According to UW-Madison officials, two-thirds of UW-Madison students currently enter this university with some form of Advanced Placement credit, yet these credits do not seem to help students graduate earlier by any significant amount.
The state government's preference is that students graduate as early as possible to save in state university expenses. This complicates the question of whether students' excessive efforts to get college credit before college is doing students any good in graduating in four years or less.
UW-Madison Provost Peter Spear said AP courses are not necessarily the sole cause of getting out in less than four years, but taking AP courses in high school does play a factor in early graduation.
AP classes available to students in high school range in subjects from calculus to psychology. Depending on their score for each exam, students can receive UW-Madison credit for an equivalent course.
\It turns out there are a number of students who are able to graduate in three years or three and a half years, and one of the things that distinguishes them is that they came in with AP credits,"" Spear said.
UW-Madison Associate Director of Admissions Thomas Reason said students graduating early because of AP classes is not common. Still, he said, they are able to use these credits to their advantage while in college.
""You see students completing multiple majors. It's as much an advantage as getting out early,"" he said. ""You have more options and can pursue more things because you have more credits under your belt.""
Since one AP class is usually the equivalent of three college credits, a significant amount of AP classes would need to be taken to decrease time spent in college.
UW-Madison freshman Carly Brady said although she feels the AP Psychology course she took in high school will not help her graduate early, it will still help her college career.
""I'm glad I did it. I think it will help me in future psychology classes I take,"" she said.
Executive Director of the AP Program Trevor Packer said students are using their AP credits to take more advanced classes in a field that interests them instead of graduating early.
""Studies show that even if AP students have enough credit to graduate early they're choosing not to graduate early,"" Packer told The Daily Cardinal.
""The draw for AP in high school is that students think they will save time in college but once they actually get to college they're finding themselves in courses that they love and they're spending the full four years here,"" he added.
UW-Madison officials said taking AP classes is recommended to prepare students for college-level material.
Packer pointed to another University of California-Berkeley study showing one of the best predictors of a student's ability to complete college is successfully completing an AP content exam first.
While AP credits may not help UW-Madison students graduate early, they can ensure an in-depth college experience in an interested field of study.
