<p>As DD1 is starting her 4th semester in Architecture (4+2) I have started the obligatory degree plan spreadsheet to make sure she's taking the right electives for her grad school applications (courses that her likely target grad schools will need to see that she took as an undergrad), she satisfies the goofy 'core curriculum' of a dozen courses from a dozen different areas, plus to make sure she maintains her stellar GPA (helicopter parent galore, I know :). I doubt the adviser does this for sophomores, and DD1 has no idea what a degree plan looks like). So, a few questions:</p>
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<li><p>Let's say the student needs to take course XYZ 200 which is a 'required elective' meaning it's not in the official registrar listing of required courses but is required informally by the department. XYZ 200 has pre-requisite XYZ 100. Can you get credit for both, especially if you did NOT need to take XYZ 100 due to high school coursework? I.e. Can a prerequisite be used as credit even tho you did NOT need to take the prerequisite? Her advisor agreed with her decision to take XYZ 100 even if she did not need to do so... I'm just asking if this is ever done in which case it is worthwhile to ask, or if nobody does it, no reason to aggravate the advisor. XYZ 100 is normal college level, not remedial :)) level.</p></li>
<li><p>As GPA management is crucial (no reason to drop the magna from cum laude) grades in electives outside one's major are super-critical. A lot of courses sound very easy (psych 101, anthro 101, and the like as required by their 'core curriculum') till you realize that the class has a 40% final or that the class has 50% worth of several term papers that are graded by the TA de jour, not the prof. Since [url=<a href="http://www.ratemyTA.com%5Dratemyta.com%5B/url">http://www.ratemyTA.com]ratemyta.com[/url</a>] does not yet exist, and TA's in some off the beaten path departments may take a dim view of outsiders, getting A's in such off the wall courses may be iffy. So, is taking a bunch of courses Pass/Fail bad for you for grad school?</p></li>
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<p>I'm not asking lightly. My undergrad transcript has a bunch of C's that should not have been (C's in classes like Geography 101, Tennis, or Accounting) and I don't want DD1 to deal with this... My experience was that there were different types of students taking such 'gen-ed' courses, i.e. the 12-crediters First National Bank of Dad trust fund babies, the 21-crediters from other majors like me, or the 18-crediters who had this class in their major and knew what they were doing. I did wise up and took bowling and some other gen-ed courses that were fun and easy A's (Anthropology / Musicology, spend a semester playing Elbonian Rock on the college radio station an hour a week :)).</p>
<p>Was the high school coursework evaluated for credit by the college within 1 year of matriculation? If yes, no problem. If no due to the course not being accepted for credit or sometimes not being submitted for evaluation within 1 year of matriculation, you’re chances of getting credit are exceedingly dim.</p>
<p>Also, if prior knowledge was demonstrated by placement exam such as foreign language or math placement exams, you won’t usually get credit for that knowledge IME. You’ll just be placed in the higher-level course. </p>
<p>Just going by how things worked at my LAC and a some universities my friends attended as they sometimes asked me similar questions. </p>
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<p>If the courses are related to one’s major, related field, or part of the core grad school/department admission requirements, yes. </p>
<p>If the courses are none of those abovementioned, no.</p>
<p>If you mean that the college accepts AP credit or something like that to fulfill XYZ 100, then it would make sense that the student can take XYZ 200 and be done with the sequence of XYZ 100-200, though it would be a good idea to review the XYZ 100 final exams before deciding, in order to make sure that the student knows what the college expects XYZ 100 students to know. (Of course, if the graduate school is like medical school, it may want to see actual college courses, not AP credit, in which case the student would have to take a more advanced course in the subject if s/he skipped a pre-med course with AP credit.)</p>
<p>But it seems that the student herself should be planning her course plan and making sure that she is on track to graduate and be prepared for any post-graduation plans.</p>
<p>DD1 had scored high enough on the standardized test (SAT) to not have to take the course ‘officially’ (i.e. the prerequisite for XYZ 200 said XYZ 100 or SAT score of such and such which DD1 had). DD1’s adviser said she could take it but did not elaborate if it was for credit and we did not ask at the time. The rationale for letting DD1 take the course was that DD1 had not touched the stuff in 1 1/2 years and going straight to XYZ 200 would be hard…</p>
<p>The Pass/Fail candidate courses are all outside the major… So we should be relatively OK there.</p>
<p>It would be nice if DD1 herself did the planning but it’s one of these things that I’ve done enough times so… Last time I let anyone do it themselves it cost an extra summer in college (Mrs. Turbo’s ‘what is Liberal Arts and why do I need it’ :)).</p>
<p>Does your school have a system that van provide this information? D’s school system does. My helicoptering is limited to making sure she is taking the classes at the right time.
As far ad prerequisites, d did not have to take some classes based on ap score. This meant she did not have to take a core class and met the requirement. if this class was a prerequisite she took the 200 class. Depending on how the requirement was expressed this was enough. For instance, if the requirement is a 200 level foreign language and she got credit from the ap test she is done.</p>
<p>Some schools have a limit on the number of pass/fail credits a student can accumulate. I would check that out before signing her up for a bunch of them.</p>
<p>If I were her, I’d recommend she get the lower level course’s syllabus, borrow the books used in the course, and then do a quick review. </p>
<p>If she passes muster, great. If not, take the course. </p>
<p>I did precisely that for several courses when i felt I didn’t want to repeat much of what I covered in HS/outside readings during my adolescent/teen years.</p>
<p>DD1 ended up taking both XYZ 100 and 200 after discussion with her adviser. The only catch is whether the prerequisite XYZ 100 can be counted for credit even though she did not need to take it based on SAT score.</p>
<p>At most colleges, retaking a course that one could have skipped with high-school-based credentials still allows for full credit, but may cause any credit given for the high-school-based credentials to be removed. But the specific college may have different policies.</p>
<p>You do realize that most people won’t be able to help you with your question without the specific school and courses. People can make guesses (e.g. usually SAT scores do not give placement, except for foreign language (SAT subject) or placement out of remedial English and math), but the guesses may not help you.</p>