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Why is it that some colleges/universities give credit for high school advanced placement courses taken when others don't?

By Emeraldkity4 (Emeraldkity4) on Thursday, September 30, 2004 - 11:18 am: Edit

different standards for departments
Some college departments want you to take intro classes there, to learn teaching style and to ensure you have basics covered for further classwork
Others just want you to spend as much as possible at their school
Some schools don't care, and will place you in upper division courses just as long as you take blank amount of credits from their school
Depends on the AP class//score as well

By Fishingmn (Fishingmn) on Thursday, September 30, 2004 - 01:25 pm: Edit

Most schools publish their AP policies. If that's an issue you should steer clear of those that won't give you credit. It certainly can make a large financial difference.

By Marite (Marite) on Thursday, September 30, 2004 - 01:32 pm: Edit

Even when two schools of equal reputation grant credit for APs, they make have quite different policies regarding how much credit, and for what AP. Some will grant full credit for AP Bio but only half for Chemistry, others will grant full credit for AP-Chemistry but only half for AP-Bio. Some grant credit only for scores of 5s, some for 4 or 5s, some for 3. Applicants need to consult the websites of individual colleges.

By Dt123 (Dt123) on Friday, October 01, 2004 - 09:28 am: Edit

As a general rule the public universities are much more generous with AP credits. A 3 will get you credit in most of the ones I checked. The publics are interested in getting you in and out for the fewest tax dollars, so liberal AP policies serve that goal.

The privates on the other hand seem to vary a lot, some are OK with 3s, most not. 4s and 5s will get you credits, but sometimes not usable ones. If you need "Physics for Science and Engineering Majors" to get your degree, that 5 on the Physics AP test might only get you credits for "Physics for Music Majors". A nice pat on the back but worthless. Same for math credits.

So you gotta check specifics, and even then some schools are a little vague and inconsistent in what is published. I think this is on purpose, so the advisers can make case by case determinations. This is probably a good thing in the long run. No need to start off in Calculus 3 unless you really are ready for it. We did not know until orientation and registration exactly what AP credits my freshman S would get. As it turned out, he received 32 credits and sophomore standing, but only half are usable in satisfying the requirements for his intended engineering degree. But we aren't complaining.