Congratulations to your D! If she enrolled at UNC-Chapel Hill, she would get 13 credit hours for these scores (source), a savings of about $18,680 (i.e. a semester’s tuition for out-of-state students)!
Calculus AB: credit for Math 110P, Math 129P, and Math 231 along with 4 credit hours
English Lit: 3 credits for a general English elective
Music Theory: Credit for Music 121 and 3 credit hours
US History: Credit for History 102 and 3 credit hours
I think it’s easy to forget that most public colleges will grant college credit for AP scores of 3. I remember 20 or 30 years ago, there were very few people taking AP classes, and usually they only did so as seniors, or sometimes juniors. Now we have high school students taking so many courses designated as college-level, often as early as their freshman year in high school! And even if we’re disappointed at getting scores of less than a 3, it’s important to remember that our kids generally were doing a lot of work and studying throughout the school year. Even if it didn’t result in college credits earned, they’re better prepared for the material in college and have improved their study skills.
Congratulations to all the students who attempted AP classes and took the exams, no matter how their scores turned out!
I would 100% report that calc score. It will suggest that the grading in the class was hard and clear any concerns regarding preparedness. The other 4s and 5s as well. You don’t have to report the 3s and even if you did, upward trend is viewed very favorably. A 3 in 9th grade was during the pandemic. I’d have zero concerns about that one.
I think that this is something where there’s a lot of individual variation from 1 school to another. For example, elite universities are likely to not give you course credit for AP exams even if you get a 5. But overall, you can get course credit for a lot more than most people realize. And there’s a lot more colleges than the top 25. At 1 of the schools on D24’s list, her AP scores will get her credit for:
a lower division college writing class
1st semester US History
1st semester European History
2 biology classes
1 music theory class
Passing the French CLEP exam will get her 1-4 classes’ worth of credits, depending on the score achieved.
Plus, D24 is going to take the CLEP exam for 2nd semester US History, and almost all of the schools she’s applying to give course credit for this (and other) CLEP exam.
I’m really pleased because it’ll hopefully free up some wiggle room in D24’s course schedule in college. And maybe even save us a little $$, too.
From the ones we had looked at, they would be credited (I also just checked my daugther’s actual college transcript to confirm), but there may be limits as to how MANY credits can be brought in that way, and while the credits might count towards the total graduation requirement, they might not be applied towards any major (but possibly towards minors).
Kudos to them for getting started early! Do keep in mind the Common App rollover, though, which is in a couple of weeks. You might want to save all the info they’re putting on there in case it doesn’t rollover, otherwise it’d be a pain to put in everything again.
So exciting on the thread today! My D24 takes mostly DE classes due to the way her school is set up, but got a 4 on the one AP she did take (AP Lang). This was what she was expecting, and it will allow her to place into 2nd semester freshman comp at the college this fall.
S24 got all 4s (Physics 1, Calc AB, and Comp Sci A). I’m pretty happy with that because during the school year he would often take 2+ hours for a test his teachers said “should be” 1 hour (but no hard time limit). I wasn’t sure how that would translate to the AP test. S was disappointed because he thought he got at least one 5.
Does anyone know how colleges would deal with this situation:
Several of the colleges S24 is looking at will only give credit for Calc AB with a 5. The college where he does DE, however, will place him into Calculus 2 with a 4. Currently, he is planning to take Calculus 2 in the fall and Calculus 3 in the spring. Almost all the schools he is looking at, that don’t give credit for a 4 on the AP test, will take the DE transfer credit for Calc 2 and 3.
Would the schools just give him credit for Calc 2 & 3, with placement into Differential Equations, but no credit for Calc 1? What about majors where Calc 1 is one of the course requirements?
I do not think it will be an issue. D22 had an AP score cancelled last year due to a school technical problem - they administered the test at 12:30 PM but used the exam form designated for 8:00 AM on that date, so all tests taken for that class were cancelled. She just didn’t self-report a score for that test while reporting all other APs. No idea whether the schools knew what happened, but she was admitted RD to two of her reaches, so it didn’t hurt either way.
I would have him email an admissions representative at a few of the colleges to check. Usually a higher level will validate anything lower, and they will have the class on their high school transcript.
Hi everyone- First time posting here, have a DS24. We are from NC and he goes to a small public early college HS. He is a straight A student, responsible, organized and hardworking child. UW GPA 4.0 Weighed 4.45. His school joffered only 4 APs. He scored 5 in APUSh, 5 in Calc AB and 4 in AP Bio. Will take AP Lit his senior year.ECs are pretty normal.
He is an Eagle Scout, does Robotics, holds leadership roles in NHS, SO and is doing a paid internship at our local university.
ACT 36 (Science was 34 the rest was 36) First attempt.
SAT 1540 he was planning on taking it again this summer but dropped the idea after he got his ACT scores. PSAT index was 223 so he would qualify as NMS Semi finalist.
He would like to major in Computer Engineering + Data Science + Environment science so not really sure at this time LOL. Maybe he will pick one and minor in the other two.
His safety is UNC Charlotte, target is NCSU and super reach is Duke and Georgia Tech.
Does not have a strong preference about school size and would like to stay close to home so not even looking into West coast schools. We will not qualify for financial aid but cannot spend more than 40k /year ( less if possible)
Would love to hear from all you and add to the conversation.
S24 is thrilled with his 5s in Calc BC and Comp Sci A and 4 in English Language.
A 4 in English Language will exempt him from freshman comp at most of his schools of interest. The remaining school would have required him to take comp even if he had earned a 5.
Have you looked into the NMF schools? He would go to Alabama for free and get a bunch of perks. U Tulsa is another one that is often discussed but I don’t know about their engineering program. The Arizona schools also have big scholarships but that may be too far. U Maine also if that is within his geographical range. Duke is very unlikely to come in under budget, they have very few scholarships. What about Vanderbilt and the cornelius Vanderbilt scholarship?
To get more specific info and recommendations for your son (who has a great profile, by the way!), you might get more eyes on it by starting your own thread. Near the top right of your screen you will see a box that says “New Thread+” which will let your start a thread for your son.
@Serend24 We are in NC as well and sounds like D24 is at a similar type of school as your son. UNC Charlotte and NC State are on her list, maybe Duke but it doesn’t even have her major so I don’t know why, except that it’s Duke.
Have you done an NPC for Georgia Tech? I am not sure it will come in under 40K for an out of state student.
Thank you! Unfortunately Duke is really tough to get into in RD. We went to their open house for NC/SC students and were taken aback by the sticker price. Kiddo loves their BB team, i think that is part of why he was so interested to tour. We have a couple of friends who went there too. He loved it but came back a few days after the visit and said he should probably not even apply since it is expensive. So we ran the NPC and it was around 45k. Which would be a stretch unfortunately. He will apply for merit scholarships but those are very few. We checked the past winner profiles and were blown away by the accomplishments of those students.
Yes we are looking at the big money schools. DS is not sure if they would be any better than NCSU or UNC Charlott apart from free tuition. We are hoping to talk to alumni or visit once his internship is done to get a better idea.
I think that this is something where there’s a lot of individual variation from 1 school to another. For example, elite universities are likely to not give you course credit for AP exams even if you get a 5. But overall, you can get course credit for a lot more than most people realize. And there’s a lot more colleges than the top 25. At 1 of the schools on D24’s list, her AP scores will get her credit for: