<p>If I enter with the maximum 9 credits from AP exams, that means I'll need 26 courses to graduate. Assuming I take 4 courses per semester and 1-2terms break, I can graduate in 2-2.5years. However, I'm confused with the whole D-plan stating that one has to be in residence for 3-4years. Anyone can clarify this?</p>
<p>You are only allowed to take 4 courses for three terms total (terms are in quarters, not semesters :) ), and you also are required to be on campus freshman fall-spring and senior fall-spring. About the AP credits...are you positive you can get 9 credits? I think some of them might only be exemptions...Anyway, I don't think Dartmouth really wants you to graduate in 2.5 years, and I think it would be pretty tricky/impossible to pull off. Any reason for the rush?</p>
<p>Sorry, I was still typing as Kelsey was posting, but to piggy back on what she said...</p>
<p>You need to keep the following in mind:</p>
<p>From Dartmouth's ORC </p>
<p>I. A student must fulfill the academic requirements of the College and must, as an absolute minimum, complete six terms in residence, registered and enrolled in courses. (Terms spent elsewhere while enrolled in absentia in the various Dart-mouth off-campus programs do not serve for any part of this requirement, nor do exchange or transfer programs.) A student must be in residence for all three terms of the first year, for the summer term following the sophomore year, and for the fall, winter, and spring terms of the senior year, in every case being registered and enrolled in courses. A student will normally be enrolled for twelve terms, but will be allowed thirteen if two of these are summer terms.</p>
<p>Every student is required to be in residence, registered and enrolled in classes in the fall, winter, and spring terms of the senior year (the fourth year after matriculation or the last year if a student is a later graduate). If a student is able, through some combination of advanced standing and extra-course terms, possibly with one or more transfer terms, to satisfy all other requirements in fewer than eleven terms (of residence [R], Dartmouth off-campus study [O], and official Dartmouth exchange programs [X]), the student is not subject to the senior residence requirement. He or she may graduate on completion of all other requirements during the junior year or may attend, if preferred, in chosen terms of the senior year.</p>
<p>Students not able or intending to graduate in fewer than eleven terms must recognize that the ability to complete all other requirements by the end of eleven or twelve terms does not free them from any part of the fall/winter/ spring senior residence requirement. Accordingly in planning and modifying their enrollment patterns students should be careful to be on leave sufficient terms in the sophomore and junior years to avoid having an overall twelve-term pattern when eleven terms would have sufficed, or a thirteen-term pattern when only twelve terms were required.</p>
<p>Regarding your taking 4 courses: </p>
<p>A student may without permission or extra charge undertake during a college career a 4-course load up to a maximum of 3 times. (that will only knock off one term)</p>
<p>You must also see if your AP courses meet your distribution requirement.</p>
<p>Courses satisfying distributive requirements must be taken subsequent to college matriculation. Credits received prior to matriculation, even for courses which would qualify for one or more of these requirements if taken after matriculation, do not count, even though they receive course credit or advanced placement credit.</p>
<p>Changes with the class of 2009 will be that freshmen will no longer be exempt from English 5- freshman writing (where in the past you were able to get an exemption based on AP & SAT scores), so you will have to take English 5 / first year seminar</p>
<p>Also keep in mind that :</p>
<p>You may not get out of math (depending on your AP grade in calc BC you may be placed in Math 8 or Math 11, but I don't think that you totally get out of it)</p>
<p>I don't think you will get out of the Lab science, as you will take the placement test for Honors bio (bio 19)or Honors chem (Chem 10) which are open only to freshmen.</p>
<p>You may have to test out of the language requirement as there are 3 terms of language.</p>
<p>Language: Foreign language courses numbered 1, 2, and 3; or proficiency equivalent to three terms of study in one foreign language at the college level, or fluency in some language other than English. A student must demonstrate the ability (1) to read with understanding representative texts in a foreign language; and in the case of a modern foreign language, (2) to understand and use the spoken language in a variety of situations. Every student will take qualifying tests upon entrance. If the student passes these examinations, he or she will have fulfilled the Foreign Language Requirement. </p>
<p>Hope this helps</p>
<p>AP credits do not count toward the distributive requirement; sybbie's post was somewhat ambiguous on this point.</p>
<p>Note for the following post (for people reading this who aren't familiar with the system): Dartmouth does credits kind of weird, and 1 class always equals 1 credit. You need 35 classes/credits to graduate. </p>
<p>Okay... Some departments--not many--will grant you credit for your APs. I entered with only two actual credits, both in the history department. You get credits for 5s on AP US and AP Euro. AP art history you just get exempted from Art History 1 and 2 (not really that helpful). If you get a 4 or 5 on an AP foreign language you are exempted from your Dartmouth foreign language requirement, but you do not get Dartmouth credit for it unless you pass the Dart exam during orientation (it's hard; most people don't pass). Even then you only get 1 credit, even though actually taking those classes at Dartmouth would amount to three credits. Getting a 5 on either English AP and 700+ on SAT verbal, or just 770 on SAT verbal, used to exempt you from English 5, but it won't for next year, as Sybbie said. I mentioned all of the APs that I know about; I don't know what ones you're taking. Any math/science people on here will have to tell you about others, because I don't know how the credit for those is parcelled out.</p>
<p>According to their website
<a href="http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7Efrstyear/work/policies/precredit.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.dartmouth.edu/~frstyear/work/policies/precredit.html</a>
"The number of pre-matriculation credits that first-year students may apply toward their degree is limited to nine."</p>
<p>Also it seems that Dartmouth's pretty generous towards giving exemptions/credits for AP exams.
<a href="http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7Efrstyear/work/policies/apexams.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.dartmouth.edu/~frstyear/work/policies/apexams.html</a></p>
<p>Assuming that I take 4 courses for three quarters and 3 courses per quarter to finish the remaining requirements, and take 2 quarters for a break, I'd still be able to graduate in 10quarters or exactly 2.5years. (Note: On the assumption that it takes 26 courses to graduate after all the transfer credit.)</p>
<p>Although according to the D Plan rules, I need at least 12 terms of academic study ( <a href="http://www.dartmouth.edu/apply/generalinfo/overview/dplan.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.dartmouth.edu/apply/generalinfo/overview/dplan.html</a> ). I thought this was absurd if I need only 26 courses to graduate. </p>
<p>Well I'd like to graduate early so that I can start work earlier and pay lesser for college. Heh I think I'm too practical for my own good. Anyway I appreciate all the comments so far. Keep them coming!</p>
<p>ETA: Do you need to pay tuition fees for your leave terms?</p>
<p>"There is a good deal of variation among the departments when it comes to the recognition granted for college-level work completed prior to matriculation."</p>
<p>That's the catch. I don't think you can get 9 credits from APs alone (I got credit for 1/3 of my APs, even with high scores) and they really make it as hard on you as possible to tranfer college credit. I took 3 classes at Stanford summer college prior to matriculation, but you need to present the syllabus, official transcript, course description, etc. to the head of whatever department the class falls under before you can receive the credit. And then the head decides whether or not the course fits in with Dartmouth's curriculum, and whether or not they feel like giving you credit. Some departments are lenient, others will practically never give you credit. It's hit or miss. I took the Stanford classes the summer after my junior year of hs, so I'm not sure how I should now go about getting my hands on the syllabi. It could possibly be an extra term of credit, or possibly I could make a ton of phone calls, send tons of e-mails, get my hands on all of the materials I need to present, and have them tell me it doesn't matter. <em>Sigh</em> </p>
<p>But being at Dartmouth for four years isn't exactly a punishment! ;)</p>
<p>(Oh, and no, you don't pay tuition for leave terms. You do pay tuition, however, for study abroad terms.)</p>
<p>I was just looking through the credits/exemptions list...I guess you can get 9 credits. Bio, math, chem, compsci, psychology, etc. Too bad I'm a humanities person. Oh, and just fyi--the exemptions don't really mean anything.</p>
<p>Hey Wisconsinguy,</p>
<p>happy holidays to you hope all is going well. Sorry, if you thought I was boing ambiguous, it was Dartmouth :)</p>
<p>The statement:</p>
<p>Courses satisfying distributive requirements must be taken subsequent to college matriculation. Credits received prior to matriculation, even for courses which would qualify for one or more of these requirements if taken after matriculation, do not count, even though they receive course credit or advanced placement credit.</p>
<p>was taken directly from the ORC.</p>
<p>I tend to agree with Kelsey that the exemptions may really not mean anything, because it may exempt you from some of the courses, but if your prematriculation credit can not be used to satisfy the distribution requirement, I think that you AP courses, may just eliminate some of the "lower level" courses.</p>
<p>Where I am a little confused is in the link:</p>
<p>Where it specifically says that</p>
<p>Pre-matriculation credit may not be used to fulfill General Education (Distributive or World Culture) requirements, with the exception of all or part of the language requirement and English 5.</p>
<p>So from this statement I am getting that you can only get credit for English, and language (and with the class of 2009, you will no longer be ale to get credit for english 5 because everyone will have to take writing).</p>
<p>General Education Requirements (Class of 2008 and later classes): There are two separate requirements under this heading: World Culture Requirement, and Distributive Requirement. These requirements are outlined below, and are explained in detail (including the codes used to designate which courses fall into which categories) beginning on page 77.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>World Culture Requirement. Each student must take and pass one course in each of three areas: Western Cultures, Non-Western Cultures, and Culture and Identity.</p></li>
<li><p>Distributive Requirement. Each student must take and pass ten courses, as follows:</p></li>
</ol>
<p>one in the Arts;</p>
<p>one in Literature;</p>
<p>one in Systems and Traditions of Thought, Meaning, and Value;</p>
<p>one in International or Comparative Study;</p>
<p>two in Social Analysis;</p>
<p>one in Quantitative and Deductive Sciences;</p>
<p>two in the Natural Sciences;</p>
<p>one in Technology or Applied Science.</p>
<p>One of the courses in the Natural Science or Technology categories must have a laboratory, field, or experimental component.</p>
<p>Overall, you may be putting the cart before the horse because an AP course taken in H.S. does not nearly cover the depth and breath of a subject the same way a college course does (which is why many elite schools are looking to no longer take AP credits).During orientation, you'll have to take the dartmouth placement test fro some courses anyway so in the ind it will work it self out.</p>
<p>Yeah, sybbie, you covered it pretty well in the second part of your post, but the first part said: </p>
<p>"You must also see if your AP courses meet your distribution requirement," which might have made it a bit unclear.</p>
<p>As for Kelsey's post, "You get credits for 5s on AP US and AP Euro." Yes, but starting with the class of 2008, those are unspecified credits which count toward graduation but not toward the major. Credit for specific courses (1 and 4) stopped with the class of 2007.</p>
<p>Hmm I believe the 35 courses is split into: 1/3 in your major (that's about 12 courses), 10 compulsory general electives, and the remaining 13 courses you can take anything you want? So one can always substitute his pre-matriculation credits towards these 13 courses, am I right?</p>
<p>I wonder if anyone (besides me) enters Dartmouth with zero credits! We didn't have much in the way of APs, and I had no clue what IBs were before I came here.</p>
<p>Hehe, this is sort of funny and in no way relevant, but I also didn't know debutante balls really still happened until I met my freshman year roommate, who showed me pictures of hers. I thought that was something from like, the antebellum south. <em>Sigh</em></p>
<p>OK, random thought for the night! Carry on!</p>
<p>Another question which was unanswered: Is it compulsory to have 12 academic terms? Could anyone please answer these queries?</p>
<p>If you can graduate in less, you can graduate in less than 12, but you need to get the registrar's permission, I believe. The question is why you'd want to do this.</p>
<p>I second WIguy's comment... why on earth would you want to graduate to early? Dartmouth is a one-in-a-lifetime experience. If money is a consideration, there is generous financial aid available.</p>
<p>I'm an international student and money is an issue for me. However, I'm not applying for financial aid as it would reduce my admit chances. I was hoping to get a bank loan to pay off any fees my parents can't afford. This is basically the reason why I want to graduate early...</p>
<p>"I'm not applying for financial aid as it would reduce my admit chances."</p>
<p>Personally, I think that this is one of the biggest mistakes that international candidates make, not applying for financial aid knowing that they will not have the approximately $160,000 to pay the cost of attending college over the next 4 years in the hope that it will give them an edge in the admissions process. It does not substantially increase your chances. Overall, colleges are looking to build a class, and if you have something that they feel is beneficial to the class that year the school will want you, if you are an aid candidate, they will find a way to make it affordable.</p>
<p>Please remember that once you are admitted as a non-financial aid candidate, you will not be eligible for financial aid at any point in your Dartmouth career. So what does it benefit someone to be admitted and possibly not have the money to finish.</p>
<p>Many of the Ivies and elite schools (I know that Williams is starting to eliminate AP fro credit and will only use for placement) are really be examine the AP process as far as granting credits because:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>They are becoming so common place in every application to show that students are taking the most rigerous cirriculum offered to them</p></li>
<li><p>Many Ap calsses, "teach to the test" and do not cover the depth and breath of subject matter that a comprable college course would cover</p></li>
</ol>
<p>In the end, I would not count on Dartmouth or any select college using large number of AP courses for credit because colleges are always looking to revamp their curriculm in order to geive their students what they believe is the best possible education.</p>