I am an incoming freshman at UMich who will be rushing in the fall, and I am currently registered to take 16 credits. I am a chemistry major, so I will be taking orgo, calc I, and the required FYWR. I am confident these are the right classes; however, I am also registered for a social science seminar that my academic advisor pushed me to take. This is a 3 credit course that honestly does not help me in any way. It does seem interesting, but I don’t feel like it’s smart to take this non-important class with rush and it being my first term on campus. I am also coming in with 27 credits from APs. Does it sound like I am making the right decision by dropping this class and switching to 13 credits? Thanks in advance! Go Blue!
If you think you’ll graduate on time, don’t sweat it. Doesn’t sound like you’ll have trouble with your AP credits. The only downside I can think of is that you won’t qualify for any freshman awards for academic excellence, which require 14 credits minimum.
@FinUmichStudent Thank you for your advice and information! I think I may look into taking a mini course instead to bump me up to 14 credits.
I have a question. I’m an incoming freshman starting in Fall 2015 in the College of Engineering and since I have 47 AP credits coming in to college, I only took 13 credits instead of a higher credit amount first semester. Should I take a 1 credit class to meet the 14 credits requirement for honors? Also, other than UC170, what are other 1 credit courses at UMich-Ann Arbor that could help meet this requirement? I checked the website for the honors you talked about above and the webpage said this was for LS&A which made me question if the requirement for engineering is any different.
@kishanp09 If you have 47 AP credits, you are likely having some useless credits for CoE. Drop at least 6 of those credits or you need to pay upper classmen tuition the second semester. It won’t help you to graduate any sooner but costs you $2000 or more.
I am dropping 6 credits actually to make it 41 credits. I still haven’t heard back yet though about that. But does someone know anything related to my question about the university honors? I don’t know if I should add 1 credit to meet the 14 credits requirement. I’m just wondering if this requirement is for LSA and not engineering. I would like to qualify for any honors, but I don’t know if engineering students have different requirements than LSA students.
@illinoisgolf Seems like a sound decision to drop the social science course and add a one-credit course. I don’t see a down side, especially since you are coming in with so many credits.
As a parent, I have a question regarding the higher upper-level tuition once you reach 55 credits:
It’s about $1,500 additional per semester for OOS students. I see no reason why I should have to pay $1.5k extra if my daughter reaches 55 credits, after adding in AP credits, before her actual third (junior) year. So here’s my question:
They base the tuition on CTP – Credits toward Program (see definition below). I am confused about whether the 55 CTPs include the credits being taken in the semester for which tuition is being paid. For example, if a student takes 15 credits in each of her first four semesters, when would upper-level tuition have to be paid?
- the second semester sophomore year – because including the credits being taken second semester sophomore year, the total would be 60
-OR = - the first semester junior year – because 55 credits will not have been completed until after second semester soph year
If #2, a student should claim a maximum of 9 AP credits in order to avoid paying upper-level tuition starting in the second semester of sophomore year. Am I correct?
Here are the definitions from the glossary:
http://ro.umich.edu/tuition/glossary.php
Lower Division: Undergraduate students with less than 55 CTP as of the beginning of the term.
Upper Division: Undergrad students with 55 or more credits toward program (CTP) as of the beginning of the term.
CTP (Credits toward Program): number of credit hours a student has completed, including credits taken at the University along with transfer and test credits. Credits added or removed in a past term may affect CTP as of the beginning of the term for which they are applied and may result in tuition recalculation for that term and/or subsequent ones.
The 55 credits is for what you have already earned, not currently taking.
@billcsho Thank you. That seems to make the most sense. So, in the scenario I posted above, 15 credits per semester, it would be wise for a student not to “claim” more than 9 AP credits.
Here’s a related question:
Is there a deadline by which a student must “claim” AP credits if she wants to use them? Do they have to be claimed at the beginning of freshman year? Let’s say a student claims 9 when starting at UMich. Then the student falls ill or has an accident and has to drop a few courses that semester or even take a leave of absence. Can the student then claim additional AP credits to avoid having to take an additional semester?
I ask these questions because my daughter and I are trying to plan how many and which AP credits she should claim.
@brantly Your D will submit her AP score before registration unless she goes to the orientation before scores available. You need that for placement. The credits will be transferred automatically. For credit withdrawal, you need to do that by the end of the first semester. You may have ~40 useful AP credits in CoE. My D got 33 AP credits and 5 units turned out extra (would be just 2 extra if she does not take Econ101). She got all her non engineering electives, Calc1&2, Inorg Chem, Phys1 covered except for biology. She still needs a 300 level humanity. So check your D’s intended major requirement to see which AP is useful. The idea is not just cross the 55 threshold barely. My D is entering sophomore with 70 credits and starts paying upperclassmen tuition.
Ah, this is helpful. Thanks.
This is what I am trying to avoid. She is in LSA and has no interest in graduating in less than four years. I don’t want to have to pay additional tuition starting sophomore year. She doesn’t want to replace electives with HS AP credits because she wants to take advantage of all the amazing classes at UMich. The way I am looking at it, claiming 30 or so AP credits is only useful if the student wants to graduate in less than four years. But I think I may be missing something. What am I missing?
Not only for graduating early, but get you time for doin th co-op or extended intern as well as study aboard.
I see. I didn’t know they had co-op arrangements. So, basically, if you have extra credits you can take a semester to work and go light on classes. Or take a reduced schedule while you study abroad.
Here is the FAQ for Co-op and interns at UMich CoE:
http://career.engin.umich.edu/studalums/interns/faqs/