<p>DS has to start signing up for and paying for his AP tests. He is a senior and just got the invitation to apply for Regents so we are thinking he might get into UCLA. Someone told us that he has to "be careful" and not bring too many credits in with him or it will end up costing him a year or more of finaid. He applied for aerospace engineering so there isn't much chance of getting done early.</p>
<p>IF this is true, what is the limit? I heard that he should have "some" so he can have advanced standing and will get to register earlier than a lot of freshman but what is the "right amount"? </p>
<p>He has 21.5 college credits and 5 APs=all 5's
ap Euro, AP Bio, AP World, AP Cal A, Ap Env Science</p>
<p>He is taking 5 more APs, Physics, Bio, Stats, Gov and Econ
If he takes all these, I just counted them up on the UC page and it says he would get 40 units.</p>
<p>If a college class also shows up on his hs transcript, does it still count as a college class for the UCs? If the class isn't UC transferable do we cross it out? or does he still count all the credits as electives? How do we figure this out?</p>
<p>Should he take all the 5 remaining AP tests?</p>
<p>I don’t know about the college classes, but AP is not always counted as fulfilling a requirement at a university.</p>
<p>If your son is going into engineering, it is probably better in the long run for him to take his remaining AP tests and then use them to fill whatever requirements he can, especially since engineering is already rigorous.</p>
<p>UCLA, like many other schools, should have a page that explains which APs count for actual UCLA requirements, which ones satisfy general ed, and which ones count for units but not actual requirements. These policies also differ by major. And since your son’s doing engineering, the unit cap might be different for him than for L&S.</p>
<p>As you can see in the chart, if your son scores a 5 on the AP US Gov’t test, then that would give him 4 units AND fulfill a UCLA graduation requirement. But AP Physics won’t count for any general requirements even though he’ll get 4 or 8 units of credit. And so on. </p>
<p>Check the major’s policy about what kind of prereqs can be fulfilled by his current AP exams. Sometimes you can pass out of an intro math course with a 4/5 on Calculus AB, for example. And it may help to talk to his counselor or to UCLA reps, if you’re seriously concerned. Personally, I would just take the remaining AP exams since he’s putting in all this extra work right now.</p>
<p>alwaysawriter, Thanks so much for the chart link, it helps a lot. I can print that out and the eng requirements and figure that part out myself now that I see it. He’ll have to go to the college counselor to figure out what transfers and what amount of credits he would get because the Assist thing is hard to figure out and I can’t find all the classes through it. </p>
<p>Do you know if it’s true that having too many credit is a bad thing for financial aid or is that just a rumor and myth? If I just add the credits together without plugging them in where they belong, it would be over 60. I don’t understand why we were told he shouldn’t take them all. Would UC limit him to only 3 years of college? He surely couldn’t complete Eng in only 3 years?</p>
<p>AP units do not count against you at UCLA. They don’t do a whole lot for you, they might get you out of a language or constitution requirement or put you in a higher math class, but they don’t count for GE’s. The AP units will give you a higher class standing which gives you a better enrollment time (although if he gets Regents they might have priority registration), but since almost everyone who gets in to UCLA has a lot of APs, it isn’t that big of a boost. But they don’t count against you for maximum number of units. At UCLA they also have a thing called “expected cumulative progress”, which helps ensure that you get out “on time”, and the AP units you bring do not count towards that either. So even if you come in with hundreds of AP credits, you still can’t only take 12 units a quarter.</p>
<p>Oh, and I do know kids who got out of UCLA or Cal in 3 years, even with a semester abroad.</p>
<p>tx5athome, thank you so much for your help. When we saw that 1000 are invited and only 100 win, we are not counting on Regents at all so it’s good to know that the APs can a plus for registration. I’m sure that most kids have quite a few so maybe it all evens out. </p>
<p>Do you know about how the college credits work? If all 21.5 credits transfer in would that affect him in any way? They are semester credits and I believe the formula to change them into quarter units is to multiply by 1.5 so it would be 32.25. </p>
<p>Believe it or not, he likes taking the AP tests and of course, his teachers want him to test too since if he gets good scores, it makes them look good!</p>
<p>Curious about getting out in 3 years-could you stay for a 4th and get your MA? Would you still get finaid. I’m pretty sure I read NO but it doesn’t hurt to ask again and then why would someone rush through, to save money? Some of the schools DS is looking at have a 5 year program where you start taking grad classes in earlier years but I don’t see anything like that at UCLA.</p>
<p>Here is a chart that details how many units they give for each: [AP</a> Credit - College of Letters and Science - UCLA Undergraduate Admissions](<a href=“http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/Prospect/APCreditLS.htm]AP”>http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/Prospect/APCreditLS.htm) My DS passed both AP Lit and AP lang, but they only give 8 units max for English so he got 8 units total instead of 16. But because he got a 4, he got out of EnglishComp3. Otherwise he got 8 units for his year-long classes (Bio, APUSH, etc…) and 4 units for his semester-long classes (AP Econ & AP Gov).</p>
<p>My kids had a great time in college and although they could have graduated early, they stayed for the full 4 years. A friend of my daughter’s used the extra year of her outside scholarship to help fund her semester abroad and worked a year before starting her masters. Another went straight into a masters program, but I am not sure about how the financial aid worked for that.</p>
<p>Thanks again for your help. I think DS will have to just sit down and look at the charts and meet with his college counselor to see what fits in what slot. He is going to go ahead and register for the tests. By the time they come around in May, he will know where he is going to college and see how it works out. If it turns out that he doesn’t need them, he’ll just forfeit the fee. </p>
<p>Yes, I would not want to rush through college. I hope DS has a great time and takes advantage of all there is to do but I don’t want him to take 6 years either-lol!</p>
<p>I doubt it has any effect on financial aid since having a boatload of AP credit can’t cause you to be required to graduate any sooner than other entering students.
As for a 5-year program, they used to have this under the auspices of something called “Departmental Scholars” but I don’t know if they still offer it.</p>
<p>Engineering is pretty limited in the credit they give you for equivalent classes. You can work it out on paper using the charts linked above and the list of requirements at UCLA, but my guess is that it will still take 4 years to complete the undergrad engineering program no matter how many AP credits you start with.</p>