<p>Some AP's get you out of cat 1 and cat 3 GEs. Other than that, AP's don't help. I have no clue how the TO people deal with AP credit.</p>
<p>How did you get the application?</p>
<p>For TO, AP in Euro History or Art History and AP in a Science will exempt you from the two TO themed course, much the same as Cat 1 and 3 in GEs.
TO has 4 Core classes (required), 2 writing courses (required) and two themed courses (science and humanities based).</p>
<p>Acceptance in TO or Freshman Science Honors: If anyone receives a notification, please post here. Thanks!</p>
<p>In answer to a few q’s above:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>You can back out of TO at any time. During registration. After registration if you get cold feet. LOL. You can try TO classes out first semester in a few classes and then drop the program and finish up with GEs after that if you wish. Not many kids end up doing that, however, as they find their most awesome profs and greatest class participation is often in these small and intellectually stimulating courses.</p></li>
<li><p>TO does include a lot of reading and writing. More papers are due in the TO writing course, for instance, that in the GE writing course. OTOH, you will have private one-on-one sessions every other week with your TO writing professor and get so many q’s answered and input on your works-in-progress. There is also a rumor that while TO expects extra work, TO profs tend to grade in a way that gives students huge credit for improvement throughout the semester. Since TO includes many of the top students at USC, this program has no hesitancy to award many many As and Bs. I have seen this to be true, but ymmv.</p></li>
<li><p>Whether you decide to do TO or reg. GEs, the standards for getting credit for APs is the same. There are two req’d classes you may place out of with an AP score of 4-5. AP Bio and AP Chem will place you out of the science req and AP Art History or AP Euro will place you out of the req humanities/history course. USC reqs 2 writing courses which must be taken at USC and no one is exempt.</p></li>
<li><p>The application for TO went to Trustee/Presidential and other top merit students, but the application was also available online. This is taken from the USC website:</p></li>
</ol>
<p>TO is never more than the number of units required for students who complete regular general education requirements. To qualify for an invitation to the program, students admitted to the University should have a GPA of at least A- and an SAT score of 1420 or higher with greater weight accorded to the verbal score, or an ACT score of 32. However, any motivated and dedicated student who is interested in TO may apply to the program. For more information, go to [Thematic</a> Option](<a href=“http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/general_studies/TO/]Thematic”>http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/general_studies/TO/).</p>
<p>Good luck to all!</p>