List Of Colleges That Don’t Accept AP Credits

AP or advanced placement program is a ladder that high school students climb to realize their graduation dream rather quickly. This program offers a college-level curriculum to students. So, on passing an AP exam, the credit points earned allow students to give a year miss and get promoted to the next year.

AP credit has become the selection criteria for many colleges and institutes of higher education. The score made in the AP exam amounts to credit points that can be used to get admission in the advanced course directly. Ability to skip the freshman year or the first year allows students to graduate a year earlier.

How AP Credit works in various colleges

AP Credit or AP score is given from 1 to 5. The 5 means most proficient and the 1 least proficient. The colleges consider the AP score of 3 and above to grant the students admission to advanced courses.

AP credit offers different types of relaxation as decided by the college. Here are a few arrangements created by AP credit that you score.

• Move directly to next year while skipping the first year: There is a pattern in which courses in colleges are named. For example, Chemistry 101 means beginner course in Chemistry. So, if the college considers AP of 3 and more for granting admission in advanced course, it means you can skip Chemistry 101 and get promoted directly to a higher level.
• Only introductory course is skippable, all years remain to be passed: A few colleges or universities use AP credit only to allow skipping the introductory course. For example, they may be skipping the lectures where the basics or introductory part is taught and are allowed to attend advanced level but of the freshman year only. It is the case with Dartmouth college.
• Use credit to skip a year or just a few courses: Harvard is one such institution where they run advanced standing program. Due to this program, the students can get admission directly in their sophomore year. The other situation is that of skipping just those courses for which they have AP credit. For instance, they can skip only foreign language courses but attend other departments of the freshman year and complete graduation in four years only.

However, there are colleges where none of it works. The AP credit is not considered for admission into these colleges at all. Let’s take a look at which those colleges are.

List of colleges where AP credit won’t be considered

There are a few schools where the AP credit is not considered for granting admission in the courses. A few of these are among the top schools too. The list below comprises those colleges and universities that don’t consider AP score for placement:

1. Dartmouth University: The university may consider AP credit for entrance, but these do not contribute to credits required for graduation. Students can contact the Office of the Registrar to have complete information whether the AP credits are being considered or not. There is no relaxation in semester hours earned by students due to AP credit.
2. Brown University: Brown University does not consider AP credit for giving the course credits for exempting from any subject or year at the entrance level. However, a few departments are referring to transcript notations for considering eligibility for advanced courses.
3. The California Institute of Technology: The admission procedure at the California Institute of Technology does not consider AP scores. Students are required to appear for a math and physics placement exam. The scores in this exam are considered for the admission process.
4. Williams College: Students applying for courses that are regularly open may not use AP credits. A very few departments and courses are now realxing the conditions and considering AP score. Studdents may contact the college for knowing whether the department of the course they want to join is assigning the credit or not. Here is the link of the Office of Registrar of Williams College to know about the latest developments.
5. Amherst College: The University of Massachusetts Amherst College does not allow to convert AP scores into course credits. Some departments may allow foregoing the introductory course, but at the discretion of department. The students may still be required to take entrance exam to get admission in the college.
6. Caltech: Entrance exam’s scores are the qualifying criteria for getting course credits in this college. AP scores are not considered for exemptions.
7. Duke University: The secondary school record, rank in the class, extra-curricular activities, recommendations and application essays are to be presented with the application to get admission in the first year in Duke University. However, a few advanced courses but with AP score of 5 are considering the score for course credit.
8. Harvey Mudd College: Even the introductory courses in this college are more advanced than AP program classes. Thus, this college does not consider AP scores for giving course credits. Transfer credit for Coursework done before matriculation coupled with successful completion may ease the entry into this college.

States which are not providing credit for AP scores

Not all states are considering AP scores for giving credit for admissions in various courses at the college level. These states require candidates to complete the admission procedure which is mostly the resume, essay, and career goal definition. A few have the requirement of passing a qualifying exam too. The list comprises:

• Alabama
• Alaska
• Arkansas
• Connecticut
• Delaware
• District of Columbia
• Hawaii
• Idaho
• Iowa
• Kansas
• Maine
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Mississippi
• Montana
• Nebraska
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• New Mexico
• New York
• North Carolina
• Oklahoma
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• Vermont
• Wyoming

What if I have an AP score of less than 3?

You must understand that AP is not the only criterion to prove qualification for admission to a college or university. Also, only the AP score does not qualify you for admission. The institutes consider AP score only to help students reduce their years of study in a graduation course, which means saving on tuition fee.

Some institutions may be considering other exams such as IB scores or SAT scores to grant exemptions. So, it is not the end of the world if you could not score 4 or 5 in the AP exam. The usual way of applying and doing the full course term is always available for the students to get into the institute and study program of their choice.

AP Score of 1: It means that the students could not understand the AP curriculum at all. They are not fit for skipping any course or year during the graduation program.

AP Score of 2: The student ‘possibly qualified’. But, the understanding developed may not be up to the mark, and it does mean no relaxation of semester hours in any year. This score gives a benefit of doubt that the student might have faced difficulty during the exam. Some universities consider it as under-utilization of the material provided for studying.

Institutes that accept AP scores require students to submit their scores through the proper channel and on their admissions page link as provided on the official website. You must read all about how to send AP scores to colleges, or log on to score reporting portal where you select the college options to which you want to share the scores with.

Though AP score is not essential, it may help you save time and money. You may consider doing AP classes to get access to materials and training required for excelling in the AP exam. It may help you score better. AP exam costs about $94 per exam but may help you save tuition fees worth of up to $3000 depending upon the college and course chosen. So, AP score requirement has become a criterion worth knowing about before applying to colleges and universities.

Wrapping up,

AP score is the outcome of an AP exam which is conducted by the College Board, a non-profit organization started to make education more accommodating for all. The AP exams are conducted every year in May and June. The scores may help get an exemption from a few semester hours or sometimes, a whole year. Learn all about the AP score requirement if you yearn for additional support to qualify for a degree program in a college or university.