Which elite high ranking colleges give most credit hours for AP/IB courses or let you use those to get out of most basic courses? If one is paying all or enough tuition out of pocket, it makes a big difference in making it a good value for them.
Why not just web search “[college name] AP credit” and “[college name] IB credit”?
You may find things like this:
https://oue.fas.harvard.edu/apexams (looks like you need to check each department for subject credit and advanced placement)
http://uaap.mit.edu/first-year-mit/first-year-academics/incomingcredit/previous-study/ap-and-transfer-credit-advanced-placement
https://www.princeton.edu/pub/ap/table/
https://registrar.stanford.edu/students/transfer-credit-and-advanced-placement/advanced-placement/ap-credit-chart
http://catalog.yale.edu/first-year-student-handbook/academic-information/acceleration/award-acceleration-credit-advanced-placement-test-scores/
The top ten is somewhere around………………….next to nothing, the further down the list the more credit you will receive. Very few are going to graduate in under 4 years so the cost is basically the same for everyone, it might however give you the chance to double major.
Each place posts this information on its website. Since this can change from one year to the next, you need to check again for each new application year.
As the links in reply #1 show, it is not necessarily “next to nothing” for some of the conventionally-prestige-ranked top ten.
It’s all relative. e.g. Harvard only gives credit to students who apply for advanced standing (although the scores can still be used to place out of foreign language and courses like Econ 10a/10b). And Advanced Standing will be going away in 2020. Yale also only give credit to those who graduate in < 8 semesters. MIT does not give AP science credit (although they offer internal tests for credit).
So while better than nothing, few of the “Elite T20” (whatever one’s definition of that is, give AP/IB credits out like candy compared to many public flagships.
Many of the top schools do not take a lot of these credits and I feel like the reason for this is that the most common way first year students fail is when they assume they already know the subject. Depending on the school, AP Biology might be for children when compared to the college general biology class. If you want to succeed, do not assume you know everything, and only use those credits when you are completely confident that you know the subject well and are ready to learn past that level.
My colleague’s kid is applying this year, he is interested in Duke, Rice, Vanderbilt and USC, as there he can get a T20 undergraduate degree in roughly 3 years and between tuition savings, advance placement and merit scholarships, these colleges will be affordable enough for him to earn a masters for the same price as he would have to pay at other T20 schools (rougly 500k for two degrees) He is already quite advance and doesn’t see any charm in spending time or money on unnecessary or basic courses.
Obviously, first he’ll have to get accepted in and qualify for merit scholarships at one of these schools so its like counting chickens too early but he is a solid applicant so it sounds like a possibility. He isn’t eligible for financial aid and parents are giving him $250K for undergrad and grad school (or any other living expenses until he starts earning) so he is trying to get both degrees without any loans.
Northwestern is pretty reasonable with AP credits.
@CupCakeMuffins that is a dangerous strategy. The ability to get done in less than 4 years can be upset by many factors. The first is major. If they are interested in engineering, course sequencing can make it impossible to do it in less than 4. Also, you have to read the fine print. At Vandy College of A&S, you are limited to 18 credits of AP and IB. Lastly, if you want to go med school, you cannot use AP for a prerequisite. I don’t think I would be making a $75k bet on using AP credits to graduate early from a top school.
I think he is trying to decide between mathematics or political science but if i recall correctly, Vandy doesn’t have AP cap for engineering so you can check that again.
If he gets scholarship then his savings are going to be higher than $75K as Vandy is cheaper than most top 20 schools and with $27K merit scholarship and AP credit saving, he’ll save more than $180K compared to a more expensive/non-AP credit/non-merit scholarship T20 school.
He needs to map out his course plan for his majors to see how realistic graduating a semester or two early is. This includes checking how each AP score can apply to subject requirements, rather than just giving credits.
Trying to graduate early can also mean that an undecided student has a shorter window to decide a major.
I stated the 18 AP credit cap is for Arts & Sciences, not engineering. So, for Math or PoliSci, the limit would be 18. So, in the best of cases it can shave off a semester with the ability to drop one class. Not sure why you threw merit scholarships into the mix, but yes a school that you get a merit scholarship at will likely be cheaper than one you don’t. FYI, about 20% of Vandy full pay students get merit scholarships with an average value of $23k. Obviously, you get to see any merit before you have to commit to a school (RD app).
You are right and at this point, its all hypothetical anyway. He doesn’t know if he’ll even get accepted or receive merit scholarship offer from any top 20 college at all.
However, if he makes it then its going to be a >$150,000 question. This is not a comparison between 1st and 150th ranked schools but probably 3rd and 9th or something similar. It would be hard to justify going into this kind of debt to cross such a thin line.
my D attended an LAC with lots of AP credits. it did not help price one bit because . . . her major was a required 8 semesters sequence AND we paid a flat fee per semester, independent of how many credit hours she took. So many variables, you know! She was able to take some extra classes just for fun though to fill her first few semesters.
Williams gives zero credits, and very few course placements, with those few advanced course placements being for 5’s only. You take AP and IB classes in high school for intellectual challenge and stimulation and for getting into Williams, but they don’t do much for you once you are there.
Of all the colleges we looked at, SUNY Binghamton was the most generous with AP credits. Freshmen with enough AP credits can enter as sophomores. I seem to recall our tour guide’s saying that advanced-placed entering students can even pick courses as sophomores, which also is a registration advantage.
You are right about variables but no matter cost is per credit hour or per semester, one can save money or time if AP/IB credits are accepted at a college. One can add another major or minor if he is staying and paying flat fee for 8 semesters.
Just being able to take few fun or useful courses without worrying about extra payment adds value to one’s experience. At expensive colleges, every little bit costs big $$$, you have to be cautious about picking your courses, unless you are extremely wealthy or on a free ride, you can’t afford extras.
@moooop was right about Northwestern, they are very good with AP/IB credits.
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~reg/enrollment/credit_on_entrance_exemption_charts.html
https://www.princeton.edu/pub/ap/table/
https://registrar.rice.edu/sites/g/files/bxs751/f/2018%20-%202019%20AP%20EXAM%20LISTING.pdf
Obviously, you have to have 5 for getting credit. No good college is going to give AP credit for 2s and 3s, not neccessarily for 4s either.
https://registrar.williams.edu/course-registration/first-year-students/ap-placement-guide/
Even at Williams, if you have 5s and know your subject, it adds options to skip boring basics or add a few interesting courses, which you may not take if you didn’t have space in schedule or had to pay.
If there is a fortunate offer of merit scholarship and enough AP credits at Northwestern or another T20, giving more money and time to William may not even look that appealing to all.