Should I take college level sociology or AP psychology?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

Hello,

I plan on majoring in economics, and I am trying to get as many college credits before I enter college. I have a spot open in my schedule for either a dual credit sociology class or AP psych. Which should I take given that the goal is to get credit for an economics degree?

1 Like
2

AP Psychology! I took it sophomore year. It’s one of the lighter AP classes in terms of workload. It should fit in well for someone with a lot of other AP classes.

3

Neither is typically a major requirement for economics, but either or both can be useful subject matter to know. The most directly applicable subjects for the economics major would be economics, calculus, and statistics.

Different colleges may differ on the acceptance of AP versus a college or dual enrollment course for transfer credit, including subject credit and advanced placement in the subject.

4

Wow, I’m majoring in economics, and I will be taking psychology, dual enrollment this winter. I don’t know how much weight AP psychology will convey, but if you think you might like it, go for it. I’m planning on double majoring, and I’m taking psych to see if I like it. Double majoring in economics and psychology is a great combination.

5

If the goal is purely college credit, then my limited experience says AP Psychology would be more often credited and is as likely, if not more, to be a requirement/General Ed credit you would need.

I also found the topic much more interesting, comparing my psych classes to listening in on what my D is studying in sociology.

6

AP vs DE in general

AP

AP tests are well known nationally and are uniform across the nation

  • You can look on any college’s website and see what credit you will get for what scores on the AP tests
  • AP Courses are given at your High School
  • AP Credit is based on a test you take on one day
  • AP courses generally are more spread out…e.g., AP Calc AB = Calc 1 is given over a year, not a semester.

DE

  • There are more of a variety of DE courses available at a CC
  • DE courses will count as a college GPA…make sure to do well for future Med school/grad school purposes.
  • DE Courses may be only available at the CC…how will you get there? How will they overlap with your HS schedule?
  • Private and Out of State Colleges may or may not give you credit. They may not give credit for courses taken to fulfill HS requirements. You do not know what credit you can get ahead of time. Make sure to keep a copy of your syllabus to aid in determining credit.
  • DE Credit is based on your grades over the semester (including final)
  • Public In-state schools will give you credit for DE courses. You may be able to get up to 2 years of credits.
  • DE classes may be taken at the local Community College…how will transportation work?
  • For DE classes, the “grade” doesn’t rely on one test on one day but over a whole semester.
  • DE Courses may be more condensed…e.g., Chem 101 is over one semester, not a year.

My answer: AP Psych.

7

First I would not pick based on dual enrollment vs AP if both fit your schedule etc. I would choose based on which sounds more interesting. Both of my girls took dual enrollment sociology and loved it. In terms of it affecting gpa unless you go to the same college or transfer into a feeder school (cc to same state state school) the gpa is not typically used in college (you get the credits but gpa comes from the classes taken at the school). However once you apply to schools past the bachelor’s level all grades from all colleges including while in high school come into play. While colleges do not guarantee credits ahead of time many have an online transfer link that shows you what has transferred from a specific college in the past (name for that varies) and admissions can help you find it.

My older daughter attends a private school and received credit for her dual enrollment classes. However if the course isn’t needed by the college you go to if you get credit it may be a free elective that you never have use for. I would suggest looking at the individual schools your thinking of to see if they require either intro to psych to sociology (names may vary) towards the major or more likely towards general ed. I know for many schools intro to psych or intro to soc may fulfill the same general ed requirement (and there may be other options).

I would make sure the college class works with your school schedule, read the rules for dual enrollment classes at the schools you are interested in since that is not the same for all schools and make an educated decision based on your interests.

8

It’s not that you don’t get credit in HS, it is that you might not get credit in college for a DE course if you are going to a private college.

9

I think that the class you should take if you are going to go for an economics degree is psychology because that is about human behavior but so is sociology in some sort of different level. I would take AP psych.

10

If you intend to apply to a public university in state, either one is fine or DE may even be easier to transfer credits.
However you likely wouldn’t use either one if your goal is to accelerate toward graduation since you’d be in a social science major anyway, so you’d cover your gen Ed’s with major press reqs… so the most efficient gen Ed’s to cross out gen ed credits would be in science (apes and ap physics 1 or AP bio likely the best ROI), calculus, humanities (English, history, foreign language).
In terms of combinations, AP psych would pair well with Economics.