Why I took so many AP tests

I took over ten AP tests in high school, many in subjects for which I hadn’t even taken the class. Here’s why:

Like you mentioned in your last post, AP tests are a way to get a head start in college academics. I knew that AP courses and tests would not only prepare me for the rigor of college academics, but also grant me credits or help me test out of introductory classes.

Because of all the AP tests I took in high school, I enter IU with around 42 credits. Students at IU are required to have a minumum of 120 credits to graduate. Depending on how my AP credits apply to my various requirements, it is very feasible for me to graduate in two, or maybe even three, semesters early.

Although I don’t plan on graduating early at the moment, the extra semesters of flexibility give me a whole slew of options.  I can double or even triple major. I can study abroad without having to worry about taking classes for credit. I can take a semester off to pursue travel or an internship while still graduating on time. I can take fun electives or classes outside my major while still satisfying my requirements. I am very excitedly considering all these options.

AP credits were one of the tipping factors that made me decide to attend a state school over a private school. Most highly selective private schools grant little to no credit for AP exams. If they give anything at all, it’s only if the score received was a 5 (or in rare cases, a 4). In contrast, most state schools are required to give credit for AP exams. Indiana law, for example, dictates that all scores of a 3 or above must be given some kind of credit. At IU, a score of a 3 usually gets one unit of general undistributed credit, while a 4 or 5 gets up to 6 units of credit that can actually be applied towards a major.

Here’s IU’s breakdown of how AP scores are applied towards credit:

http://admit.indiana.edu/apply/freshmen/standards/ap-exams.shtml

In my next post, I will discuss how exactly to go about taking a double digit number of AP tests while still having a life.

 

More about Dimensions.

Neha,

So here’s the run down of my Dimensions weekend experience. My parents and I got to Hanover, NH about 24 hours before Dimensions was scheduled to start, which gave us time to explore the area, the campus, and the local eateries. On Thursday, the day Dimensions started, we had breakfast and looked around some more until the afternoon when we had to go sign in for the start of Dimensions.

The upperclassmen greeted us prospies with a huge packet of information, which for some reason included a sparse list of 7 very specific places we could fill up our water bottles (strange but funny), and other freebies. It took a little time getting into the swing of things but soon I found myself conversing with a group of strangers while my parents were off to go itinerize their weekend (all or most of the programs for the weekend were open to students and parents). I eventually met up with my host, whose room I was going to be sleeping in for the next two nights, and we made our way to his dorm so I could unload my baggage. I ended up staying in East Wheelock, which is a little bit farther from the Big Green than the other dorm clusters, which is the courtyard with the X roads that you see basically on every photo of Dartmouth.

The rest of the day proceeded with welcome shows, performances by the many a Capella, dance, and instrumental groups, and speeches from staff and upperclassmen. Every nook and cranny of our remaining time was filled with programs, symposiums, and activities, all anchored with the aim of getting us enamored with the college. During Friday and Saturday I found myself going to a pre-med symposium, sitting in on a class about music addiction, and enjoying barbeque on the Green. Other notable events included an Engineering exhibit (where you got a TON of free stuff, including a top that looks like Dom’s totem in Inception), Real Talk (an uncensored Q&A with upperclassmen; you should have heard some of the questions [the upperclassmens’ reaction]), and Creativity in Motion (a show). At nights, we were led on tours into the forests nearby and into frat dance parties, all of which were dry, of course. Saturday night was the big show (which I talked about in my last post), which really sealed the deal for many of us.

Friday and Saturday nights I probably got fewer than 6 hours of sleep; I found myself wandering back from a really late group tour and staying up talking with my newly-befriended in the commons area until 4 in the morning. Needless to say, it was an amazing time and the two missed weeks of school and subsequent C on the Monday bio test was made up for. It’s been almost four months since I was last on campus and I’m itching to go back and see everyone I met the first time again.

Christopher

Questionably sized fish in a little pond full of big ones: Dartmouth College

As you stated, going to IU will allow you to stay close with old friends while having an unending pool of fish from which to choose your new victi–I mean, friends. I have to say that I envy you in that respect. (Have I ever said that before?) Meeting with a West Side alum will be just a matter of walking to another dorm building for you.

I, on the other hand, will have virtually no one from West Side attending with me at Dartmouth, with the exception of one senior who will be graduating soon anyway. The closest West Siders will be at least a two hour bus ride away for me, though I’m not sure whether Harvardists and Princetonians will have time for a Dartmouth student (jk).

Thankfully, I was able to make a couple close friends during Dimensions, Dartmouth’s program in April for prospective students. The weekend featured nonstop activities, food, and presentations that were. (SPOILER! SKIP TO NEXT PARAGRAPH IF YOU WANT TO BE SURPRISED AT DIMENSIONS) A real surprise came when the upperclassmen gave a final show/musical for us ‘prospies’, or prospective freshman. In the middle of the rewritten “Hit Me Baby One More Time,” a bunch of prospies stood up from the audience and started singing along. Turns out that these thirty or so people that we befriended during the weekend were actually sophomores pretending to be upcoming freshman. MIND = BLOWN. So I think the point of the story is that I have to make friends but luckily I have some made? I don’t have a 40,000 people pond to choose from like you, though; Dartmouth has about 4500 total undergraduates.

On another note, I’ve been lazily getting back into reading grind, which, thanks to AP English, is all too familiar. This year, Dartmouth has given us a summer reading list of one book, which consists of The River Why by David James Duncan. I’m only a third of the way into the novel, but so far it’s rubbing off as a slightly more introspective yet crude version Moby Dick, missing in cast only the lunatic that’s chasing after a demon whale, though the search for knowledge and meaning of life is still ever present and just as elusive. Sadly, after AP English, I can’t just read a book for the sake of reading it and I either find myself not reading it at all or trying to extract the true meaning out of every page. It’s very daunting to say the least.

See you during Thanksgiving…or next week

While Christopher was in Chicago, I was with our group of friends at Ellie’s – one last night of games and snacks before we all go our separate ways in the next weeks. The thing is, though, most of us aren’t really separating. The majority of our friends are either staying right here in West Lafayette to attend Purdue University or are coming with me to IU.  In fact, there are five girls from our high school class on my dormitory floor. In addition to old classmates, several debate friends from throughout the state will be at IU.

I’m not sure how I feel yet about attending college with so many people I already know. (I should mention for our readers that our graduating class had less than 200 kids, and that most of us have been attending school together since Kindergarten.)

On one hand, I feel like I’m missing out on part of the college experience.  There will be people at IU who remember my middle school science fair projects or that I dressed like Blair Waldorf from Gossip Girl every day of the eighth grade. I certainly don’t plan on reinventing myself in college or anything, but I have obviously changed over the years, so it would be nice for people to not have preconceived notions about me.  Also, I hope the fact that I already have some friends at IU won’t make me lazy and less motivated to take the effort to make new friends.

On the other hand, college seems far less daunting. I have already spoken to several older friends from high school who now attend IU to pick their brains for advice, and I know many of them will look out for me this year.  I also feel like I have some semblance of a network already in place.  For example, there is a Facebook page for our high school’s alum who are at IU to coordinate rides between home and school.  I know I will have the opportunity to make new friends due to IU’s enormous population, but I can also rest assured that I will have several familiar faces to turn to if the need arises. I am also genuinely looking forward to developing deeper bonds with high school friends who will be with me in college. After all, nothing beats old friends.

One hoorah for the quarter system!

One of the perquisites (and downfalls) of attending Dartmouth College is that I am on the quarter system, which the college appropriately and accordingly named the D-Plan. This means that we are unsynced throughout the year since you’re on the semester system; I haven’t made up my mind yet whether this is more of a good thing or a bad thing — kind of like how I feel about Miley Cyrus. But I digress. Being on the quarter system means I have four terms each year with 3 to 4 classes each term. With winter break has been accounted for, this leaves about two months and two weeks per term. Inevitably, classes are much more fast-paced, though the rigorousness of the coursework may arguably be offset by the fewer number of courses each term. Depending on the class, I’ll be having midterms about two or three weeks into each term. (Side-note, how can you mathematically have more than one midterm? MISNOMER ALERT!)

Other schools that are one the quarter systems include Northwestern and CalTech. I think that this schedule will play to my advantages because I prefer being intensely focused on fewer things than spreading myself relatively thin. Still, we’ll have to see whether this plays to my advantages.

All in all it’s really making for a bittersweet finale to the high school saga. Many of my friends, who are attending Purdue, are moving in this weekend and will start classes after a week long orientation. This leaves me with three extra, rather lonely but nevertheless free, weeks left. So it’s off to Chitown for my parents and me for one last weekend at the Shedd, Millenium, and MichAve before I leave for the East.