Looking for college credit advice

[erub]

I'm going to be entering Texas A&M University this fall. I want to major in Electrical Engineering; possibly a minor in business. Also looking at the possibility of going abroad for part of my junior year, so I'll need to get a lot of hours taken care of. My question is, should I take my college credits (gets you hours completed, but no grades) or take the classes again (costs money and time, but will help GPA - espically if I'm already good at it). My mom also thinks that retaking the introductory courses will be real boring for me - I've been at a very good private high school, taking a lot of AP classes. The other thing that I need to consider is my scholarship..because I'm a national merit finalist, I'm getting a pretty good package. But I have to retain a 3.5 GPA to keep it.

The classes I could take credit in are:
Computer Science (made a 5 on the AP last year, but it was C++ - I think CS 101 is in Java? - is this a disadvantage?)
US History (5 on AP last year - I know a lot about it)
Calculus 101? (probably going to retake it, taking AP Calculus AB this year, but I think it will be good to retake)
Chemistry (very unsure on this one, I think I have a good background, but would an easy course be good to retake? Taking AP this year, probably will get 4 or 5)
Art History (probably going to skip taking an art credit in college, if I do well enough on the AP)
Government (should easily make a 5 on this AP, I have a very high grade in this class, and don't do any work - easy retake?)
English 101 (have to take a placement test down at TAMU, I should easily pass it - probably going to take credit)

Any advice for me? TIA

 

[RossMAN]

LOL at first I thought you meant credit as in credit cards

 

[Ameesh]

dont bother taking the same classes over again you will be bored.

 

[pyonir]

personally i would just take the credits. the faster you are in and out the better. you'll be glad you did.

 

[BruinGuy]

I too would recomend not retaking the classes over again, especially since for the first sememster or two you will feel that going to class is an option, which will be mentally destructive down the line when you need to go to class just too understand what is going on.

 

[Parrotheader]

Of the classes you mentioned, I wouldn't even consider retaking any of them except Chemistry (assuming this is NOT the general Chemistry for all majors, but intro Chemistry for science and engineering majors.) My chemisty in high school was fun, but I learned (and have since forgotten) WAY more in my college chemistry course.

Also, do you not have an option to take an intro business course like Microeconomics? I know you mentioned that you might want to minor in a business field. And if you have an option to take another intro history course (such as Western civ instead of American history) you might want to look at that. A lot of universities will sometimes have higher level history courses with no prerequisites (sometimes 200 level courses) that are on some pretty cool topics.

 

[randomlinh]

take the credit. i would take the intro to java course... but that's just me cause i know no java... but if that course is anything like the intro cs class here.... you're better off catching up on your own. and it sounds like you'd be quite capable of doing so. take the credits and enter a sophomore This one kid my roommate knows entered w/ close to 60 credits..... LOTS of IB/AP credit he got...

 

[manly]

As long as you aren't attending a Mickey Mouse university, I'd retake any classes semi-related to your course of study. That would include CS and Calculus. Physics would be another (tenuous) example. The typical university-taught course is more challenging than an AP course.

Take the free credits in breadth requirements whereever you can, but I'd say you want to learn your major coursework at the same level as your peers.

Esp. if you want to go overseas, you can't retake it all. If it's a subject you didn't particularly enjoy in HS, you may not like it in college either. And for a class you did enjoy, you can always take a more challenging course. In general, AP credits are overrated. They are being pushed in HS for the wrong reasons, and the best 4-year universities are beginning to place less and less value in them.