At the time of writing this, it’s been less than a month since my college graduation, so this fact is all over this site at the moment, but I’ll repeat it here: I have just graduated with two degrees, a BS in Computer Science and a BS in Economics. I did this in eight semesters, averaging fifteen credit hours per semester, which is both a normal length and a normal load for a full-time student getting one degree.
Whatever you want to save time on (major and minor, dual degree, BS and MS, or a normal degree), I hope this advice will be helpful to you. If you’re paying for college yourself, this can save you money, and if you’re on scholarship, this can free your time up for further challenges.
Know the Program Requirements
If you skip this step, you will only waste your time, energy, and money, so pay attention. Whatever plans you make, consult with your academic advisor to be sure that they’ll actually work, as you may have missed reading a policy on transfer credit.
First, find for the requirements of your program. Whenever you find the appropriate page(s), study them. Understand the prerequisite chains, substitute options, class grade requirements, elective options, and anything else on the page. Certain universities may require specific classes (especially ones relevant to your major) to be taken on their campus only, so pay close attention to that.
Know the Transfer Policy
Now, search <SCHOOL> transfer policy, and study this page.
What sources can you transfer credit from?
Is there a limit to how much credit you can transfer?
Does transferring more than a certain amount make you a transfer student?
Can certain classes for your major not be transferred, despite being offered elsewhere?
Anything that could prevent you from transferring credit is something you must know.
Know Your Options
You need to learn the main sources of credit that will allow you to graduate faster, which got me 56 credit hours.
Credit by Exam
I applied 43 credit hours to my degree from tests alone, and they’re typically the cheapest, as well as being the easiest sometimes.
AP
If you’re in high school, then Advanced Placement will be your bread and butter. While it’s not commonly done, it is my understanding that you can take AP exams after high school, though you’ll need to do your own research there, as it’s hard to find good information on this. Thankfully, I realized in high school that I could select my AP courses with transfer credit in mind (alongside the considerations of GPA, enjoyment, breadth of study, etc.). If you look at what AP courses your desired university accepts, then you’ll see what transfers with what score for how much credit. If you don’t know where exactly you’ll go, look at all their AP policies and see where the broadest overlap is.
BC Calculus and both Physics C courses took only a little space on my schedule, but they totalled 16 credit hours, saving me an entire semester. AP Literature would not have applied to my degree other than as an elective (which I would later get from economics courses), and I found it miserable, so I dropped it. AP CS A earned 6 credit hours for me, and it moved me two stages into the degree plan. A few other AP scores were used for other core requirements or as electives, leading to a grand total of 37 credit hours.
CLEP
College Board has a lesser known set of tests called the College-Level Examination Program. Again, just search for which ones your university accepts, and then check what would apply to your program. Since COVID, they’ve also offered online proctoring, which I found to be quite picky about your environment yet still convenient overall. There’s a cool program called Freshman Year for Free by Modern States, and it allows you to take free courses to learn the material on the CLEP tests. They provide a voucher to take the test, free of charge, provided you attain a certain level of completion on their courses. This was an easy six credit hours from both economics courses offered, which opened up much of the economics courses to me.
Specific to Your School
Sometimes, schools offers their own exams to allow you to skip courses. This is often for low level courses, and if you’re either knowledgeable about some topics already or willing to self-study, you should look into it. To my knowledge, I could not have gotten any credits from this, as I already had AP credits that got me as far as the CS and math tests offered would.
Community College
Community college is a quite flexible option, as you can typically take it before college (even if your high school doesn’t offer it, though it’s harder this way), in semesters, and between semesters. It’s just a matter of knowing the transfer limits and equivalencies. While I don’t encourage the unqualified pursuit of ease, it can also be a way to take the same classes with easier grading and lower costs. I got 13 credit hours from this, almost a full semester, and it provided some prerequisites that took me to upper level courses sooner. If you’re at a university that readily accepts community college credit, then you should take all the courses you can at the community college instead, with exceptions for some reasons. For example, you may want to take the course where it’s harder at the university, taking it at the university may be needed for honors credit (my case), or it may slow down your degree progress for scheduling reasons.
Closing Thoughts
With the exception of some courses and exams that are inherently hard, much of the credit that you can get outside of your university is fairly easy. I encourage you to think about how you could apply this advice to free yourself up to do more in your time in university. Maximize what you get from university, and I mean that in more ways than in financially and academically.