btw: unless the minor is somehow related, it will add almost nothing to the Grad school app.
Two practical observations. (1) TIMING. Latin Honors are usually awarded shortly before graduation day. Applications to grad school would probably be submitted in Fall (no later than January) of the school year. And I agree with comments above, Latin Honors do not matter AT ALL for admission with full funding to a PhD Program. (2) WHAT AP DOES. In many programs, especially in larger ones, AP’s mainly do two things. (a) They help with admission to the college and university, (b) they allow advanced placement, or placement into a higher or more demanding sequence of required courses (such as math or language), but they do not reduce the credit hour requirement.
I started college with around 3-4 semesters worth of credits- mostly AP. Took the tests, not the classes. Most of the credits were pretty much useless because I didn’t need elective credits.
In terms of upper-level tuition vs. claiming AP credit, it comes down to doing a cost-benefit analysis. If the AP credits allow for earlier graduation (and everyone is fine with that), that can save money.
@mackinaw Excellent observation about the timing of grad school applications versus graduating with Latin honors. I hadn’t thought of that before.
Doing work which shows her interest and aptitude for her grad school program is the most important thing. I doubt they care about whether she jumped through the hoops to get this honors or that honors or a formal designation of a 'minor". She should do a significant project in her area of interest as independent study, thesis, however it is offered, and try to work closely with a professor who can write her a recommendation.
In addition to undergraduate research, finding at least 3 Profs who would be eager to write strong LORs is far more important than whether she completes honors programs or takes on extra minors.
Son’s honors advisor signed off on courses he didn’t have prerequisites for. He also got him into closed classes. He also was able to allow son to substitute a few classes for other required classes. The advisor was also the dept. chair.
All in all, the rules for classes are written down but not necessarily written in stone. Your daughter needs to be close with her advisor and map out her entire four years now.
Schools want your kids to graduate in 4 years.
My kid had 12 AP tests with mostly scores of 5… He was given 53 credits for them but didn’t use them all. He graduated in 4 years with two separate degrees. Gotta love those AP credits.
Her major should have a 4 year plan, likely available on-line, that she should use as the primary path, I am sure that was completely done before they added a major. She should be able to cross out certain classes due to AP credit. Some classes should be able to be substituted with something that qualifies as an honors class. Since this is a new program, they may not have considered how honors program could relate to this major … but someone should be able to figure this out.
Another option may be to get a less specific degree with a specialization in her major (likely her area of graduate studies interest).
all this seems a little premature for someone who is a freshman … having taken no classes
AP classes are typically freshman classes that at best can qualify as electives or core classes. I think they are a bit oversold as getting people out of college early, unless they directly relate to your major AND you are ready for sophomore level work as a new frosh.
Minors are typically 15 credits so could take up all the open electives. I think they are oversold, unless they specifically relate to a career path or very specialized graduate path. Following your muse and taking a broader set of classes maybe be more enjoyable and easier to schedule - open spot Wed afternoon, how about art history …
Lots of spring break, summer programs abroad - for a demanding major - probably would not try to take a semester off, again, maybe someone will work that out for her … .she may be the first to ask. Some schools really want to encourage study abroad … and she may be able to take an equivalent course to her major course abroad, especially if she has language skills.
15 AP << 60 but still shockingly high. Consider it mostly entertainment and challenge for her during high school = 1500 dollars in fees but it might have gotten her into this program or school.
Oh- so “Latin Honors” refers to magna… I had assumed a major in Latin. That’s what happens when, even in my day eons ago, terms were archaic. I know her U is not UW-Madison because they dropped those gpa dependent terms long ago. UW awards Honors degrees for completing Honors requirements- comprehensive and in the major are two types of Honors degrees. I wouldn’t worry about those summa, magna et al designations but rather would concentrate on best educating herself. Even the Honors degree doesn’t mean much later- you do it for yourself. At least her school dropped getting the degree qualifiers for those without honors- some would avoid the best classes in a subject just to get top grades (although in my experience it can be easier to get A’s in Honors versions of courses). Knowing not all U’s use those Latin terms I suspect grad schools and corporations would not care either since they can’t compare them across different schools- besides, they would have the gpa.
Colleges and universities typically don’t approve new majors unless they can be completed in four years. Something doesn’t seem right here. I also recommend finding an adviser who might be able to cut through the red tape and possibly waive prerequisites. Good luck!
Me, too, @wis75 . I thought Latin honors was some kind of specialized program in the dead language! I know what honors designations are. I know the designators are in Latin, I’d just never heard them called Latin honors!
I also never heard of a college that required you be in their honors college to graduate cum laude.
My kiddos’ schools awarded these designations to the top 5% and top 10% of the departments…not based on GPA.
My DS was on the deans list every term in college…and did not graduate even cum laude because he was not in the top 10% of his department graduating class.
The school and department should have a sample 8 semester or 12 quarter schedule that the student can follow.
Of course, this may mean foregoing options like minors, study abroad, extra honors program courses, and/or out of major courses that have a time conflict with requirements.
And make sure your D is not slicing the bologna too thin. Example- kid wants to major in Near Eastern Archaeology.l The department is small, many of the professors are only teaching one semester out of three because they are participating in the university sponsored dig in Turkey.
Major in Archaeology or Art History or Near Eastern Studies or Akkadian/Sumerian or whichever major is bigger, has more students and more professors, and more regularly scheduled classes in sequence. Forget a minor- just take the classes that she’s interested in once she’s made sure she’s graduating in four years.
I actually started in Egyptology in college (believe it or not) except there was only one full professor and a bunch of visiting professors (who were great but never stuck around for more than a year). I majored in Classics instead (a big, robust, well funded department with wonderful professors who were advocates for their students) and did an independent study in the art and literature of ancient Egypt. Problem solved. Would have taken 6 years to major in Egyptology at the rate I was going!
And yes, I had AP credits which were completely irrelevant for my university.
For,the record…there are lots of majors where study abroad is difficult…and where you have to really stay on track to graduate in four years.
My engineering major daughter could not do a study abroad. It would have completely screwed up her course sequences. She also wanted a double major, and to do that she had to take courses for the full summer between her junior and senior years of college…full course load in the summer.
BUT…no one has to have a minor. Students do not need to study abroad. They don’t need double majors. They don’t need to take extra course. They don’t have to be in the honors college.
D17 is looking at 4 colleges; and a specific program that’s regimented; there’s no room to graduate early no matter how many AP credits come in.
For us, her AP credits will fill a few of the required basic classes; that means she’ll 1) pay a little less tuition at some of the schools as she wont need all the basic courses her first 1.5 yrs; or 2) take extra classes that she’s interested in but arent needed at the school that has a flat-rate tuition.
the spreadsheet we’ve made shows all the AP credit options; every college differs with how much $ we’ll save (or not) for her incoming credits. The credits might help with the prices; but not timing.
the 3 publics we’re looking at are all based on $/credit hr. The private has an inclusive semester rate. I wonder if that’s typical for privates . . .?
D wanted a double major with a thesis and she needed to graduate in four years. I spent quite a bit of time with her planning back from graduation and figuring out what each of the courses in the final year required as pre-requisites, and then planned back junior year and sophomore year. It quickly became apparent that there were some key courses that had to be taken in fall semester of sophomore year in order to make the plan work. We assumed that classes would be offered in the semester they had been offered in the prior year, and that seemed to work. There weren’t a lot of free choice slots.
Her university gave her a remarkably large number of units for getting a good score on an AP French exam, and I think that calculus also gave more than 3.
@PickOne1, actually, AP credits are often most useful for fulfilling distribution requirements and as non-major credit filler (leaving mainly major classes to take) when it comes to helping someone graduate early.
Agree that a minor is almost certainly useless.
I’ve got to say that I haven’t found a university yet where you can’t graduate a semester (and usually a year) early with enough of the proper AP credits*. Where are all these schools and programs/majors where this isn’t possible?
*With the exception of those 3 or 2 year b-school programs that you have to apply to after being 1 or 2 years in. Maybe some nursing/pharma programs as well.