More students opt for AP tests
Skiff Staff

Lexie Strickling, a junior marketing and management major, started her freshman year with enough hours to classify as a sophomore. While still in high school, she tested out of 30 hours of college credit.

“It was the best thing that I could have done,” Strickling said. “It gave me so much time to pick my major and focus on what I really wanted to do in the future.”

Strickling is among the increasing number of students opting to test out of classes or transfer credit from community colleges, said Registrar Patrick Miller.

According to the Texas Education Agency, a record number of students participated in the Advanced Placement program in 2003. This represents a 13.3 percent increase since 2002 and a 106 percent increase since 1998.

Texas gives the second highest number of Advanced Placement tests in the country, following California.

Miller said this increase indicates that TCU students are becoming more mature, more academically orientated and more concerned with graduating on time.

Ten years ago, only a minority of freshmen took the AP tests, but now there is a clear majority of students who transfer their credits over, Miller said.

English professor Richard Enos said if high school students demonstrate proficiency in a subject, then there is no need for them to take an introductory course in that subject.

In the English department, however, the second-year course builds onto the first course, and includes advanced work that is not readily available to most high school students, Enos said.

Shannon Sales, a junior communication studies major, said she took anatomy and physiology at a community college because she heard the class at TCU was incredibly difficult.

Testing out of certain subjects because the TCU classes are considered difficult is not a good idea, Miller said.

“In general, the courses are harder at TCU because we set such high standards,” Miller said. “If a student tests out of a class at another school that is considered easier, then he or she will not have learned the information that subsequent courses at TCU require.”

Perry Cottrell, a junior marketing management major, said he came to TCU with six transfer credits from his high school in Colorado but TCU would not accept them, saying that his high school had different testing standards than what the university accepted.

“My parents were angered because this just meant more money flying out of the wallet,” Cottrell said.

Sandra Mackey, director of administrative services in admissions, said TCU evaluates all AP credits based on the credit by exam brochure, which outlines all the requirements for the transferability of credit. She said the brochure is available online at (www.admissions.tcu.edu/pdf/clep04.pdf).

Andrew Geesbreght, a senior history major, said that while TCU allows you to test out of hard classes at easier colleges, the grade you get for that class is not counted on your GPA.

“I believe that TCU is still maintaining a high standard by doing that, even if you did not take certain classes here,” he said.