schools in terms of not overtly capping AP credit. I was surprised JHU didn’t list a cap like many of its peers due. My kids all had 12+ courses of AP test credits but all went to different schools that effectively capped use of them to 4 tests or less.
1 Like
Same. Good job to your kid. I’m impressed by mine for not falling into the rankings rabbit hole.
6 Likes
For all that I talk about how much I loathe USNWR here, it’s worth pointing out when they provide a valuable service—and one of those is related to this: They provide diversity index scores for all of the colleges they list.
The lists are non-searchable, which is annoying, but if you scroll down long enough to get to the colleges you’re interested in you can easily enough get the number, it just may take a couple minutes if the score is low.
To explain the statistic: It’s the probability that if you took two random students, they would differ in at least one racial or ethnic classification. (I’m pretty sure international counts as different from domestic in this, but I’m not 100% certain about that.) Note that this defines diversity statistically rather than colloquially—it’s not the proportion of minority populations, it’s the mix of different populations. This means that a 100% white non-Hispanic domestic student body would have a diversity index score of .00, and a 100% Black non-Hispanic domestic student body would have the identical score.
Anyway: Pitt’s diversity index score is .49, Alabama’s is .37.
4 Likes
According to CDS Bama is 80.7% white.
According to CDS, UVM is 83.1% white.
I think people view these two differently when you look at ‘lean’.
Not saying 80 or 83% is diverse or not.
But let’s make sure we are looking at all schools.
Surely many are 80% white. Are we excluding them too ?
2 Likes
For those who want AP or DE credit to lighten the load, check the school’s policies if you’ve gotten in Honors or gotten a merit award. For instance at UMD, you’re required to have a minimum number of credit hours per year for certain merit awards.
“Recipients of this scholarship must
- register for a minimum of 12 credits per semester,
- maintain a minimum 3.20 cumulative grade point average (GPA), and
- successfully complete 30 credits per academic year.
- The student should average 15 credits per semester over the fall and spring semesters to meet the 30 credit requirements.”
2 Likes
If you check their website, specifically for her major, and they grant credit for her AP classes, she may be able to do a typical 4+1 BS/MS in 4 years.
Graduate degrees in STEM are usually funded, meaning tuition and a living stipend.
We went to JHU for admitted students day. It was great and really we all liked the college. They did a fabulous job. Served food under a tent with tables set up for various JHU groups such as health/wellness, counseling services, and residential life. DC was able to attend classes. Really great day with beautiful weather.
Then went to an admitted students reception at Georgetown that evening. Took 2 hours to get there from JHU, but it’s to be expected in rush hour. Just saying, really different vibe. Lots of guys in blazers and heels for the women. There were 4 open bars and finger foods. So I realize they were different types of events but wow! Enjoyed the motivational speaker who is the incoming basketball coach. We’re still waiting on the financials from Georgetown.
We’ll visit UPenn this week and then we’ll be done w all visits. Closer and closer but not there yet. If anyone can give insight into Penn, please share. I believe it’s high on the list right now (maybe).
4 Likes
Thanks for this. For D25, diversity is very important to her in a college choice.
7 Likes
I mentioned upthread that D23 sent off a lovely, personal email to her top two choices inquiring if there were any more merit $ to be had, and listed 2-3 comparable schools that had given her larger scholarships and were net less expensive. She heard back from her first choice school a day later and they said they would let her know by the end of the week. On Thursday they followed up with an email and offered an additional $2,000 per year, bringing their merit to 20K. Not a massive additional amount but it does change the equation from that school being the most expensive to right in line with the other schools she is seriously considering.
She has a summer job that should pay around 8K for the summer - we talked about how there is a lesson in this somewhere. That she will work for 8 weeks this summer to earn about the same amount that this one email yielded. School number 2 directed her to a portal to upload her other offers but she and her dad were away skiing last week and we have not pursued. She seems pretty set on school number one. Hoping to have everything sorted by the end of next week.
6 Likes