Comments on: How To Cut College Costs by 13%-25%

By: Jim

Jim — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:40:59 +0000

I agree, I wasn’t able to use some of my AP credits and in my senior year I didn’t take some AP exams because they wouldn’t help at the next level. However, when you’re a sophomore or junior, you should try to take advantage of them because you never know what can happen. Plus, good grades and high marks can help when you are applying to schools. In your senior year you can be more selective once you know what school you’ll attend (or not attend).

By: John Doe

John Doe — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:44:58 +0000

Not so fast. Yes, if you take AP credits, you can skip out of classes or reach the minimum required level of credits needed to graduate quicker. My school requires at least 120 units, before I even step foot on my campus I had 55.

But VERY FEW OF THEM GOT USED. Sure, there were some extraneous requirements that I got out of. But since I was majoring in a science, all of my AP classes were useless. Why? Because Grad/Professional school hate AP classes look down upon them. If you’re applying to med school and skipped out of Bio 101, it’s over.

This doesn’t just apply to core requirements either. AP English? Also useless, since Grad/Professional schools require a year of COLLEGE level writing. If I had skipped out, I would have graduated, but no post-undergrad school would have taken a second look at me.

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 06:19:36 +0000

I agree! Although more than 9 years ago. I got a whole semester of AP credit, and this let me graduate early by 1 year. My friend who took AP chemistry class but did not take the exam realized how easy the college chemistry class was during his freshman year due to the AP class experience. This gave him a more relaxed freshman year so even then there is a benefit gained.

By: jim

jim — Tue, 20 May 2008 03:17:53 +0000

zh: I just meant it had been useless for me, not that it was useless for everyone.

By: zh

zh — Tue, 20 May 2008 03:10:02 +0000

AP English got me out of freshman english; AP history got me out of freshman history; and AP German got me out of 2 semesters of german class for my language requirement. Not useless at all. If I’d have taken AP calculus, *that* would have been useless, as I never took anything above college algebra. Just sayin’.

By: Lucian's Mommy

Lucian's Mommy — Mon, 19 May 2008 19:46:40 +0000

That is exactly what I did. I got out of 2 english classes, 1 history class, 1 art history class, 2 sciences classes, and 2 music theory classes. I’m a double major and I only have one semester left. I am going to graduate on time however because of the birth of my son. Since I stay home with him I am only able to go to school part time. But that means that I have technically knocked off 2 semesters of classes. Yay!

By: K.

K. — Mon, 19 May 2008 19:15:13 +0000

I totally agree. I took 5 AP classes, did well, and with two majors, was still able to graduate a quarter early.

By: saladdin

saladdin — Mon, 19 May 2008 18:00:30 +0000

Nerds.

saladdin

By: Dividend Growth Investor

Dividend Growth Investor — Mon, 19 May 2008 17:32:35 +0000

I did exactly the same thing. I would also recommend that you live off campus.

By: Small Budget, Big Style Chick

Small Budget, Big Style Chick — Mon, 19 May 2008 16:12:57 +0000

Taking AP courses in high school also has the perk of preparing you on how to study and pass a class successfully in college. This can help you financially by avoiding repeating courses you don’t pass the first time. The transition to reading large amounts of information and the Socratic method of teaching that my college uses in many courses I took was not brand new to me because I experienced this while still in high school in my AP classes.

By: tom

tom — Mon, 19 May 2008 13:09:17 +0000

AP classes are the way to go. They suck while taking them, but are well worth it when you get into college.

I took AP Physics and Calculus and ended up getting out of all my physics and 1 semester of calulus prereqs. It turned out that the physics classes at my college were one of the “weeder” classes for engineering so I was thankful to take and score high on the AP exam!