<p>There was an article in the paper recently that told the story of a student who had graduated from the University of Virginia in one year, plus a summer semester, I believe. He went in with maximum AP credit.
Also my son’s freshman roommate at MIT graduated in five semesters. </p>
<p>I think this sort of thing is more common than you might think. It’s a wonderful idea, if you ask me, sort of natural “merit aid.”</p>
<p>If nothing else, the AP credit will clear the way for your kid to take more interesting classes, with the basics out of the way. Also my DS was able to get ahead in classes for his major (CS) which I think was probably quite helpful when looking for a summer internship after freshman year.</p>
<p>Check into the possibility of a BS/MS option (or BA/MA). My son is graduating in 4 years (no summer classes ever) with a BS/MS in chemical engineering from Northwestern. He used his AP credits (5’s) to get out of required humanities classes and used his concurrent math classes that he took in high school to place into higher math levels to start with. This enabled him to start taking graduate level classes junior year, and this spring he’ll graduate with both a bachelors and a masters for the cost of a bachelors. We essentially saved the cost of 2 years of graduate school with those AP and concurrent credits.</p>
<p>Most colleges limit the total number of credits they accept from AP so you should check that out. Also, lightening a load on a semester must be done carefully, most schools will have a minimum number of credits you must take to be considered full-time and to get full scholarship/grant monies. My daughter is entering Northeastern in the fall with 7 AP classes - which count for 28 credits. She has her core requirements mostly satisfied and can start with more interesting classes as a freshman. Don’t know if she will graduate any earlier because of it though.</p>
<p>Princeton allows you to take a semester off or graduate in 3 years if you have enough AP credits</p>
<p>At my LAC eons ago and S1’s T20 (2011 grad), they wouldn’t have helped cost as it cost the same to take 12–20 credit hours per semester. His school did require 4 of 5 for AP credit and limited the max credits. No one in our school has <em>ever</em> rec’d a 4 or 5…</p>
<p>I have more concerns about the dual credit classes from our school. The school does overboard advertising about “earning college credits” and the student must pay an addt’l ~$375. These are all ag related courses. Yes, they transfer to the state flagship landgrant college. Anywhere else, including the other state schools…well, really iffy…S2fought that battle for 2 years. The course is nowhere near the level of a true college course, but then again, neither are our AP classes.</p>
<p>We are facing the dual credit/AP for junior year. In looking at several potential colleges, we found that AP credit was worth while but the other because it was being taught for high school credit was not worth it unless she was attending the respective schools. Very confusing situation because you are making a decision for something two years down the road.</p>
<p>Also consider the major because some departments will not accept that the university/college as a whole claims is accepted.</p>
<p>I do find it odd that schools don’t give credit/placement for dual credit classes where they do for AP classes, and would probably accept the same dual credit class for transfer credit if the student hadn’t been in HS when taking it. Anyone have any insight into why this is so?</p>
<p>Even when accepted, they’re not always useful. D1, for instance, took in credit for Calc I. Her major requires stats, which also fulfills the gen Ed math requirement. Her major has no electives. So, that calc credit (not the class itself) has been useless. Same story with physics, comp II, Human bio. Basically, of the 29 credits she brought in, only 9 fulfilled a gen ed that would free up her schedule. </p>
<p>What I’m telling d2 is to take courses that she wants to take. Just don’t worry about the “credit” because there’s no way to know how useful it might be.</p>
<p>@father91
I talked to Pton admission person 2 years ago and they said that they will take APs for placement but not for credit. But it may have changed.</p>
<p>Mathmont: Some colleges feel that AP is a credible test, which is a nationwide comparable standard. A dual enrollment class taken inside a high school is more of an unknown - they don’t know how much the course was dumbed-down at one school vs. another. A 4 on an AP test is supposed to be equivalent to a B at college level. Some high school programs may promise give college credit for a C or a D in a dual enrollment class. </p>
<p>At my daughter’s high school, the dual enrollment classes are only 1 semester long, while the AP classes are a full year in almost all cases. It is very hard for a high school student to cover college level course material in 4 months.</p>
<p>@rachelm57
That is correct; at Pton, AP gets placement but no credit unless you have enough to either take a semester off or graduate in 3 yrs</p>
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<p>Usually, state universities and same state community colleges have articulation agreements, so they “know” what the courses contain (and the community colleges may model their courses on those at the state universities). Out of state and private universities may not have such pre-evaluated course articulations and not want to individually evaluate the courses.</p>
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<p>However, some of the AP courses are “AP lite” courses that cover what is ordinarily a semester-long college course in a year. Examples include statistics, calculus AB, human geography, psychology, and environmental science. Others are full speed courses like calculus BC, and biology, although many colleges (and medical schools) do not consider AP biology to have the same depth and rigor as their own introductory biology courses.</p>
<p>I would check with her college thst she would like to attend.I can only speak from my daughters point.A recent Valedictorian,graduating high school.She took AP, Honors and Dual Enrollment.This is the best thing she could done.Graduated with 40 college crrdit hours and passed all her AP. Now,we rently learned she will be starting with 72 college hours.She only needs 3 classes and her general will be complete.In addition,she too virtual online classes so that it allowed her to add more dual enrollment classes. In high school.All of her credits were accepted at University of Florida.
I hope this helps you and wish you the best.</p>
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I get why some families think this is great … it saved them a ton of money. For the schools it’s not so clear why it would be good thing … and many reasons why it is not so good. Among them, students going forward are basically carrying the school’s brand with them and if the student received a substantial portion of at different school then the school is not really providing the education that carries their brand.</p>
<p>Looking at this from another angle. I’m a hiring manager looking at two MIT math majors for a position.<br>
<p>Would I look at these two MIT grads as having the same education? Annadad’s can post his links in the next post but I will never believe that there is no difference between taking a math course at MIT and at Bunker Hill. Of course, I will look at these applicants differently.</p>
<p>For state schools ensuring students can get an adequate education as cheaply as possible should be one of their paths (IMO) … and I’d think most highly selective schools are layering more onto their minimum standard. (PS - and alternative missions are not better or worse in the abstract … they are just different … as a consumer in this market I think it’s great students have these different options).</p>
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<p>My college did not officially accept them for credit, but I tried just having the dual-enrollment college from high school send a transcript to see what would happen, and they accepted that. I’m not sure if the transcript made it clear that they were dual-enrollment and not taken on that college’s campus.</p>
<p>I have friends who are a few years younger than me and now at the same college and had dual enrollment with the same college, and that strategy worked for them as well. If you asked my university, they would tell you that the classes are not accepted, but since I’m able to have an university send them a college transcript that doesn’t have high school written all over it, I got the credits.</p>
<p>ETA: This is a private university, it was only a few classes, and AP did not factor into it at all. (My high school when I attended was very much not AP focused).</p>
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<p>I think I’ve had this argument with someone else at an earlier date.</p>
<p>Okay. Suppose those students took the same 18 upper division units in the same major field and the student who started at CC received far better grades in the same UD coursework. Maybe it was a very bright fellow who spent time in the service and came out not sure exactly what he wanted to do. You still believe the applicant who spent the first two years at MIT is superior?</p>
<p>Remember, it’s a hypothetical, so whether you think it is possible or not is not germane to the discussion.</p>
<p>On the topic, I started college in 1974 with 66 quarter units between AP and college work done in high school. It was no real advantage for me - I didn’t feel confident in the math and science credits I came in with so I ended up repeating all the Chem and all but one guarter of the calc. I ended up wanting to take a lot of the GE as an interesting respite from my major. And heck, you only go to college the first time once. 
So I’m not recommending skipping a bunch of work using AP. But everyone is different. And school was not nearly so expensive back then.</p>
<p>It is very possible, and done frequently, in our state to graduate from high school with 2 or more years of college credits and for students that choose to go that route, can graduate from colleges in 2 years or less if they attend the flagship or state school. There are even opportunities for juniors and seniors in high school to live on campus at those schools and be “in” college if they want. It is not possible, to do this at any private school in the state though.</p>
<p>Our kids will have some dual credit classes when they graduate from high school. We aren’t as concerned about getting “credit” for those classes as we are being able to test into higher level classes that might give them the opportunity to add a second major for minimal effort (Spanish mostly). Some schools they are looking at have liberal policies for AP/Dual credits, some don’t. It isn’t a factor in the decision making process at all. What taking those classes HAS done is expose them to more information so they scored higher on their ACT tests, which will earn them significant merit aid at the schools they are considering. THAT is much more beneficial.</p>
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<p>But would it matter if both candidates took similar upper division courses in their major at MIT and did similarly well?</p>
<p>Actually, I remember some brilliant-in-math math majors in college starting in upper division math courses as freshmen, and taking graduate level math courses as sophomores or juniors (maybe even freshmen). The fact that they may have taken lower division math courses at local community colleges while still in high school was not something that any reasonable person would hold against them.</p>
<p>Also, there are students who start at community college, transfer as juniors to four year universities, then later go on to highly regarded PhD programs in their majors.</p>