APs and IBs and Credits, Oh My!

AP courses? Early college? Summer classes? Confused yet? Don’t worry. We’re here to help you get those sweet, sweet credit hours from any institution transferred right here to UNC. 

Since AP Scores are coming back in a month, you might be interested in where those 3s, 4s and 5s will land you regarding course credit. 

A big part of your education at UNC will be devoted to completing General Education, or Gen Ed, requirements. These Gen Eds ensure that you get the liberal arts education you paid for. 

Gen Eds span across topics from Quantitative Intensive to the World before 1750. The typical student has about 20 Gen Eds that need to be completed, so it helps to knock them out as soon as possible. The good news is that you may already have a head start!

AP and IB Scores

For all the future STEM kids out there, a 5 in AP Biology or AP Physics B, the equivalent to a 6 in HL Biology or a 7 in HL Physics, will earn you eight credit hours along with three Gen Eds: Physical and Life Sciences, Physical and Life Sciences with lab and Communication Intensive. 

Scoring well on the foreign language AP and IB tests can also knock out a chunk of credit hours, along with the foreign language General Education credit. Scoring a 4 or 5 on Spanish and French AP exams can amount to up to nine credit hours, along with the foreign language Gen Ed requirement.

To find out what all the other AP and IB test scores will grant you, go here.

Early College

Students coming in from Cooperative Innovative High Schools, known as “Early College,” usually enter UNC as first-years. If this is the case, you’re eligible to transfer credits on a course-by-course basis.

However, students who completed with an A.A. or A.S. degree will transfer to UNC with junior standing and 60 credit hours.

If you took courses through your local community college, including online community college, you can bring those credits with you to UNC. Many of these courses also count as Gen Eds.

For more information on transferring credits from early or community colleges in North Carolina, go here.

Summer Classes

If you don’t plan on spending all of your summer breaks in Chapel Hill, do you really bleed Carolina blue? UNC has made a relatively stress-free process to get credits for all the Tar Heels returning home over the summer.

First, here are some numbers. Students are required to earn a minimum of 45 semester hours of credit at UNC to receive a degree from Carolina. In any major, a minimum of 18 hours of “C” or higher is required. Only six of your last 30 semester hours can be earned at a separate institution, so plan accordingly if you intend to take summer classes somewhere other than UNC.

Typically, courses that fall under UNC’s General College curriculum – math, natural science, social science, English and foreign language – are easiest to transfer credit to UNC. 

There is a simple course evaluation form on the UNC Admissions website that should get you started once you know your summer course load. Just a tip: start early. There’s a decent amount of paperwork and bureaucracy that goes into transfer credits, and it can quickly sneak up on you if you’re not careful.