Which AP credits to use?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Florida
1

I see on the UF page that you can only use a maximum of 45 credits towards your degree from AP. I will have 52 when I graduate HS so I need to decide which credits to use. I will be going on the Benacquisto scholarship so using the maximum 45 would be ideal and I will be majoring in computer science. Here is a breakdown of the HS credits:

Calculus BC 4
Chemistry 8
CS A 3
Macro 4
Micro 4
ELC 6 (Lang)
ELC 6 (Lit)
Human Geography 3
Physics 1 5
APUSH 6
World History 3

First thought is to retake Calculus since I took it in 11th grade so that brings it to 48 if I do.

2

First, look at the AP credit chart on the college’s website and note which UF classes you could get credit for.

Then, look at the 4-year degree plan for your major. See if the course for AP credit counts for your degree. Just because you have AP credit doesn’t mean it will actually count for a degree!

You will likely see that some of your AP credit is useless. My son found that AP World History and AP CS-A did not count toward his degree, so they did not count for anything.

3

@chercheur Thank you very much.

4

@chercheur On the model semester plan it shows the CS courses needed but does not specify the courses listed under technical electives and interdisciplinary electives. Do you know where I might find what AP courses fall under those?

5

Do you plan on visiting campus? If so, you could meet with a CS advisor and ask for a list.

You could also try contacting a CS advisor to see if he/she would provide a link or email you a list of “technical electives and interdisciplinary electives” that count toward the CS degree. They likely have a full degree plan that spells it all out but may not be on their website.

6

I’m scheduled for a tour of the honors program in February but I wasn’t sure if you have the option of meeting beyond the tour. I’ll look into it thanks.

7

You absolutely can call the CS department and ask if they would set up an advising appointment for you (or give you the phone number to call and set it up yourself). We did this at every school, and it was extremely helpful. One school was changing their degree plan which we didn’t know, and we were given the new copy. You can also ask to meet with a professor from the CS department if you have more questions about their program.

8

Terrific, I appreciate your help!

9

When you call to make an appointment, tell them which day you’ll be on campus, and make sure to mention you’d like to go over your AP credit and how it applies to the degree plan. That way they’ll have the appropriate paperwork for you.

10

Hey @Luska19 I had a few questions on Benacquisto and UF in general, any chance you can PM me? (I can’t since I’m not a junior member)

11

@garamxmasala search the UF forum for “Benacquisto” and you’ll find several good threads on the subject. :slight_smile:

Luska19, UF will decide which AP credits to use. You’ll see the breakdown, online. If you want, you can call later and perhaps ask them to make changes, but UF does a pretty good job of selecting those classes that will most likely count toward your degree.

As a CS major (or any engineering major), don’t expect all 45 credits to directly apply to your major. You will end up with a bunch of “surplus” credits.

For example:

A 5 on Physics 1 awards 5 credits in PHY 2053/2053L. However, UF requires that you take “PHY 2048 Physics with Calculus 1”. PHY 2053 doesn’t include calculus and is an easier class. It’s great for a non-stem major, who can use the 5 credits to meet the science requirement for their degree, but it’s of no use to a STEM major.

On the other hand, as a CS major, the AP credits for Chemistry would count, as it’s award for CHM 2045/2045L and CHM 2046/2046L (8 credits), and CS majors only need CHM 2045. It’s 8 credits, but only 4 will really count toward your degree (2045), the other 4 credits are “surplus”.

Other AP credits would count toward your general educational requirements, such as Macroeconomics counting toward the Social Science GE requirement. But you likely will end up with more GE credits than you need, once again having a few surplus credits that don’t count toward your degree.

It is nice having many of your GE requirements out of the way, and these “surplus” credits will mean that you start off as a sophomore, so you’re a higher priority than freshman when it comes to picking classes. However, don’t subtract 45 credits from the 120 required for a CS degree and think you only need to take 75 more credits. It’s going to be closer to the range of 100 to 110 credit.