Benefit of AP credit

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used my high school AP credit to skip the intro level big lecture classes and get right to the interesting. Graduating early wasn't an option because of the order I had to take classes in due to prerequisites and not all classes being offered every semester so I just filled out my schedule with classes to add an additional major and a minor instead.

This is what my 2 kids did.

One used them to skip the weed out freshmen classes and get a dual degree.

The other used them to free up classes to double major.

I did the same. I was so happy to skip freshman English and Biology especially. And I got right to the good stuff in my chosen major. I was a student athlete so graduating early was not a priority. But AP credits allowed me to take a more manageable course load each semester and have time to work in a couple of research labs. I had two minors, but ran out of time to double major because I didn’t hone in on my specific interests until a bit too late for that.

[Anonymous]

Not too many kids at lower SES who would be successful enough in them to get the required score of the exam. My DH works in one and only a few kids take AP courses and fewer get the 3+.

[Anonymous]

The AP credits earned by four of my grandchildren have enabled one to graduate early from Northeastern University- 7% acceptance rate - to pursue a combined MD/PhD degree. Others have bypassed required courses (VA Colleges) or won hefty merit awards (RPI) Too often students don’t even bother to take the exam if they are seniors and already accepted. I say hedge your bets and sit for the exams!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Foreign language for 5 years, TOK, etc are not requirements of IB courses, only the diploma (which completely unnecessary if the student doesn’t want to do it). Please, if you are going to argue against IB, pick things that actually matter. There is plenty to complain about with regards to the program, but you sound super uninformed and biased when you complain about things that are options, not mandates.

IB is supposed to be about the diploma, it is the point of the program. Many of the IB schools don’t have enough students to run HL classes in most of the classes. That means that the tests don’t count for credits. We have friends who have complained about the effort that they need to go through to get college credit for IB classes.

[Anonymous]

AP didn't get me out of the engineeing school equivalent courses, but there was a nice GPA boost.

Don't forget CLEPS might get you out of various gen ed requirements too.

[Anonymous]

DD started as an academic sophomore at a competitive college. Didn't graduate early because she loved it there. She took lots of unnecessary electives because she was interested in them--extra foreign language courses, for example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the school - Caltech, Dartmouth, Williams, ... do not accept any APs.

DEs on other hand for must be accepted by State Schools (if the grade is above a certain point). If college cost is the primary then load up on DEs and go to a State School and may graduate 1.5 years early.

DEs only have value at Virginia state schools.

APs are far and away a better option than Dual Enrollment.

[Anonymous]

APs are great. Beneficial regardless of socioeconomic status. Allows kids to skip lower level classes or requirements they may not be interested in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not too many kids at lower SES who would be successful enough in them to get the required score of the exam. My DH works in one and only a few kids take AP courses and fewer get the 3+.

So, your DH knows who is on free lunch?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the school - Caltech, Dartmouth, Williams, ... do not accept any APs.

DEs on other hand for must be accepted by State Schools (if the grade is above a certain point). If college cost is the primary then load up on DEs and go to a State School and may graduate 1.5 years early.

DEs only have value at Virginia state schools.

APs are far and away a better option than Dual Enrollment.

The DE agreements are made with VA State schools; however they are still credits that appear on the NOVA Transcript and do transfer on a case-by-case basis to other schools. Several posters on other threads stated that DE transferred to the U Cal schools. DE is just not automatic/pre-agreed for out-of-state.