UChicago only AP5s!

[Anonymous]

Yeah so it turns out that some colleges are not equivalent to high schools, and don't want kids with low grades in foundational courses in high school (4 =B, 3 = C) skipping college courses

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I believe most Top20 do. And they restrict how many AP credits you can transfer. Many of them limit to 3-4 AP courses. So, parents whose kids took 15 APs will be disappointed. Only in state colleges, they can transfer all credits and graduate early.

Every college has its own policies. You can’t generalize like this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UChicago only accepts AP5s for each exam, is this normal for T20 or is it the only school that is this strict? I think it says something about their rigor but kid was surprised you don't get out of much, used only for placement or elective credit with the 5. Does HYPSM do this??

I don't think any top school should accept APs for credit - APs are not equal to UChicago level rigor, APs are community college level. Why would anyone think that is equal to a top college class credit?

Are you serious, because 80% of colleges do lol

[Anonymous]

University of Alabama accepts 3+

https://catalog.ua.edu/undergraduate/about/academic-regulations/policies/credit-by-examination/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UChicago only accepts AP5s for each exam, is this normal for T20 or is it the only school that is this strict? I think it says something about their rigor but kid was surprised you don't get out of much, used only for placement or elective credit with the 5. Does HYPSM do this??

I don't think any top school should accept APs for credit - APs are not equal to UChicago level rigor, APs are community college level. Why would anyone think that is equal to a top college class credit?

Are you serious, because 80% of colleges do lol

80% of colleges are not "top" so that makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Ole Miss all 3s too, and for credit like Alabama. Some of our kids could attend for a year and graduate!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anything less than a 5 on an AP exam is a red flag. Requiring 5s is exactly what I would expect.

This.

Consider how AP exam standards have eroded, excuse me, "recalibrated" so you have to be pretty dumb to not get a 5.

While I don't agree that "you have to be pretty dumb to not get a 5" I think this article highlights a very important problem.

My kids' HS shoves APs down everyone's throats while it is appropriate or not. The HS gets these inane awards from College Board (for getting a certain numbers of 3s) that in reality are meaningless. (Some) kids that don't care or try very hard get 3s by the skin of their teeth with a little last minute cramming.

It's part of the ridiculous money making scheme they have going. And it's a monopoly with no alternative. I hate CB!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UChicago only accepts AP5s for each exam, is this normal for T20 or is it the only school that is this strict? I think it says something about their rigor but kid was surprised you don't get out of much, used only for placement or elective credit with the 5. Does HYPSM do this??

Ivies who accept AP (for advancement even if not credit)typically want 5. Many Ivies have placement tests instead.
Top schools have required 5s for almost everything since our oldest began college in 2020. Not new. Since then they have cut down the number of classes where AP of 5 gets you credit for advancement, particularly calc, chem, physics if the ivy ever allowed it.
Getting a 5 Does not mean what it used to : the AP scoring shifted in 2024 such that 5s are now 20% or more of the scores. Many tests that colleges consider most rigorous had 4-11% 5s prior to 2024.

[Anonymous]

Chicago is in debt. The less APs they accept, the more classes kids have to take.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah so it turns out that some colleges are not equivalent to high schools, and don't want kids with low grades in foundational courses in high school (4 =B, 3 = C) skipping college courses

This. Even 5s in difficult courses do not translate to doing well in the intro course at a rigorous college whether that is ivy, chicago, duke, stanford.

[Anonymous]

this was true at chicago even 30 year ago. why is this a surpise?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:University of Alabama accepts 3+

https://catalog.ua.edu/undergraduate/about/academic-regulations/policies/credit-by-examination/

in what universe are Alabama and chicago equal caliber schools

[Anonymous]

Yawn

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Chicago is in debt. The less APs they accept, the more classes kids have to take.

It's basically the same policy they've had since forever. They allow slightly fewer credits from AP tests (four versus six), but it has nothing to do with debt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I went to Yale, APs only counted to place out of entry level classes but were not accepted as credits. That’s why I didn’t bother to take most of my APs (back in those days APs were only offered senior year as the schools expected you to take a baseline course in each subject and only take advanced once you had finished everything) because I looked to see which ones would have been useful. Most were not so why would I pay to take them?

Just so you know, kids can't avoid paying for exams senior year. Our school district requires AP test payments in November and you don't know what college you're accepted to after that. So, we basically paid for a bunch of AP tests that my kid did not take because they don't provide any advancement or credit.