<p>This year my son is taking a calculus class through a special program at local flagship (UMTYMP if you are familiar) which is equivalent to one semester of honors calculus at the flagship.</p>
<p>We are debating whether or not register for Calculus AB AP test. It is not going to increase his GPA, because he does not take Calculus AP at his high school, although flagship's calculus shows up on his high transcript.</p>
<p>We need to decide by March 15 if there is any benefit of taking AB test this year (and BC next year after he takes second calculus course at local flagship). Please let me know what would the benefit be of taking the AP exam if he already earns college credit without the exam.</p>
<p>The benefit would be if the school in which he enrolls doesn’t accept the college credits but will accept the AP credits. We have run across a few that for whatever reason won’t take a class like your son is taking for credit or placement but will take the AP test (with a 4 or 5) for credit if non-major class or placement if major class.</p>
<p>It’s worth an email from him to the admissions counselors to ask for clarification on this.</p>
<p>thank you. A gifted and talented coordinator suggested that we meet next week to discuss this and other things. I will definitely make an effort to meet with her.</p>
<p>Quite frankly, I don’t think we are in the position financially to look at any other colleges other than flagship (or reciprocity) even if my son was accepted somewhere else.</p>
<p>Our family is first generation immigrant (upper?) middle class family trying to build retirement nest, pay for our house and help both sets of parents who are almost retirement age with minimal 401K. We also had experienced some financial setbacks in the past. The colleges that don’t give merit will not give our son any aid because on paper it appears we make more than enough to fund our son’s education. Colleges that do give merit are not worth applying to in my opinion because we already have pretty decent flagship with reasonable tuition rate.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, it certainly is worth keeping my son’s options open in case I win a lottery or something like that.</p>
<p>Merit aid is really not tied to AP testing, nor is it tied to college level classes taken in high school-although credit for those given at a college can shorten the time you are in college, saving money that way. Merit aid is tied to class rank, GPA and SAT/ACT test scores. I think you will find that private schools tend to give more merit aid than state schools, but they cost more too. Do not rule out schools based on the initial price tag but have realistic conversations with your son about how much you can afford.</p>
<p>lerkin - I would pass on taking the AB calc AP test. Reason is that you can get credit for AB Calc, by taking Calc BC, so essentially you get two AP tests for the price of one (Calc AB is included as a sub-set of the Calc BC test).</p>
<p>thanks. That is what I suspected. We probably will save the money this year and revisit this issue next year when he will have to also take APUSH and Chemistry AP tests. I am not sure how hard it is to prepare for 3 AP tests. My son is taking AP music theory test this year and he tells me that his teacher does not specifically prepare them for the AP test.</p>
<p>Steve, just FYI – merit aid is tied to anything the college wants it to be tied to. It can be class rank, GPA, NMSF status, artistic achievements, student leadership, community service – and yes, test scores. Or any combination of the above.</p>
<p>I don’t think he needs to take the AP test this year if he’s going to be doing AB next year. It makes much more sense for him to wait and just take the BC test next year. He’ll get plenty of brownie points just for taking college level calculus.</p>
<p>How hard it is to prepare for multiple AP tests really depends on the course. For math or foreign languages they build so much on previous work review should be minimal, but for something like biology or history it’s pretty easy to have forgotten half the material that was covered in the fall.</p>
<p>LasMa-true, I guess I was thinking more along the lines of the “Presidents” or “Regents” type merit aid most schools give, not so much of the more specialized scholarships some colleges offer.</p>
<p>Oh no, my son is definitely not “Presidents” or “Regents” material! He is a A-/B+ student. I will be shocked if he receives anything significant at our local flagship if he gets accepted.</p>
<p>lerkin-ok, you have me confused now. In one post you said you were looking for merit aid and the next you said he wouldn’t qualify for merit aid. Do you mean that you are trying to reduce the number of classes he has to take in college to lessen the time he is in there or are you looking for scholarships to help pay for school? There are a lot of schools out there that have merit aid for kids with a 3.6 and above depending on what he ends up with on the SAT/ACT. Also, if you and your spouse are not college graduates, a first generation college student has some opportunities for aid as well. Not knowing were you live I can’t give local recommendations but look at the financial aid website for Truman College in Missouri. They have a nice graph on there that shows what a student qualifies for with a GPA/ACT combo to get an idea of what is available-and that school itself might be less than your flagship-pretty inexpensive place to go all around.</p>
<p>after re-reading my post I understand why it is confusing.</p>
<p>What I was trying to say is that our family will not qualify for need-based financial aid. The only aid that my son can possibly qualify is merit-based. In order for him to get significant aid that will offset the difference between in-state and out-of-state/private tuition, he will have to sacrifice the rank of the school (to be in the top of that school’s application pool). We are in Minnesota, so he can attend University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and University of Wisconsin-Madison for about $22K total (including books, room and board, etc). This is what I am prepared to pay at this point. I doubt he will qualify for any merit-based aid at higher ranked universities which cost significantly more than what we have in our own backyard. </p>
<p>While the local schools are not in a top ten, they are decently ranked. And my personal experience is that rank of the school does matter for employment opportunities and graduate/medical school admissions. (Microsoft never stepped a foot at UofM campus until 1996 when I was looking for a job as an undergraduate with almost all As on my transcript. I had only one B, which I got my first semester at UofM, taking full load of classes and working 30 hours a week at 2 jobs. My credentials did not matter. I suspect because of the internet boom Microsoft could not find enough recruits at their usual college pool. They only chose to interview one (my friend) and only came back to UofM after my friend worked there for a year and showed how good he was (the recruiter admitted that to me)). </p>
<p>I have PhD (but my husband does not have any degree - although he has done great for himself without it), so (un)fortunately we do not qualify for first generation college scholarships (also my parents and my MIL have (foreign) college degrees). </p>
<p>Will we welcome merit aid? Of course. Who would not. I just doubt he will get any. At this point I am more concerned for my son to get into UofM or UofWI (I looked at those colleges threads here and I am horrified how high stats of the admitted and denied (!) kids are at these schools. It was so much easier when I was undergraduate). </p>
<p>The reason why I am asking all these questions about AP is that I want my son to have all his options open. Who knows, maybe I or my husband will get a promotion at our jobs, which will make it financially possible to apply to higher ranked schools. I’ve seen so many kids on these boards taking many AP tests and I want my son to try to stay competitive with those kids. </p>
<p>And of course reducing the number of classes my son needs to take at college (and I have to pay for) is a nice bonus.</p>
<p>You may be right that for your son, the state universities are the right place. But just as an example, if he were interested in International Relations with the right SAT scores and decent grades he might get a hefty scholarship from American, which may or may not be lower ranking, but is tops in that field.</p>
<p>I’m going to beg to differ that the best place for him to be as a pre-med candidate would be the U of MN or Madison (or Carleton for that matter) if he isn’t coming in at the top 25% of the applicant pool. If you haven’t already, look at the very long thread on the pre-med topics about undergrad choices. Your best bet is to find a school where he would be top 25% or so and get the best GPA possible there to get into med school. I know, it sounds crazy and goes against all logical thought but it is what it is.</p>
<p>I would suggest he look at some of the smaller LAC in MN, WI, IA and especially Truman in MO. Many of these schools have higher placement rates into med school than the U of MN and Madison. University of Northern Iowa would also be a good place to look. They have a very favorable agreement with the University of Iowa Medical School.</p>
<p>He will pay a lot less for college, even without merit aid, at the smaller Wisconsin State Schools with reciprocity. Another school to consider is one I’ve never heard talked about here but the University of South Dakota in Vermillion. It’s about the 7000 students, ACT mid range 20-26, costs at about $15K for tuition/room board/fees and they have their own medical school with a very high placement rate from their undergrad program.</p>
<p>Back to your original question though, don’t bother with the AP tests if he is only going to apply at the U of MN or Madison</p>
<p>Thank you for advise. While I am feeling sad about this, my son’s precise choice of major will depend on the individual department’s rank. At this point we are talking Chemical Engineering (UofM is top 5-7 depending on the year), so it works out great. I am somewhat terrified if my son would not to pursue a degree that is not highly ranked at UofM or UofWI. If this happens, we will have to research colleges more in depth (and I will keep what you said in mind).</p>
<p>I am well aware about medical school admission voes. My problem in attending something like University of South Dakota is what if he changes his mind about medical school? Then how will he find a good job? </p>
<p>He was in University of South Dakota’s ACT mid-range when he was in 7th (21) and 8th (25) grade. He is in 9th grade now and over the last year with the help of a wonderful tutor made significant improvement in language arts area. He did not take ACT and SAT this year yet, but his language arts tutor feels that he will do significantly better this time around. His SAT math score last year was 700 and I don’t remember his exact ACT math score, but I think it was 30 (no less than that), so the language arts area was the one weighing him down. His SAT II in Math last year was 720 (He is retaking it this year).</p>
<p>If I even suggest to him University of South Dakota, he probably will throw a fit. We talked about this in the past and he was (justifiably) upset that because of financial situation he can’t even try to apply to better schools. I have to consider his feelings too. While I don’t believe he stands a chance at the top rated schools, he is young and feels that everything is possible, so I know that he wants to at least try. </p>
<p>To avoid being shut-out of any college, he will be applying to other schools in case competitiveness at UofM gets out of hand (I was shocked that some high stats kids did not get accepted to their college of choice at UofM this year). We just did not have a chance to look beyond the obvious choices. </p>
<p>Thanks for your AP exam advice!</p>
<p>P.S. Just saw your post about medical school. You were right, I mentioned it upstream. He was certain he wanted to pursue medical school in the past, but now is not sure (but still thinking about it).</p>
<p>Not that anything is a guarantee but a 9th grader with ACT scores in the 30 range is going to get merit aid at many schools and admission at the U of MN and Madison are not THAT difficult, especially for MN kids, just apply early to the U of MN (not early action or ED, just get your application in by October or so).</p>
<p>Also, about your comment about Microsoft, sure they may not recruit much outside of their geographical area but neither does 3M…or Medtronics or Cargill or General Mills or a whole host of other fortune 500 companies in Minnesota.</p>
<p>Keep in mind as well that outside of engineering and maybe a law, going to a top 25 school vs a top 5 school has little effect on employability.</p>
<p>I see no reason what so ever he should not apply to top schools with scores like that already.</p>
<p>Engineering and CS are nowhere near as school prestige conscious as law is, although school prestige in the field will affect which non-local companies come to your school’s career center to recruit for your internships and first job at graduation (local companies visit anyway because it is convenient).</p>
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