What experiences have people in this forum had where students applied AP credits to their degree and finished in less than four years? There is the obvious economic advantage of eliminating a semester or two of tuition, at the expense of missing out on the “whole college experience” of four undergraduate years. While that’s relevant to the topic, it’s been discussed to a certain extent in these forums before.
What I’m looking for are examples of the pros and cons where students have cut short their four years (or finished in four years and not five or more) due to applying their AP credits. How uncommon is it? How did it affect their college experience? Could they complete the major or double-major they wanted without overwhelming them? Did they go on to graduate school? Go directly to a career? Did it affect their job opportunities - negatively or positively - by leaving early? Did it make a big difference financially? Socially? Would they do it again if they had a do-over?
My kid entered with lots of credit due to IB. She knows she has the option to finish in less than four years – but also can take the a more-time consuming co-op or study abroad if she wants to. Her time on campus isn’t what’s holding her (unlike some, where 8 semesters means a lot because campus was such a nexus).
@skieurope, As I noted in my post, I had seen those discussions. Those topics don’t go much beyond the student completing within 4 years, and the use of the extra time. I’m looking for examples where people have finished in less, and what their experiences were. If there is a discussion that does address what I’m looking for and I missed it, please direct me to it.
A nephew of mine graduated in 3.5 years. He moved back home and got a job while he was applying to graduate schools (not for the next year- but the year after).
1.5 years of earning/saving money AND working a real job before going back for a Master’s degree worked well for him. If he’d had less direction (or if he hadn’t been proactive about working to get a real job with real grownup pay and responsibilities, health insurance, etc.) it could have been a disaster- it’s one thing to have your kid temporarily living with you while they’re interviewing, it’s another thing to have a boarder for a year and a half who is expecting to have his laundry done once Mom or Dad come home from work.
Saved a semester of tuition, his frugal living for a year and a half essentially paid for most of his grad school expenses. YMMV.
My son went to Case Western and had lots of AP credits. He graduated with a double major in 7 semesters. He could have graduated in 6 semesters but he wanted to use his last year of NCAA eligibility in football. He took 6 credits his last semester and had to get permission to live in university housing. The university did prorate his scholarship even though he wasn’t full time.
He had already been hired by the bank where he had done his internship before the semester started so he knew he had a job starting in August. He told his boss he was graduating early and he started working in Feb. He is living in Pittsburgh and his girlfriend is in school in Cleveland so he was happy that he was able to start working early.
My D got 33 credits from AP and placement exam plus 5 credit from a summer course. Even most of those credits are useful in fulfilling graduate requirement for her (that is not necessarily the case though), she could not graduate in less than 3.5 years due to course sequence. In some schools like Brown, you cannot even graduate earlier disregarding how many AP/transfer credits you got. In addition, my D’s school will charge upperclassman tuition rate once you have >55 credits. So it may even cause you more by having too many AP credits (particularly useless ones). For certain major, having a fourth year (at least 3.5 years) may be critical to have better internship opportunity and experience.
I’m telling you about my D because that’s the case that I know the most. Hopefully I’m not accused of “bragging.”
School: CoE UC Berkeley.
Major: CS.
AP credits granted: 21.
Time to graduate: 6 regular semesters + 1 summer class of 4 units.
She also had about 30 units college-level Math & Physics. CoE did not grant her credit for these classes, but allowed her to take more advanced courses instead of the basic ones.
>> How did it affect their college experience?
Yes. In a positive way. She’d rather spend time and effort for grad school than undergrad.
>> Could they complete the major or double-major they wanted without overwhelming them?
I’m not sure about “overwhelming” part. She seemed to enjoy it. In fact, this was all her planning.
Not only she completed the major, when she graduated with 3.8 GPA, she’d spent 2 years in research.
>> Did they go on to graduate school?
Yes, immediately after BS. She was accepted by 5 top CS PhD programs, and chose UC Berkeley.
>> Go directly to a career? Did it affect their job opportunities - negatively or positively - by leaving early?
Don’t know. I don’t think it would have any effect.
>> Did it make a big difference financially?
Yes. Saving a year CoA was significant. But it didn’t really matter that much because we had reserved the fund for the whole 4 years.
>> Socially?
I don’t know. She doesn’t care much about social.
>> Would they do it again if they had a do-over?
Absolutely.
I graduated in three years by using AP credits and being smart about my classes. I was able to double major as well. It wasn’t on purpose, but I realized my second year that I could finish up next year. It was a really hard decision because I loved college, didn’t want to leave a year before my friends , and didn’t want to be away from my boyfriend, but it was a very good decision. I saved an entire year and went to grad school (10 month program) instead, so I ended up entering the real world the same time as my other friends. My parents would have been unlikely to be able to pay for the Ivy grad school if they hadn’t saved a year of undergrad tuition. I saw my friends and bf as often as possible by visiting on long weekends.
My daughter just graduated Northeastern in 4 years (it is typically a 5 year program) with 2 co-ops (so that is one year of real work), and 2 summer sessions (so she did it in 7 academic semesters instead of 8 by using her AP credits) earning a double major and minor. She also only took 3 classes (instead of 4) her last semester - her fourth class being “find a job”. She stayed in Boston (so is still able to hang out with her friends on campus who are taking 4 1/2 or 5 years to finish) so there are no social issues.
Maybe because it was 4 years and her friends at other schools graduated the same time as her (although very few of her friends at school with her did) - she did not feel that she missed out on anything (plus with Co-ops her experience was probably not “traditional” anyway.)
She got a great job - saved me six month’s of tuition/dorm costs - would definitely do the same thing over again. She has no plans for grad school at this time - maybe if and when she feels there is something she wants to pursue.
Anecdotally, I have a friend whose son finished college in 3 years instead of 4 and regretted it when he was graduating. He said - those were the best 3 years of my life and it could have been 4. That was a few years ago - he went on to a masters program and after 5 years total is out in the real world working - not sure how he feels about it now.
I know another student who between AP credits, and two different colleges actually finished up his BS in 2 1/2 years. He was not able to get into any of the graduate programs (STEM) he applied to and I think the rush through college negatively affected him. Almost 2 years later he is still trying to figure out what to do with himself (I think he finally landed a teaching opportunity.)
Last one I know is a kid who finished in 3 instead of 4 year (a hospitality major) - he was not enjoying his college experience and was anxious to get out . He did great - got a six month Disney internship followed by a great full-time job with a major Hotel in a major city.
For students considering higher degree, one may actually receive both master and bachelor degree in 4 years (instead of 5 year). For my D that cannot graduate in less than 3.5 years due to course sequence, she may still get bachelor/master together in 4 years if she wants to.
Also, this will depend on the school, but if you are full-pay, you may be able to save on tuition by taking only a handful of classes some terms (less than the full load) thanks to AP’s yet stay 4 years.
Thanks for the input. School counselors tell kids to take as many rigorous classes as possible, especially AP/IB classes, to look good on college applications. In all of the college prep and counselor meetings I’ve attended, I don’t recall discussions of the possibility that all those credits might be used to graduate early. Colleges rarely advertise that a student can finish early if it works out with their school’s degree requirements, their class schedules, and their college and career aspirations; I suppose because it works against college’s financial models and arguably may not be a good plan for most kids. It is the exception to the rule, but faced with saving $30,000+, it is something we’re considering.
@billcsho; completing undergrad and grad classes in 4 years to get a master’s degree sounds like quite a feat. My D’s school offers a 4-1 master’s program which she is interested in, but we never thought it could work in less time than that. We’ll look into her program to see if it would be something she could do in less than 5 years. That could be substantial.
My oldest D had a lot of AP credit and managed to complete her BS in ChE and minor in Spanish in three years. She wanted to stay a fourth year with her friends, so completed her MS in year four. She had partial scholarship for years 1-3 and earned a tuition waiver plus a stipend in year 4. It took a lot of juggling and a few terms overloading by a credit or two to sequence her classes appropriately to complete the BS in three years, but she loved it. Still had time to play in orchestra for fun and have a social life. She is happy with her approach.
My D’s school (EECS UC Berkeley) offers these programs too. My D could have gone for it, and would have completed in 4 years. But we were not sure if it was the right thing to do because the language on the school’s website was vague (on purpose?):
My D then decided to petition for graduation (BS) after 3 years, and apply to PhD programs during her 3rd year.
The school allowed students to change their graduation plan as late as May. If by April my D had not been accepted to any PhD program, she would have changed her plan, staying another year and spending most of her time in research.
@NJProParent For my D, he is listed as senior on paper already although she is an upcoming junior. So definitely she can do the 4+1 program in 4 years if she wants to.
My D is also on track to complete a coterminal bachelor’s and master’s degree program in engineering in four years due to AP credit. We’ve discussed getting just the bachelor’s and finishing early and she’s settled on this route. Being ahead in her program seems to have made her more competitive for getting internships–she had several offers aftter her second year, having completed third year coursework. She also did a summer internship after her freshman year that was not directly related to her major, so she hasn’t been home much at all since she started college. We didn’t really plan on that and it’s been hard on her. She’s had to be an adult a bit faster than otherwise. She’s done very well, but felt the pressure at times.
Thanks again for all of your posts. I understand that the decision to do this is dependent on each student’s circumstances, personality and perhaps, drive. At what point did you/your student make the decision to complete early? @rebeccar, you said it was in your second year. My D is planning out her courses for her remaining 3 years; strategically it seems like your sophomore year is when one needs to make that decision.