Originally Posted by Val
I want to make one thing very clear: I'm talking about places like Harvard, not about a community college or a local state U. CCs and state universities should definitely accept AP credits.

Harvard is supposed to be an elite college with very high standards. IMO, AP classes don't meet those standards (except for SV Calculus and Physics C, providing you can pass Harvard's final for each equivalent course).

Originally Posted by aquinas
I maintain that most first year courses are superficial, at best, and so why require students to undertake two rounds of fluff courses to access the meaningful content?

This may be a point where we think we're talking about the same thing, but we're not. The history and English departments at my alma mater didn't offer fluffy first-year courses.
Originally Posted by Val
I want to make one thing very clear: I'm talking about places like Harvard, not about a community college or a local state U. CCs and state universities should definitely accept AP credits.

Harvard is supposed to be an elite college with very high standards. IMO, AP classes don't meet those standards (except for SV Calculus and Physics C, providing you can pass Harvard's final for each equivalent course).

[quote=aquinas]I maintain that most first year courses are superficial, at best, and so why require students to undertake two rounds of fluff courses to access the meaningful content?

This may be a point where we think we're talking about the same thing, but we're not. The history and English departments at my alma mater didn't offer fluffy first-year courses. ....


This.

Though I’m not sure even about calc BC and physics C. My DD, despite having a 100 average in physics C, does not feel she has a deep grasp of the material. She does find calc to be easy and straightforward, but there are many, many kids in her class who struggle with understanding, yet will probably do well enough on the exam. It’s just not that difficult.

Right now DD is figuring out which AP exams she is going to bail out of, because now that she has decided upon a particular college, most of the exams she had signed up for are not going to be useful to her. She doesn’t have much respect for the AP system, frankly. She took most of the classes because they were the most challenging classes available to her, not because she expected to get credit; she was fairly sure things would work out as they have, with the prospect of placing out of a few things, but no actual credits granted. And most of the placement can also be done through departmental exams, so for her the exams have been mostly unnecessary. We are in the process of seeing which if any of her dual enrollment credits will transfer, but are not expecting much, because as Val points out, the institutions are not truly comparable.