Parent of a child who will attending Pomona as a freshman in the fall - we are super excited! We have to sign up for AP exams this week. I know Pomona will only accept 2 APs for credit. She received a 5 in AP Psych last year, so will get credit for that. Is it even worth it for her to take any other AP tests this year? She is considering taking the AP Bio, AP Calc, and possibly Physics B/C, but I am not sure if she should even bother. She wants to major in science of some type, but not sure what yet, and is thinking of med school right now, but that could change. I can’t find any specifics on the Pomona website, but have heard in general that it might be better to not place out of the lower level classes in college as it is better to have a good solid start than to be struggling with the rigor and pace of higher level classes. So should she even bother? If no real benefit, I would rather skip, both from a stress and cost perspective. Thanks for any feedback!
It’s true that she is limited to 2 credits. You obviously already know that AP exams are often used for placement. But they can sometimes also be used to satisfy a prerequisite for a course. For example, my D is an Econ major and her 5’s in Statistics and Psych have satisfied prerequisites for certain Econ classes.
Does your D plan to take the intro biology, calculus and physics classes freshman year? If so, then it probably doesn’t make sense to take the exams.
Note that the AP scores appear on your Pomona transcript – at least they do on the “unofficial” transcript. Again, it doesn’t really matter if your D plans to take those courses freshman year, because then having the AP scores on the transcript doesn’t really add anything. But my sophomore D has been applying for lots of internships and off campus research positions, and has had to submit her unofficial transcript to virtually all of them. For example, one position wanted you to have had some type of introductory psychology class. She had not taken one at Pomona but at least she had the AP score on her transcript. I have no idea what weight the AP scores actually carry in that context. But I’m guessing they might be helpful especially for a rising sophomore or rising junior applying for certain positions where they want you to have a certain background competence.
What about foreign language requirement at Pomona? A SAT subject test in Spanish or AP Spanish meet the requirement?
Here’s info on satisfying the foreign language requirement: http://catalog.pomona.edu/content.php?catoid=21&navoid=4378#language
Our Pomona freshman daughter also got a 5 in AP psych and 5 in BC Calc. She hasn’t applied for credit yet, but has them in her hip pocket in case she ever has to use them.
You don’t need to “apply” for credit. You also don’t need to “pick” which ones you want for credit. Just have the College Board send the scores to the Registrar. My D had 5’s in Calculus BC, Chemistry, US History, World History, Statistics and Psychology. All of them appear on her transcript with a total of 2 credits awarded, but not allocated to any particular two exams.
Thanks so much @Corinthian. That is super helpful!!
As I recall you get a free score report when you take an AP exam, so if your D is taking any AP exams this May, she could use it to send all scores to Pomona.
https://apscore.collegeboard.org/scores/score-reporting// Otherwise I think the fee for a report is only $15 so it’s fine if you want to wait.
@LYLmom, thanks for posing this question - the answers were helpful to me and my potential Pomona freshman. Just a note about AP Psychology. If your student is interested in studying psychology at Pomona, she might not want to place out of the intro class. Most college intro psych courses cover a lot more material than the AP course, so not only might other students be better prepared for the upper level coursework, but also your student might not get exposed to many potential topics of interest within the broad array of areas of study which fall under psychology. However, she might be done with psychology altogether, and will just use the score as a credit as needed. Congratulations to her on her acceptance!
Thanks @SkipWoosnam! I don’t think she is considering studying Psychology at this point - probably more intereseted in Neuroscience or Biology, but who knows? She is only 17, so alot can change in the next two years. Good luck to your child on his/her decision. Maybe we will see you at Pomona!
i know too late to make decision to take /or not take the AP exam but just posting as still have some information that could be useful
My son completed his freshmen year at Pomona and loved it! Had a great social and academic adjustment. He will be a sponsor next year and has taken advantage of a lot of Pomona’s great offerings including the Free alternative spring break (look into this as aps out in late october i believe, great experience) as well as getting involved in many activities like Mock Trial where he met tons of very supportive friends and had a blast. congrats on a great choice.
He did have 11AP exams listed on transcript but really unclear if any benefit from them beyond the 2 credits.
He had science , history and math AP’s, but unable to place out of the science , quantitative or any other distribution requirements with any of them . To my knowledge you can’t use AP’s to place out of the core distribution requirements no matter what your major. Your score might let you take a "higher " level class (for ex take a higher level chem or calculus course by placing out of intro courses with AP score) but I don’t believe it lets you place out of any of the “6” core distribution requirements.
also some confusion with Economics. he (we) believed he could use his AP scores on macro and micro to place out of either or both intro to macro and micro , only to find out when he signed up for intermediate courses that they only counted the Econ placement tests given at Pomona and not the AP score. By the time he found this out, he said it would have been difficult to pass the placement test. He got a lot of misinformation as he was initially told yes so not sure if they changed the requirement . he really thought his AP scores counted , only to learn that he needed to take the econ placement test.
Final word on AP. I am a firm believer to “look at APS as preparing you for college, and to help you into selective schools, not necessarily to place you out of college classes”. In the end he repeated his first calculus course(even with a 5 on calculus AB), repeated stats(even with a 5 on AP stats took econ stats which was a stat course ), and repeated intro econ Macro (even with a 4 on AP) . he did get a’s but said it was not a “slam dunk” and still was challenging at Pomona. He also said that the college course was much different than the HS version and that plenty of kids also had the HS AP so he was not the only one.
college adjustment is difficult enough freshmen year, so be careful of placing out of intro classes into harder level classes.
I think the only AP that allows you to place out of a Pomona requirement is the language AP. you can also use a subject test to place out of the language requirement. I could be wrong but I believe that is the only AP that lets you place out of a requirement and not just gets you into a higher level class.
@momof2eagles - Thank you so much - the information you provided is super helpful. My D had called the school back in April to try to get more information on which AP exam might be most helpful for her - we had already signed her up for one so she was committed to taking one! She kept getting transferred to different departments and couldn’t get a definitive answer from anyone, so in the end, she decided to take the one she thought she could score the highest on. It is definitely reassuring to get confirmation that it is better to not try to place out of any of the classes and your philosophy about the AP classes being good preparation for college versus placing out of classes or accelerating graduation is a good one. And so glad to hear that your son had such a wonderful freshman year - I will definitely pass on the recommendation for the free alternative spring break to her. My D is super excited and we are keeping our fingers crossed that she will have a relatively easy transition too.
@lylmom congrats again. I am pretty sure even if you place out of introductory courses with Ap all it gets you into is higher level courses and doesn’t get you out of any distribution requirements. So for example if you had AP math and were hoping to get out of the quantitative distribution req. you can’t. or were hoping to not have to take a science and use your science AP you can’t.
I think the best advice i gave my son coming from 3k miles away was to get involved in college life both inside and outside the classroom and to do this right away.
just to be complete, I believe an AP score can be beneficial if it gets you into a higher level class and helps knock off courses for your MAJOR, so if you want to be a math major and your AP scores on calculus AB and or BC gets you out of first and possibly second semester calculus required for math major , i guess it can be helpful in that you come in further along in your MAJOR and frees up classes for possibly a minor or second major. However, not sure how each individual major works. For economics, even placing out of intro to macro and micro, with pomona placement test, the dpt makes you take at least one extra econ elective.
the bottom line is at Pomona and most other selective schools, AP’s cant really help you graduate early and at Pomona just gets you into higher level classes which might not always be the wise thing to do. Some kids really struggle when they do this.