Hi everyone,
I’m irresolute whether I should self-study for some AP exams to gain college credit or if it’s merely wasted time and money.
a) How big of an advantage would it be if I’d gain college credit? Would I “solely” be able to skip big intro courses?
(Generally speaking… I am aware that every university has its own policies.)
b) Would it improve my chance of admission?
(My high school did not follow a U.S. curriculum)
I’m not sure you can generalize, since, as you said, every school has it’s own policies.
No
Then absolutely no college will expect you to follow a US curriculum. If your school does not offer AP’s, there is no expectation that you take the exams.
There is an expectation that you take the most rigorous courseload you can handle and if self studying for AP exams detracts from your grades, you will be not doing yourself any favors. Depending on the college involved, they may still give credit based upon standardized scores on test from your country.
While there are many valid reasons to self study AP exams, impressing admissions officers is not one of them.
If your HS does not offer AP classes, you are not expected to take AP exams and if you do, they will likely do nothing to your application. focus on other stuff
I understand that I’m not expected to take them, but I can’t make up my mind whether I think it’s worth the money and time.
Could you please elaborate on these “many valid reasons” to self-study APs?
If you are taking AP exams to better your chances in college, it is not worth the time and money.
If you are really interested in the subject, feel that the stuff you learn in school is too basic and want to challenge yourself, then sure you can study and take a test on the subject you’re studying.
AP exams cover introductory-level college material, so for most of the core AP’s, depending on the school’s policy, you’re probably only skipping an intro course or receiving some elective credit.
Some colleges allow you to skip intro classes. To me, that’s a huge deal since you don’t have to sit the class that may contain hundreds of students and go to the upper level (not quite upper yet) with smaller class size.
It also helps if you want to double major. Or even find yourself. What if you want Psychology all your life, and when you self-study AP, you find out it’s not for you?
That’s just my subjective opinion. I’m teaching myself 5AP in the second semester. But do know that I’m an international student, so the workload and the system may be a bit different.
As examples:
@rdeng2614 @Ihtanh98 @skieurope
thank you all for your feedback!
Be mindful, some schools have placement exams that will let you place out of intro course anyway. Other schools will give you a credit so that you don’t have fulfill that credit anymore. Make sure you do your research for the schools you are interested in.
My D did this. She is interested in Psychology. Our school didn’t offer it, so she did it on her own and got a 5. I have heard CC posters say many times that it doesn’t help your app, but I am sure it can’t hurt. In my D’s case, she already had a rigorous course load. I am sure they wouldn’t base a decision on it, but surely an admissions committee would take self study courses into consideration, especially if the student shows interest in the subject in other ways.
Are any CC members able to explain why colleges aren’t impressed? I am curious.
Also, as mentioned, even if a college doesn’t accept it for credit, they will probably accept it for placement into other courses if you score 4 or 5. I think it is definitely worth doing if it is a subject you are interested in.
Sure. Last year, I went to an Exploring College Options event, which had reps from Harvard, Stanford, Penn, Duke, and Georgetown, among others. During the Q&A, someone asked, “What do you think of applicants who self-study for additional AP’s over and above the AP classes they take?” One rep responded, “Please don’t do that. We’re not impressed by that.” The other reps all nodded.
Top colleges are not interested in applicants who are solely academic grinds.
^ “Top colleges are not interested in applicants who are solely academic grinds.”
True. And self-studying a bunch of extra APs instead of investing the time in more meaningful pursuits is generally not a good tradeoff. But for the intellectually curious kid who is driven to push himself further AND who has non-academic activities as well, there’s nothing wrong with it. For example, @“Keasbey Nights” took 20+ APs and was the State AP Scholar for Florida, but did it mostly for the love of learning and to challenge himself. He was a talented musician and had many other interests and activities. He graduated from Penn Jerome Fisher M&T, where he was accepted ED. I doubt the 20+ APs was a major factor in his getting admission, but I also doubt it hurt. It was consistent with the overall picture of a really bright, talented, curious kid who was driven to push himself above and beyond.
Agreed. As I said upthread, there are many valid reasons to self study AP exams; the admissions process just is not one of them.
FWIW, I took many AP exams, although not take quite as many as @Keasbey Nights, some as the capstone to the class and a few because I self studied because I was interested in the subject material. Whether that helped or hurt can be put up for debate. However, after I was accepted to the college I am attending, I received a very nice handwritten note from my admissions officer who complimented me on my essays, but said absolutely nothing about my AP’s. YMMV.
Fair enough (re colleges not looking for academic grinds), and that must be true. How many times have we seen An applicant with perfect grades and test scores, and who self studied APs, not get into elite schools? Too many to count. My D is really glad she did it though, as she will definitely be studying psych in college, in some form, and her app shows interest in psychology through summer courses that she took. I think it can’t hurt.
It can’t hurt if you have nothing better to do with your time. Given a choice between self-study for AP psych, for example, and an internship working with emotionally fragile children or adults, I’d opt for the latter every time. It’s a much better test of your interest in the subject area, pushes your boundaries personally, introduces you to people you might not otherwise meet, develops skills that classes won’t. Studying for AP Psych doesn’t even come close to the benefits. Now if you want to do both, well that’s fine. But frankly you can read an intro psych textbook, skip the exam and get almost as much out of it.
Depends on what college you’re looking at and if they take credit. I’d say a smart move would be to see what AP credits your target schools take and what relates to you particular field of interest. Then you have to decide two things (if you’re not already in an AP class related to the credit):
These are subjective and depend on you and your preferences. Also, the reason I say target schools is because these are the schools you believe you have the highest change of getting into, so it’s practical to tailor your AP credit for them.