My S27 is currently taking AP Seminar as his 10th grade English class–I know that this is pretty common now & the College Board is actively pushing it. Next year, his school will let him take either AP Research or AP English Language as his core English class. He is (mostly) enjoying Seminar & would like to continue on with AP Research instead of AP Lang (he will probably take AP Lit as a senior either way).
My question is whether colleges will count AP Research as one of his 4 required English classes if his high school does. I’m not worried about whether he’ll get college credit, but whether it would negatively impact his admission chances because they don’t think he has 4 years of English. He’s just in 10th grade, but I’d guess that he’ll apply as a STEM major to a wide range of schools, including some highly selective.
His guidance department is overworked & under-resourced & have been under a lot of pressure from the principal to add new AP courses quickly. They think that if the high school calls AP Research an English class that colleges will automatically agree, but I’m not as sure (I have seen online that the UCs won’t count it, for instance, although my kid won’t be applying to UCs). This is the first year that AP Research has been offered as 11th grade English, so none of our students have tried applying to college with it yet.
I have emailed several colleges with this question, but haven’t heard back yet (I know it’s their busy season, so we’ll see). Just wondering if anyone here has any experience or insight to share.
This is going to be a case by case basis…and any answer you get now, might be different at a given school by the time your S applies to college.
I would encourage your student to take AP Lang in junior year if he is looking to have relatively high rigor…AP Lang is generally viewed as more rigorous than AP Research (a separate issue even if AP Research is counted as a core English course.)
There may also be differences within a college as to how AP Research is viewed by admissions and whether the school gives credit for the course (provided a certain AP test score.)
Kiss the credit goodbye. Relatively few colleges give credit compared to some other humanities courses.
@Mwfan1921 basically nails it. The answer is “it depends.” And the “it depends” may vary in a couple of years.
Most universities (but not all) will accept the high school’s classification.
Personally, if I were advising my kid, I’d steer to a “real” English class if they’re targeting colleges often mentioned here on CC and take AP Research as an elective. Similarly, just because a HS calls Yearbook an English class, I’d advise the kid to use as an elective if needed.
Thank you both for your advice—I do see that AP English Lang is the safer choice & will pass that on to my kid.
It is frustrating— while I know that some AOs see Lang as more rigorous than AP Research, AP Research is MUCH better preparation for actual college writing. I teach AP Lang myself, and while many of us do provide rigorous college-level writing preparation, we largely do so despite the AP Lang exam, not because of it. But. The system is what it is. I appreciate the help.
You need to look at each school. Some it gives English credit. Some simply an elective. Some that accept APs don’t accept either Research or Seminar.
But it’s not English. And you should check to ensure with no English that your student meets district and state requirements for English plus the minimum college years for English.
My kid took both Seminar and Research. It didn’t help much credit wise because it was duplicate to other credits. She loved the classes but you do take risk in subbing it for English. She did both.
But each college has an AP chart so you can check with the specific school.
Thanks. I know it won’t help in terms of getting college credit.
Just to be clear for other readers, AP Seminar is often offered as an English class, an approach that is promoted by the College Board, even though most universities don’t grant college-level English credit for it.
Just because the CB wishes something doesn’t make it true. Colleges set their own parameters.
The CB wishes colleges would give credit for AP Precalculus and AP Business Principles and they also wish that colleges count AP Psychology as a science, but relatively few colleges agree.
Just to add to skieurope’s points, CB is not a highly respected organization. Not by HSs. Not by colleges.
If a HS or a state ed board chooses to let AP Sem be an English class, that’s great. But, some colleges might not see it that way, in the sense they don’t have to give extra weighting for it in the admissions review. I do agree with the above that if the HS considers it English, colleges will too…but maybe not the most rigorous English. Just depends what else the HS offers.
When looking into this several year’s ago AP research really didn’t count but… My son loved Seminar /Research. But it was an elective /extra class. He gained very valuable experience with three AP classes more so than he ever thought he would. When he took a leadership class at Michigan he was totally bored when they were learning different research processes since he already learned that. To me, that says a lot. He also created a student org in college that came from his AP research. He became an advisor to the school /graduate school on it.
I would check some schools your interested in. There should be a theme after looking at a few. My son took that and Lang at the same time, I believe.
Thanks—I emailed a wide range of colleges & hope to hear back from some. I will suggest that he consider Research as an elective, but I don’t think he will—he only gets one elective next year, & my guess is that he’s going to want to use it for something math/science/compsci. But at least he can consider all the options.
Yes, thanks—I have done that. I know he is unlikely to get useable college credit for AP Research—my question is whether colleges will view it as one of his 4 required high school English classes, if his high school says it is. That’s what I have emailed them to ask—will update here if I hear back from any.
Agreed. The college board also has a page that lists all colleges although you’d have to check with each vs third party.
Some are simply forthright.
“ Note: UCLA does not award credit for AP Research or Seminar exams”
Wonderful classes and glad my student took but it’s not English and that’s a bigger issue - forgetting credit, will the college count it as English for admit purposes (4 years English). As UMN notes, these are not the same thing. I think you are playing with fire.
It’s sad that if the student wants the class, that they wouldn’t take it regardless - assuming they’ve prepped well for college. Or is it the patent, not the student, wajts this ?
Really? They are very different, but I am not sure APLang is more rigorous, just more of a traditional English class. AP Research is an english elective.
My son took AP Sem as his sophomore English — most of his classmates did, too. The school puts it on their transcripts as “AP Seminar/Eng. II.” Junior year was AP Lit. This year, as a senior, he is taking AP Research. It’s on his transcript as “AP Research/Eng. IV.”
So far, he’s only heard back from the public colleges he’s applied to. But I know one of his senior friends last year had taken Sem and Research and got into UChicago, ND, Georgetown, and other highly selective schools. Other kids in that grade with similar schedules had great luck too.
Sample size of one, for starters. Just sharing our experience with the selection of AP Research.
We went through this with course selection for our S25 as a senior transfer. He had already taken AP Lit and and AP Lang before senior year as the highest rigor English classes available to him. His current school runs AP Research as a joint class with AP Lit within the English department. The school requires a capstone project for all seniors, and AP Research fulfills that, but not all students fulfill the capstone through AP Research. We were not so much concerned with college credit but more with demonstrating rigor.
A few caveats with that - he took 9th grade English his 8th grade year, and his transcript reflected that credit, so he technically had 4 years of English prior to senior year.
His guidance counselor also drafted a letter explaining the school’s course of study in the English department and that his selection of AP Research/AP Lit was the highest rigor available to him. The GC did this because AP Lit was going to show up twice on his transcript, which we thought looked questionable (some on here went so far as to suggest kiddo would not have 4 years of English with this on the transcript and may not even meet graduation requirements, but I forgot that the 9th grade English class taken in 8th grade was on there too). Of note, he could have selected a dual enrollment English class taught by their own faculty for college credit or another English elective, but neither of these are considered by the high school to be as rigorous. Had he chosen that, he’d still have a capstone to do but would not have been placed in AP Research.
He submitted for an athletic pre-read with his transcript and senior schedule at a NESCAC and passed without issue or any questions. Per advice from the coach, he did not include his SAT scores (1370), but I think he did include his AP exam scores that were 4s or 5s. He ended up applying early to a different school (also w/out his SAT scores) and was accepted with a hefty merit package.
He is getting a lot out of AP Research, and I think it will prepare him well for college-level research and writing. That being said, I don’t know as I’d count AP Research as a stand-alone English class per se. His project has nothing to do with literature, but because the course is paired with AP Lit, he is still doing plenty of literary analysis in addition to the work he’s doing on the AP Research project. I think that’s just where the school cataloged the class, and for him, we decided that choosing something else would look like a step down in overall rigor his senior year when compared to what he’d taken at his prior school.
It matters what the high school (district) and then college thinks - if you are gunning for four years English and sub this in, what if the college disagrees?
If you are gunning for credit, many schools don’t even list in conversion. Some give English, some generic, maybe some even a social science. But many nada. Some, like UCLA, openly say it vs simply not listing it.
One is playing with fire if they self count as English.
As for college credit, if it’s there and you take AP Lang, you’d potentially, like my daughter, find it covers the same class.
But it doesn’t take away from the two classes - Seminar and Research - were her favorite and have her a confidence boost.
But don’t do this !! Or you’ll potentially have another post - I erred. We didn’t meet the colleges admission requirement. Now what ??
Update for anyone who has this question in the future:
I emailed 21 colleges (range of type & selectivity) & asked whether they would count AP Research for high school English credit if the student’s high school, district, & state did so. So far I’ve heard back from 15. Results:
Yes, definitely would count it as high school English: UVM, UMass Amherst, RPI, Union, WPI, Connecticut College, Brandeis, U of Rochester, Lafayette, Dartmouth, Bowdoin, Williams, MIT.
Would not count: RIT
Lafayette was very enthusiastic about AP Research & about kids taking classes they want to take in general. Williams explicitly stated that they would view it the same as AP English.
I recognize that some of this could change in the next two years, and of course some AOs might still see AP Research as “less rigorous” than AP English even if they didn’t say so. I’ll share all of this with my kid & talk about what he wants to do. RIT’s response suggests that he might encounter problems in a few places. But given the rigor of the rest of his transcript, I feel ok with him choosing the class that most interests him.
