How common is it to enter college with sophomore status?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why rush getting out of college, you get so much more out of 4 or 5 years than 3, academically, socially, fun, etc

I would rather my kid take a biology class at a university taught by a well respected college professor than some disgruntled high school teacher with 3 years on the job and no real world experience with a world class lab.

My DS graduated from UVA college of Engineering in 3 years because the school accepted over 30+ credits from his high school AP courses. He graduated in May '23 in three years, and I gave him 44K, the money I would have to pay for his last year at UVA, to travel the world before he comes back and either starts grad school or works for the NSA. Staying in school for 4 or 5 years only benefits the university, NOT you.

Btw, some of those "disgruntled" HS teachers have degrees from MIT or CalTech, something that you do not have. Be respectful....

When he applies for jobs or tries to create something on his own, he's going to be competing against people with a full 4-year education, some including a masters or a double major.

He also missed out on building connections with the top students at his school who spent the 4th year doing the most advanced work leading to stronger post-college placements.

NP. Why would an employer prefer someone who took 4 years for the same degree that PP’s child got in 3? On top of that he’ll have life experience and possibly deeper understanding of a foreign language and other cultures depending on where he travels to.

Other people have an extra year of more advanced study or a secondary specialization.

For example does a biotech company prefer to hire electrical engineer with the minimum qualifications, or an electrical engineer with the second major or a minor in biology, or half of a masters degree?

Sure, living abroad can be useful for learning a language or culture for a future working in that language or culture. Or it can be an extended vacation to party on the "savings" of not extending education. Why not get an associates degree and then spend 3 years touring the world with the savings?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If we are bragging... Mine will be a junior after first semester

Started as junior, if we're bragging.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS and many of his friends are going to be sophomores when they start college.

I think they need 24 credits so about 7 AP Classes?

Can be 4 or 5 classes (tests) , depending on school, if you score a 5 on the intensive upper level subjects like Calc BC, Chem, History or Language/Literature.

https://www.transfercredit.umd.edu/plc/APGenEd.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:*good students saved more money by getting full rides at same state school.

Who got the full ride other than under represented minority students? They are rare.

DP.

Obviously "good" is a vague and subjective standard.

UMD offers 150 (2.4% if entering class, 0.25% of MD HS graduates) Banneker/Key full rides (tuition , room, board, minus some taxes).

That's approximately the same number as how many MD students attend each specific Ivy League school (like Harvard) each year.

There is also a secret number of Presidential scholarships that pay variable up to approximately in-state tuition+books.

If you set a goal of "save 1 year of tuition", you only need a 25% ride..

But if you set a goal of "cover 1 year of career earnings", you need at least a full ride.
Some non-wealthy students can assemble a full ride from mix of partial merit discounts and need-based subsidies.

There's also this helpful resource for Freshman Scholarships
https://admissions.umd.edu/finance/freshmanscholarships.php

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's so common at selective schools that you aren't special if you come in with credit. You're normal. Average.

Indeed, this should be obvious to anyone paying even the slightest attention to high school class choices and college admissions.

It’s common at most colleges. The credits are accepted and my kid didn’t have any problems with taking upper level courses their freshman year. Kid said the ap courses were in some cases harder than the college course. Kid would tell you college was much easier because of the rigor of the ap classes.

Which school and which major?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why rush getting out of college, you get so much more out of 4 or 5 years than 3, academically, socially, fun, etc

I would rather my kid take a biology class at a university taught by a well respected college professor than some disgruntled high school teacher with 3 years on the job and no real world experience with a world class lab.

My DS graduated from UVA college of Engineering in 3 years because the school accepted over 30+ credits from his high school AP courses. He graduated in May '23 in three years, and I gave him 44K, the money I would have to pay for his last year at UVA, to travel the world before he comes back and either starts grad school or works for the NSA. Staying in school for 4 or 5 years only benefits the university, NOT you.

Btw, some of those "disgruntled" HS teachers have degrees from MIT or CalTech, something that you do not have. Be respectful....

When he applies for jobs or tries to create something on his own, he's going to be competing against people with a full 4-year education, some including a masters or a double major.

He also missed out on building connections with the top students at his school who spent the 4th year doing the most advanced work leading to stronger post-college placements.

NP. Why would an employer prefer someone who took 4 years for the same degree that PP’s child got in 3? On top of that he’ll have life experience and possibly deeper understanding of a foreign language and other cultures depending on where he travels to.

For example does a biotech company prefer to hire electrical engineer with the minimum qualifications, or an electrical engineer with the second major or a minor in biology, or half of a masters degree? Why not get an associates degree and then spend 3 years touring the world with the savings?

The one with more work experience. And for your second question, it's because an associates degree limits your earning potential in a way a college degree does not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS and many of his friends are going to be sophomores when they start college.

I think they need 24 credits so about 7 AP Classes?

Can be 4 or 5 classes (tests) , depending on school, if you score a 5 on the intensive upper level subjects like Calc BC, Chem, History or Language/Literature.

https://www.transfercredit.umd.edu/plc/APGenEd.pdf

None of those are upper level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS and many of his friends are going to be sophomores when they start college.

I think they need 24 credits so about 7 AP Classes?

Can be 4 or 5 classes (tests) , depending on school, if you score a 5 on the intensive upper level subjects like Calc BC, Chem, History or Language/Literature.

https://www.transfercredit.umd.edu/plc/APGenEd.pdf

None of those are upper level.

They are upper level High School AP classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why rush getting out of college, you get so much more out of 4 or 5 years than 3, academically, socially, fun, etc

I would rather my kid take a biology class at a university taught by a well respected college professor than some disgruntled high school teacher with 3 years on the job and no real world experience with a world class lab.

My DS graduated from UVA college of Engineering in 3 years because the school accepted over 30+ credits from his high school AP courses. He graduated in May '23 in three years, and I gave him 44K, the money I would have to pay for his last year at UVA, to travel the world before he comes back and either starts grad school or works for the NSA. Staying in school for 4 or 5 years only benefits the university, NOT you.

Btw, some of those "disgruntled" HS teachers have degrees from MIT or CalTech, something that you do not have. Be respectful....

When he applies for jobs or tries to create something on his own, he's going to be competing against people with a full 4-year education, some including a masters or a double major.

He also missed out on building connections with the top students at his school who spent the 4th year doing the most advanced work leading to stronger post-college placements.

NP. Why would an employer prefer someone who took 4 years for the same degree that PP’s child got in 3? On top of that he’ll have life experience and possibly deeper understanding of a foreign language and other cultures depending on where he travels to.

For example does a biotech company prefer to hire electrical engineer with the minimum qualifications, or an electrical engineer with the second major or a minor in biology, or half of a masters degree? Why not get an associates degree and then spend 3 years touring the world with the savings?

The one with more work experience. And for your second question, it's because an associates degree limits your earning potential in a way a college degree does not.

Minimum standards for a Bachelor's isn't a magical cutoff after which education is irrelevant. Maybe if you want to work in a government office, the content of the education matters little. But in industry, people who know more, and do more, and show them can do harder things, are more sought after.
This is the experience of my peers and I who have been hiring college grads and industry transfers for 20 years.

A 4-year graduate also has more work experience (summer/school) than a 3-year graduate when applying for the highly important first job out of school.

[Anonymous]

It was very common at my college (UF). Most students still stayed four years anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why rush getting out of college, you get so much more out of 4 or 5 years than 3, academically, socially, fun, etc

I would rather my kid take a biology class at a university taught by a well respected college professor than some disgruntled high school teacher with 3 years on the job and no real world experience with a world class lab.

My DS graduated from UVA college of Engineering in 3 years because the school accepted over 30+ credits from his high school AP courses. He graduated in May '23 in three years, and I gave him 44K, the money I would have to pay for his last year at UVA, to travel the world before he comes back and either starts grad school or works for the NSA. Staying in school for 4 or 5 years only benefits the university, NOT you.

Btw, some of those "disgruntled" HS teachers have degrees from MIT or CalTech, something that you do not have. Be respectful....

When he applies for jobs or tries to create something on his own, he's going to be competing against people with a full 4-year education, some including a masters or a double major.

He also missed out on building connections with the top students at his school who spent the 4th year doing the most advanced work leading to stronger post-college placements.

I've worked at Intel, Apple, Google and these companies do NOT cares about where you get your degree from or how long. It comes down to the interview and how well you performed on the actual test given by the company. You might have a Master degree in Engineering but do poorly on the test, you will not be hired.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:why rush getting out of college, you get so much more out of 4 or 5 years than 3, academically, socially, fun, etc

I would rather my kid take a biology class at a university taught by a well respected college professor than some disgruntled high school teacher with 3 years on the job and no real world experience with a world class lab.

DD is a freshman at University of Minnesota and is taking a freshman biology class with over 300 students from a teaching assistant. Professors don't teach intro classes at university. LOL.....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's so common at selective schools that you aren't special if you come in with credit. You're normal. Average.

Indeed, this should be obvious to anyone paying even the slightest attention to high school class choices and college admissions.

It’s common at most colleges. The credits are accepted and my kid didn’t have any problems with taking upper level courses their freshman year. Kid said the ap courses were in some cases harder than the college course. Kid would tell you college was much easier because of the rigor of the ap classes.

Also disabuse yourself of the notion that parents are pushing this trend to save money. The kids are so competitive in hs that kids feel like they have to take ap classes. I argued with my kid for months because kid loaded up with too many ap classes. Kid refused to back down. I know other parents who went to the principal to try to drag their kid out of some ap classes. Most of the parents I knew agreed that it was insane but by hs the kids who are academically talented are intense about competing with each other.

I'm not really disagreeing with anything of what you're saying. I just said, in response to the OP question, that it's obvious that students at selective schools had lots of AP classes in HS. I'd say though that it's driven by the kids and the parents, which in turn reflects how competitive admission is and how "rigor of classes" is among the very first things pretty much any admission office says about admission - give them 10 words max and I bet "rigor" will be one of them.

The trend is probably not much about saving money - I don't have to disabuse myself of any such notion. Having said that, I don't know it's not an important factor. Maybe it should be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: And, just to confirm, this issue arises as High School Students get college credit by taking classes labeled college level, and also if they go to camp at a college during summer?

Summer camp at a college doesn’t usually grant college credit.

Really depends. My kid went to UMD and Boston U summer programs and got credit for all the classes.

This is exactly right, some colleges offer both types of summer programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why rush getting out of college, you get so much more out of 4 or 5 years than 3, academically, socially, fun, etc

I would rather my kid take a biology class at a university taught by a well respected college professor than some disgruntled high school teacher with 3 years on the job and no real world experience with a world class lab.

My DS graduated from UVA college of Engineering in 3 years because the school accepted over 30+ credits from his high school AP courses. He graduated in May '23 in three years, and I gave him 44K, the money I would have to pay for his last year at UVA, to travel the world before he comes back and either starts grad school or works for the NSA. Staying in school for 4 or 5 years only benefits the university, NOT you.

Btw, some of those "disgruntled" HS teachers have degrees from MIT or CalTech, something that you do not have. Be respectful....

as do the college professors with multi million dollar labs and access to research. but i bet most of the high school teachers aren't from MIT or Cal Tech and if they are, it doesn't translate into being a good teacher.

congrats to your kid who graduated early, maybe he wants to teach in high school