The Advanced Placement policies listed below will take affect with the class of 2011. All other classes should refer to an earlier catalog of their class dean for the appropriate Advanced Placement information.
There are a number of ways to earn advanced placement units at Boston College including qualifying scores on College Board Advanced Placement (AP) exams, International Baccalaureate exams, British A Level exams, French Baccalaureate exams, as well as results from the German Arbiter, and the Swiss Maturite and Italian Maturita. Official results from all testing should sent to the Office of Transfer Admission for evaluation. Qualifying scores will be assigned advanced placement units as outlined briefly below and detailed at http://www.bc.edu/advancedplacement/. Students who earn a total of 24 advanced placement units may be eligible for Advanced Standing and have the option to complete their undergraduate studies in three years. Students interested in this option should be in touch with their Dean at the end of their first semester at BC. No decision on Advanced Standing will be made prior to this time. Students seeking Advanced Standing must be able to complete all degree requirements by the proposed graduation date and be approved for Advanced Standing by the Dean before the start of the third year of undergraduate study.
Each score of 4 or 5 on individual exams will be awarded either 3 or 6 advanced placement units (depending on the exam) and will generally satisfy corresponding Core requirements.
Each academic department at Boston College determines how advanced placement units can or cannot be used to fulfill major requirements. Refer to individual department websites for more information on major requirements.
Arts: Students receiving a score of 4 or 5 on the Art History or any of the Studio Art exams (Drawing, 2-D, 3-D) are considered to have fulfilled the Core requirement in Arts. (3 advanced placement units)
Computer Science: The A.P. exam in Computer Science does not fulfill Core requirements; however, elective equivalency will be earned with scores of 4 or 5. (3 advanced placement units)
English: Students receiving a 4 on the A.P. English Language exam are required to take one semester of the Literature Core requirement. Students receiving a 4 on the A.P. English Literature exam are required to take one semester of the Writing Core requirement. Students who receive a 5 on either English A.P. exam are considered to have fulfilled both the Literature and Writing Core requirements. (3 advanced placement units for a score of 4 or 6 advanced placement units for a score of 5)
Foreign Language: Students receiving scores of 3, 4 or 5 in a foreign language exam (4 or 5 only in a classical language) will have satisfied the University foreign language requirement in the College of Arts and Sciences and the Carroll School of Management. Only scores of 4 or 5 will be awarded advanced placement units. (6 units of advanced placement for scores of 4 and 5)
History: Students receiving a 4 or 5 on the A.P. exam in American History are considered to have fulfilled the American Civilization requirement for the History major. The A.P. exam in American History does not fulfill the History Core requirement of two Modern History courses. Students receiving a score of 4 or 5 on the A.P. exam in European History or World History are considered to have fulfilled the Core requirement in History. (6 advanced placement units each)
Human Geography: The A.P. in Human Geography does not fulfill a Core requirement and is not an assigned elective credit as it does not match a course taught at Boston College. (no units earned)
Mathematics: Students receiving exams scores of 4 or 5 on the AB Calculus, BC Calculus or AB Calculus sub score are considered to have fulfilled the Core requirement in mathematics in all divisions except the Connell School of Nursing. Boston College's MT 180 must be taken for the Mathematics Core in Nursing. (6 advanced placement units each)
Natural Science: Students receiving a 4 or 5 on the A.P. exams in Biology, Chemistry, or Physics are considered to have fulfilled the Core requirement in Natural Science. Students receiving a 4 or 5 on the Environmental Science exam are considered to have fulfilled half of the Natural Science Core requirement. (6 advanced placement units each, except 3 for Environmental)
Social Science: Students receiving a 4 or 5 on the A.P. exam in either U.S. Government and Politics, Comparative Government and Politics, Microeconomics, or Macroeconomics are considered to have fulfilled half the Social Science requirement. Students who have received a 4 or 5 on two of the preceding exams are considered to have fulfilled the Core requirement in Social Science for Arts and Sciences and Nursing. Only Micro economics and Macro economics with 4 or 5 can fulfill the Carroll School of Management requirement. The Social Science Core for the Lynch School of Education cannot be fulfilled with these courses. (3 advanced placement units each)
Qualifying scores on the Psychology A.P. exam do not fulfill any Core requirements at BC but will be assigned elective equivalency. A score of 4 or 5 on the A.P. Psychology examination can be substituted for either PS 110 Introduction to Psychology as a Natural Science or PS 111 Introduction to Psychology as a Social Science, but students substituting an A.P. exam score for PS 110 or 111 are required to take an additional 200-level psychology course (for a total of four courses at the 200-level) to complete their major in Psychology. (3 advanced placement units)
Statistics: Students entering the Carroll School of Management who have received a score of 5 on the A.P. Statistics exam are considered to have fulfilled the Carroll School of Management Statistics requirement. (3 advanced placement units)