Just out of pure curiosity I was wondering if foreign colleges allow you earn pre-college credit and shorten the college duration. I know that A-Levels and the IB program cover content similar to the level of AP, yet I haven’t heard of any foreign colleges that waive entry level course requirements.
I looked up engineering programs in some European colleges and while they required a certain minimum score in A Level Maths, they didn’t seem to mention any waiver of college calculus.
So do foreign colleges give pre-college credit or not?
No. Most European college courses are 3 years (though many science are 4 years, for lab work, and modern language courses, for a year abroad; and Scotland is always 4 years b/c you get more options).
The curriculums are really tightly built: if you read the subject descriptions you will see that for most of them your course options are very narrow. The engineering programs that I am familiar with (and I taught in a European engineering program) have no electives until 3rd year.
As for getting a waiver for ‘college calculus’ b/c you have taken AP Calc, the first year calculus course in the program I was with assumes that all students have an A at A-level math / 5 AP Calc BC or similar and goes on from there. It is also tailored to the aspects of calculus that are most important for engineering.
AP Calculus is considered high school math in Europe, just like A-level math. That’s why you won’t get college credit for it.
That said, many universities are amenable to accept transfer credits for university courses taken while in high school, as long as those courses correspond to courses that count towards the degree you are pursing. Been there, done that.
So basically they start at the level right after AP Calc BC and have it as a prereq?
Then why is it that there degree programs are the same duration as US ones? Do they go more in depth?
Yes on the math: you have to start with at least Calc BC.
Some Engineering programs are 3 years, many 4, some 5 (those usually have a significant work experience component). The ones I am familiar with would feel that they are more in-depth (particularly b/c there are no gen ed or humanities elements) than a typical US program, but I have seen some lively debates as to how true that is in practice!
So if I were to go to European college for engineering, I would not have to redo AP course material which in the US is typically equivalent to introductory classes?
Lets for example, I took AP Calc BC and all the AP Sciences (including Physics C), would there be any redo or overlap for those classes in a European college or would I directly start at the level beyond?