Did your kid use AP credit to reduce their time in college?

[Anonymous]

It seems like a lot of kids take a bunch of AP classes, but then do the regular four years of college. I know the AP classes can better your chances of getting into a good college, but does anyone have experience with a kid also using them to reduce the amount of time spent in college? Or a kid who took fewer credits per semester? If they did either of those things, did they feel they missed any of the college experience?

[Anonymous]

most i know used them to reduce the required classes they need thus allowing them to double/triple major. i know a kid who came in with 62 dual credit hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems like a lot of kids take a bunch of AP classes, but then do the regular four years of college. I know the AP classes can better your chances of getting into a good college, but does anyone have experience with a kid also using them to reduce the amount of time spent in college? Or a kid who took fewer credits per semester? If they did either of those things, did they feel they missed any of the college experience?

Quite a few high achieving kids do this. Cutting down your total college stay by a semester or two does not tantamount to "missing the college experience". After freshman year in the dorms, Sophomore year living by yourself, and junior year being able to drink (if you turn 21), what else is there?

[Anonymous]

No. Had 14 AP classes at graduation with scores of all 5s and two 4s. The APs were just to take the most rigorous schedule in high school.

[Anonymous]

Only to opt out of basic courses, took high level or fun courses instead and spent full 4 years at college before getting grabbed by a well known employer. He had 16 APs, all 5's and an IB diploma.

[Anonymous]

My kid used IB credits to reduce his time in college by a full semester. He does not feel like he's missing out on the college experience because much of it has been during covid and has really sucked. He'd ready to be done, get out and start earning $$$.

[Anonymous]

It’s generally the state flagships that accept AP credits. Some schools won’t accept an AP that is required for your major. For example, AP Bio not accepted if your are a Biology major. Every school I’d different. If this is important to you, do your homework.

[Anonymous]

Do your homework about the area requirements. Make sure you’re looking at current information. Some schools have changed their liberal arts curricula to something unrecognizable, making it difficult for students to “redeem” AP test scores for actual course credit, instead of vague “elective” credit.

It’s just another way to keep dollars at the school and students in the seats instead of allowing them to graduate early.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only to opt out of basic courses, took high level or fun courses instead and spent full 4 years at college before getting grabbed by a well known employer. He had 16 APs, all 5's and an IB diploma.

That is DC's plan. The kid is interested in many different things outside of their chosen major, and this is their time to get deeper exposure to them, viewpoints, and opinions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only to opt out of basic courses, took high level or fun courses instead and spent full 4 years at college before getting grabbed by a well known employer. He had 16 APs, all 5's and an IB diploma.

That is DC's plan. The kid is interested in many different things outside of their chosen major, and this is their time to get deeper exposure to them, viewpoints, and opinions.

+1 This is what all of our older children have done. The AP credits got the boring Freshman and Sophomore courses out of the way. All of our kids so far have had either double majors or a major with a Master's (or a good start of a PhD) by the time 4 years have rolled around.

[Anonymous]

Some schools have residency requirements, which means they wont let you graduate early. Or the APs don’t count toward your major. Or they can fulfill requirements but can’t be prerequisites to high level courses. Or a million other things.

APs get you into college. In many places, they don’t do much else because colleges like money.

[Anonymous]

The AP credits allowed my kid to register earlier in the queue at their state flagship. So where most freshman maybe were registering on a Thursday starting at noon, they were able to start on a Wednesday at 2 in the afternoon. When there are required classes that fill up, that extra time is really important.

[Anonymous]

Our dd entered an OOS flagship with 32 credits. This got all of her Gen Ed classes out of the way and allowed her to double major with a minor. As another person said she also gets to register for classes earlier than her classmates which helps her snag the spots that fill up early. Her roommate entered college with 20 credits and will be graduating a semester early. For the roommate this made college much more affordable.

[Anonymous]

DD is a division one athlete with enough AP credits to lighten her load by one class for all the semesters that overlap with her busiest season. She’s in a stem field, so the coursework is not fluff and the lighter load is helpful.

[Anonymous]

My son entered college with 62 credits and was able to earn two degrees in four years (a B.S. and a B.A.).