I’m gonna start college at JHU this upcoming fall, and I’m in a dilemma here, wondering whether I should use my AP credits for lower level classes like bio, calc, etc. I have heard that in general, the intro classes are “weeder” classes and can hurt your GPA, especially since most people at selective colleges like JHU would have taken the corresponding AP courses already. Any thoughts?
It very much depends on your major, which classes you’re considering taking credit for, and your comfort level with the material. Generally, i would recommend taking the AP credit for every class you’re comfortable with or that isn’t particularly important for your degree.
^ I concur. You should only waive your AP credits if you feel that despite taking the classes in high school and scoring high enough to get college credit, you still don’t have a sufficient understanding of the material. Taking the intro classes again would be useful if those courses are prerequisites for upper-level courses in your major or if you will be taking an exam such as the MCAT, where a review of intro-level material may be helpful.
Hm, JHU pretty much only accepts science APs, and theyre kinda important courses for me. I think I’ll waive most of my AP credits. Thanks for your advice.
Not sure if you’ve made up your mind already, but I’d suggest using as many AP credits as you can. If you did well enough on the AP exam to earn credit, then you’ll find many of the corresponding intro courses to be review and a waste of time. If you’re going to be a STEM major anyways, you’ll get plenty of advanced instruction in these subjects when you take upper levels, so why waste your precious (and expensive) college hours on material you already know? In my experience, there is no disadvantage to skipping the intro class; rather, you have more room to take other courses that may be more useful to you.
always use your ap credits
no exceptions
pls just do it, you will def regret it later if u dont