My DS submitted his applications and listed several of his courses as “college courses taken in high school”, which was the definition given by the school. We recently received an application and information from his high school regarding taking the AP exam for the courses he is taking under this definition. He is planning to take the AP exam associated with each course. The intent of his high school of not simply having the classes be AP classes is that this new definition allows students to pay for college credit and/or the AP exam if they chose to, hopefully increasing students chances for college credit. DS was also given the option to challenge other AP classes and he is electing to challenge 2, so he will be essentially taking 5 AP exams at the end of the year. Does that matter, though, at this point?
My question is, should he notify the school through the application portal and update his application for each school to clarify that he is essentially taking 3 AP classes and challenging two others that are not offered by his school? (we didn’t fully understand this at the time we provided his class detail on the application). Or, should he simply email the admissions office, inquiring how these courses might translate to college credit? My concern with simply emailing an inquiry is that the information may not get transferred to his application that the AO will review. Is this important enough information that he should provide to the AO to more fully demonstrate academic rigor? I don’t want him to come across as boastful, but I want to make sure his academic coursework is clear and that they are aware he is taking the equivalent of AP courses.
He is not “essentially” taking 3 AP classes. He either is or he isn’t. And if the class is not labelled AP on his transcript and the school has not gone through the AP audit, they are not AP classes, regardless of whether he will take the exam.If they are not official AP classes, then he listed them correctly. Not that it will make a big deal.
There needs to be no communication with an AO to explain college-level courses; they all know that AP/AP-equivalent/post-AP/DE/etc courses are rigorous.
If he listed on the application that he plans to take AP exams, there is nothing further to do. If he is planning to take AP exams that he did not list as planning to take, he can update the colleges. Again, not a big deal one way or the other, since “planning to do” is something most AOs don’t care about.
Thank you! This makes sense. We listed these courses on the common app under the category “IB”. Is this correct? There weren’t many categories to chose from, and this seemed the most appropriate. So, in your opinion, it will not make a difference either way for him to update the colleges and indicate he has registered for the 2 AP exams he is challenging?
Agree, that IB is not the correct category. While taking an AP exam can potentially give one college credit, one does not get credit (or a grade) for the class.
If these were college classes, typically one would designate the college on the application and list the college classes as “planned” there. Does he have a college transcript? My kids attended an IB school and took community college classes. The IB classes were listed under their HS, and the college classes under their community college.
The high school recently emailed us and provided the registration links to two separate college web sites to link to, register and pay for the classes that he is taking. Two of the classes are provided from one four year college, and the third class he is taking is provided from another four year college. Students are not required to pay for the college credit, but we intend to because it’s a reduced rate and might transfer. What should we have listed these courses under? On his transcript, they are listed as “CHS” followed by the name of the class, but a college isn’t indicated on his transcript.
For the Common App - n/a or blank. But again,you’re overthinking this. AOs are going to focus on the transcripts and the GC’s evaluation of course rigor.
Or might not transfer. And unless the ultimate college is an instate public, they probably won’t transfer.
The ultimate college is definitely not an in state public. The Guidance Counselor is sending in a letter explaining the CHS, advanced and Honors courses that students may take. DS has taken both Advanced and Honors up to this point.
Should we even bother having him take the AP exams at this point or pay for the college credits? Each AP is $94 and the courses are $200 each. Our Guidance Counselor said she felt it was a large expense that she has found has not been worth the cost to her students.
This is confusing. You’re supposed to list classes taken at (or through) a college. Most often, these are Dual enrollment/DE. When they’re in-progress (or planned for 2nd semester) they can go in the section where you show current and 2nd semester courses, then note the college name. Not uncommon.
The first point is taking these classes (when they add rigor, adcoms see that.) Later comes any potential credit and you do need to see the ultimate college’s policy on this.
If this operates like DE, not sure why you need to pay in order to make the classes legit. Many high schools have DE at no cost to the kids, regardless of whether they later take the related AP exam. It shows on the hs transcript.
But what’s confusing is “credit” vs “transfer.” Credit usually eliminates some required college course. By transfer, are you assuming they go on his college transcript?
We were confused by this as well. I honestly wished the school stayed with offering AP courses, because we really struggled with how to list the classes on the Common App.
The school allows 3 options to students. If they do not register with the associated college and pay the fee, the will still receive high school credit towards meeting graduation requirements, however, they will give up the potential to earn college level credit which they may transfer to the college they attend the next year. I am guessing some colleges (primarily in state public) will allow the credits to transfer as college credit, some may transfer as electives and some not at all. The third option, Which can be pursued in addition to the option to register through the affiliated college, is to take the AP exam for the course. If a student earns above a certain score (4 or 5 at some institutions), they receive college credit that way.
On the letter from DS’s high school, the options are listed as follows:
—Enroll in a class and only elect to receive local/high school credit (no cost);
—Register to take the class through the sponsoring institution to receive college credit at a reduced cost; and/or
—Register and challenge the associated AP exam.
The courses are offered at 4 different four year institutions, only one of which is a public college.
As with many things - it depends. It depends upon what the course is. It depends upon what the student is planning to study in college. It depends upon the college list, the AP credit policies of the colleges, and whether AP credits can be applied to anything other than elective credit. So a potential STEM major taking a government class, I would not pay for the AP exam or the college credit. A STEM major taking calc,I’d probably pay for the AP exam.
He plans to major in Music and double major in something else, possibly computer science, but he is looking at a BA in CS or possibly English or writing. He’s applied to a variety of liberal arts colleges (Some Ivy League, some Little Ivy). The Ivies are a reach and he is aware of that. He has a 4.0 unweighted GPA, 1420 SAT, 32 ACT, exceptional vocal and instrumental music ability. He’s applied to several public SUNY schools as safeties (We’re NY residents). One of the AP’s he wanted to challenge is Music Composition, but he isn’t taking a sponsored course for this. The CHS courses he’s currently taking and can take the AP exam for are: Calculus, Government and Politics, and English Literature. So far, we have visited Hamilton, Colgate, Vassar, Cornell, and Skidmore, and he is visiting Oberlin, and some New England schools next month, including Connecticut College, Wesleyan, and Bates.
In general, AP Music Theory will do nothing for a music major. The college will want majors to take their music theory course.
Again, in general, as I stated earlier, calc will be beneficial and gov will be useless. Lit for these level of schools will usually only get elective credit and will not be able to be used to fulfill the writing requirement.
But credit policies vary by school, so it comes down to personal preference if one wants to spend money that may not result in credit.
Thanks so much for your help! We honestly were thinking we needed to spend the money to add value to the courses he is already taking, and are honestly more concerned with how it would affect his application. That said, he will likely still want to take the Calculus AP. In terms of paying for the classes, I’m not sure it makes much sense to do that either when we have no certainty he will receive college credit.