My oldest has enough credits to graduate a semester early, but won't. The main reason is that DC has to produce both a capstone project and an honors thesis during senior year. Both the department and the honors program agree that one of those is doable in a single semester, but it's not really feasible to complete both in less than a full academic year. Instead, DC is using the credits to get basic requirements out of the way which will allow time for a major and double minor.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

If this is true, that's great for your son, but wow, what a different HS experience. My kid's taking quite a few AP classes, but also wants to have time with friends and participate in her activities so will use AP's just for admission. I want her to enjoy the 4 yr college experience. They have the rest of their lives to work and earn money.

What an idiotic, rude, and judgmental post.

PP's son achieved something great. Good for him. I have absolutely no doubt he has many friends and lots of fun.

Also I love the implication that if only your daughter chose this inferior route, she would no doubt have accomplished the same.

It is not rude to think that taking mostly high school courses in high school, and getting one undergraduate degree in 4 years of college is healthier than the alternative.

Agree, you can think whatever you want. Making a judgment like that and saying it to someone who's child who has focused on academics is absurdly rude.
The idea that anyone who has gone above and beyond with coursework is an anti-social loser is ridiculous.

But it is probably true! Let’s be realistic here.

Wow! What kind of loser in life would have this kind of thought?

This x 1000. You sound like the sport parents who say this:

Parent A: I don’t like how kids who do sports have an advantage in college admissions.

Sports parent: sorry your kid is such a loser!

You’re drawn conclusions are wrong and based on no facts. My friend’s son has a heavy, heavy load. He is also on a sports team, finishing his eagle scouting year, has a girlfriend and is very popular. Shocking, I know. Poor guy…

Anonymous wrote:
It is not rude to think that taking mostly high school courses in high school, and getting one undergraduate degree in 4 years of college is healthier than the alternative.

Agree, you can think whatever you want. Making a judgment like that and saying it to someone who's child who has focused on academics is absurdly rude.
The idea that anyone who has gone above and beyond with coursework is an anti-social loser is ridiculous.

But it is probably true! Let’s be realistic here
Wow! What kind of loser in life would have this kind of thought?

Lol. What year is this?

Yeah so everyone who crushed it academically and earned multiple degrees in a short time is uninteresting and has no life. Keep telling yourself that.

Also just because you *don't* accomplish these things, doesn't mean you did great socially in high school or anything like that. I was a social butterfly (but not particularly 'cool') and I regret not taking school more seriously. But my brother was way more popular, football captain-- also took MVC at the community college over the summer after they ran out of Math for him and graduated at the top of his class. He has a PhD from MIT. LOSER!

Thank you!.LOVE this!

My student used them to take a lighter course load. He has added some academic ECs that involve sitting in on those classes and planning time, so we've "swapped" out a course for the EC time needed and have the AP earned credit to keep the forward progress moving, if that makes sense.

Why the sensitivity about kids social v heavy AP/CC credits? I'm the PP who mentioned my DD wants a different HS experience. I didn't call anyone a loser or criticize anyone else's choice. I simply said my kid wants a different experience. One of her best friends is crushing HS - probably 2 yrs ahead of her in math and is also a very talented musician with multiple state and national level awards. He prefers to play and write music in his free time so isn't as social, by choice. When he walks on stage and sits in the first chair, I couldn't be happier for him and couldn't care less about his social activities. When he's playing, I'm sure no one's wondering if he was at Larla's party Saturday night. HS is an individual experience based on each kid's goals and choices, so there's no right or wrong option.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

If this is true, that's great for your son, but wow, what a different HS experience. My kid's taking quite a few AP classes, but also wants to have time with friends and participate in her activities so will use AP's just for admission. I want her to enjoy the 4 yr college experience. They have the rest of their lives to work and earn money.

What an idiotic, rude, and judgmental post.

PP's son achieved something great. Good for him. I have absolutely no doubt he has many friends and lots of fun.

Also I love the implication that if only your daughter chose this inferior route, she would no doubt have accomplished the same.

It is not rude to think that taking mostly high school courses in high school, and getting one undergraduate degree in 4 years of college is healthier than the alternative.

Agree, you can think whatever you want. Making a judgment like that and saying it to someone who's child who has focused on academics is absurdly rude.
The idea that anyone who has gone above and beyond with coursework is an anti-social loser is ridiculous.

But it is probably true! Let’s be realistic here.

Wow! What kind of loser in life would have this kind of thought?

Lol. What year is this?

Yeah so everyone who crushed it academically and earned multiple degrees in a short time is uninteresting and has no life. Keep telling yourself that.

Also just because you *don't* accomplish these things, doesn't mean you did great socially in high school or anything like that. I was a social butterfly (but not particularly 'cool') and I regret not taking school more seriously. But my brother was way more popular, football captain-- also took MVC at the community college over the summer after they ran out of Math for him and graduated at the top of his class. He has a PhD from MIT. LOSER!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

If this is true, that's great for your son, but wow, what a different HS experience. My kid's taking quite a few AP classes, but also wants to have time with friends and participate in her activities so will use AP's just for admission. I want her to enjoy the 4 yr college experience. They have the rest of their lives to work and earn money.

What an idiotic, rude, and judgmental post.

PP's son achieved something great. Good for him. I have absolutely no doubt he has many friends and lots of fun.

Also I love the implication that if only your daughter chose this inferior route, she would no doubt have accomplished the same.

It is not rude to think that taking mostly high school courses in high school, and getting one undergraduate degree in 4 years of college is healthier than the alternative.

Agree, you can think whatever you want. Making a judgment like that and saying it to someone who's child who has focused on academics is absurdly rude.
The idea that anyone who has gone above and beyond with coursework is an anti-social loser is ridiculous.

But it is probably true! Let’s be realistic here.

Wow! What kind of loser in life would have this kind of thought?

DC #1 walked into NYU with the maximum number of AP credits allowed- 28. DC #1, an IB student, had taken a fair number of AP tests, and after DC's ED admission, signed up for a few more AP tests to have a shot at geting the maximum number of AP credits. The plan was to either graduate early, or get a double major, or take more classes in DC's major. The AP credits were strategically applied to the required courses, so my humanities child never had to take math. DC #1 could have graduated in 3 years, but because of Covid breaks, opted to go 4 years and get a major and 2 minors.

DC #2, also an IB student, refused to take AP tests seriously and blew chances to walk in with the maximum number of credits allowed at a T20 university. DC#2 will not have the same options as DC#1 and will attend college for 4 years.

IMPORTANT: Read the rules for each school carefully. Sometimes they are hard to find and I reached out to admissions for clarification after admission to maximize the opportunites for AP credits during senior year.
Also, colleges seem to only give credit for a score of 6 or 7 on IB tests. These IB scores are really hard to get. So have your IB student take the relevant AP test during the same season they take the IB test- my DCs found it easier to get 5s on AP tests without much additional effort.

No. DD scored 4s and 5s, but DD's college requires you to have a certain GPA to get your first choice in major so she didn't use her AP credits and instead had an easy 1st year and easily met the GPA requirement because it was material she already mastered. The hardest part of college for her was the transition not the classes so this helped her to focus on that vs a tough academic 1st year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

If this is true, that's great for your son, but wow, what a different HS experience. My kid's taking quite a few AP classes, but also wants to have time with friends and participate in her activities so will use AP's just for admission. I want her to enjoy the 4 yr college experience. They have the rest of their lives to work and earn money.

What an idiotic, rude, and judgmental post.

PP's son achieved something great. Good for him. I have absolutely no doubt he has many friends and lots of fun.

Also I love the implication that if only your daughter chose this inferior route, she would no doubt have accomplished the same.

It is not rude to think that taking mostly high school courses in high school, and getting one undergraduate degree in 4 years of college is healthier than the alternative.

Agree, you can think whatever you want. Making a judgment like that and saying it to someone who's child who has focused on academics is absurdly rude.
The idea that anyone who has gone above and beyond with coursework is an anti-social loser is ridiculous.

But it is probably true! Let’s be realistic here.

A word of caution: With some courses, the college might require that the student take that college's version of the class even if the student has an AP credit in that subject.

This happened with a friend's DD who loaded up on lots of APs in HS in hopes of jumping over some of the science classes at college. (And since DCUM always cares about this stuff, this student got the top score on all her AP exams--she was stellar.) The student did indeed get a lot of credits, but not every AP course translated automatically into skipping a class and moving to the next level in that subject.

The college somehow gave a certain amount of credit, not sure how that worked, but the student and parents were very surprised that she was also told she would have to take the college's classes in a couple of science subjects where the student had assumed that she had "done" the AP/college intro level work, and would just be placed in the next higher course in that sequence. The college told them that it wants all its students to have the same grounding in the college's way of teaching that topic, before moving to the next levels in those subjects.

Just noting that no one should assume that if a kid has an AP credit for subject X, and the college recognizes AP credits, the student will get to skip a college's foundational freshman course in subject X. I realize this isn't quite the same thing as the question of using AP credits to reduce time in college. But having to take a course you thought you'd "placed out of" will affect a student's schedule.

Not uncommon. I graduated back in the late 90s, and wound up graduating in 3.5 years. Definitely didn’t miss out on the college experience. And the reason I wanted to leave early is I had a job waiting for me in December.

A much younger family member just did the same a few years back, but graduated in 3 years due to AP credits. She aldo began a great job immediately, so that’s why she didn’t want to stay in college longer.

I came in with 60 credit hours and graduated in 4 years, but took lighter loads most semesters so I could work or intern, and I took extra electives rather than just the intro courses. It also helped when I studied abroad because the credits only transferred as electives. It helped me get into upper-level language courses as a freshman, too.

No, but chose to double major.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

If this is true, that's great for your son, but wow, what a different HS experience. My kid's taking quite a few AP classes, but also wants to have time with friends and participate in her activities so will use AP's just for admission. I want her to enjoy the 4 yr college experience. They have the rest of their lives to work and earn money.

What an idiotic, rude, and judgmental post.

PP's son achieved something great. Good for him. I have absolutely no doubt he has many friends and lots of fun.

Also I love the implication that if only your daughter chose this inferior route, she would no doubt have accomplished the same.

It is not rude to think that taking mostly high school courses in high school, and getting one undergraduate degree in 4 years of college is healthier than the alternative.

Agree, you can think whatever you want. Making a judgment like that and saying it to someone who's child who has focused on academics is absurdly rude.
The idea that anyone who has gone above and beyond with coursework is an anti-social loser is ridiculous.