Things no one tells you about taking college credit when you’re still in high school
ok so i’m struggling through the harrowing bit of nonsense that is course registration right now, and so I’m compiling a list of things I wish people had told me about taking APs whenever I first decided to take 10 of them. This isn’t like “How to succeed in AP classes and ace the tests” there’s more than enough of that out there. This is, “ok so you have a heckaton of transfer credit for whatever reason. Now what?”
Disclaimer: I’m in at one university in the engineering college studying chemical engineering which means my experiences are not universal. I also came in with 34 credits dead set on chemE, so my situation is especially an extreme outlier. I’m writing this in the hopes that it helps someone in even a vaguely similar situation.
Most likely you’ll have to take a stock set of “freshman classes” and you won’t fit into the nice little boxes they have laid out. I sat there like “I need two classes and there’s NO direction on where to go next” so when registration rolled around, I still didn’t know what to do and got stuck with 8ams. Don’t be me. As soon as you know you’re accepted and committed and going to that school, find the head of the department you’re interested in and ask for a meeting to sit down and explain your situation, so that way you’re ready for registration.
I mean like all 4 years ahead - if you’re set on a major that’s pretty packed with mandatory classes and prerequisites (like engineering or something cross-disciplinary) this will be invaluable so you’re not crying over your schedule every semester during registration. Many colleges only offer classes every other semester in spring/fall, and prereqs mean you need to take them in a certain order, so if you don’t pay careful attention to those, you might be stuck just waiting around to catch up on one major specific class that’s a block on Everything Else even though you could otherwise move ahead.
Co-ops! Internships! Summer classes! A minor! A concentration! Study abroad! You might not be able to graduate a semester or a year early (I’m not even with essentially skipping a year’s worth of geneds) but you probably will have a lot of gaps in your schedule. Semesters that would normally be 18 credits might be 12 or less and you need to fill that time, but that means you have choices! Consider what works well with your future career plans - go to all the info meetings and talk to advisors. They’re there to help you plan around your program’s specific rules and adjust accordingly
Prereqs don’t always mean everything
Sometimes there are prereqs for classes that don’t make any sense: in my business classes everything is a prereq to everything else even though none of the classes are even vaguely related to each other. This is a pain. You have to play by their rules but consider asking for an override if you really need to make things fit.
In engineering, fluids had no prereqs so I took it, but the prof continually references stuff from chE 31 which I was *supposed* to take in the fall if I was following a normal flowchart and I have to tell him to slow down and review. ChE 31 should be a prereq for fluids but it’s not. Anticipate accordingly for similar situations and review with upperclassman friends.
Ask upperclassmen for help
A professor can make/break a class and taking that 8am or 7pm might be worth it. Some classes are graded much more leniently in a specific semester for some random reason. Sometimes taking summer classes is the way to go because of the way the class is set up. Professors will be extremely vague or jump around the chapter and just expect you to connect the dots on your own. You’re likely going to be in classes with upperclassman who have taken those other classes before and can give you that context.
You can’t always follow that advice though. I’ve heard that taking physics fall semester is way more difficult than spring, but I HAVE to take it in the fall otherwise I can’t move forward with my degree. They can act as a guide but double check with your advisors.
Rehearse your explanatory speech now
In college as a first year, everyone you meet will be brand new, and if you’re at a big university, you’ll be meeting a lot of new people even after your first year, and the first two questions everyone asks are “What year are you?” and “What classes are you taking.” And when you tell someone you are taking thermodynamics or fluids or linear methods as a first year, suddenly everyone wants to know your life story. Prepare a standard schpeal so you can rattle it off quickly and move on with the conversation. Include it in emails to advisors you don’t know yet. Store it in a sticky note and copy/paste.
It’s stressful but with enough thinking ahead, you can figure out how to take the best advantage of all the things college has to offer! Good luck with registration to everyone that’s currently doing it!
