jfk

I'm currently in high school and won't be going to CC until '09 but am I allowed to take free classes online over the summer to get a head start on some of my classes?

dragondawg

yeah i think you need to have your counselor sign something for you to do that and also register with fill out an application with the cc

jfk

Great, thanks for the speedy response! Any suggestions on what and how many classes I should take over the summer? I heard that since I'm just starting out that it's best to take two easy classes that would fulfill IGETC?

kwidine

You actually have a lot of choices! You can either take English and get it over with, or take some easy ones like music. Taking psychology or sociology is pretty fun too. If I were you, I would map out a pre-schedule of your two years in community college and see how every stacks up.

jfk

I also am taking only four classes my senior year (instead of the normal 6) so would it be wise to also take perhaps two classes then? Of course it won't be online though. I want to finish as many classes as possible before I "officially" start CC after I graduate but not at the cost of my GPA; I'm hoping to go to Haas and willing to work like hell for it.

mattn

For Haas, I wouldn't risk jumping right into two summer classes. The short term can be a bit of an adjustment and you can't really afford to jeopardize your gpa

jfk

How much of it is an adjustment from high school? I hear online classes are pretty much reading the textbook and taking tests for each chapter. I have several AP classes right now in my junior year and have gotten very used to reading the textbook on my own and taking tests.

mattn

I'll have to defer to someone else on comparing it to AP classes since I have no experience with them.

Think of it like this: a year-long AP class goes through about 1 college semester of material, which is normally 18 weeks (I'm running off memory, so I might be off on that). A summer course is usually 6 or 8 weeks, so the pace can be quick. Now, obviously it won't be as rigorous as an AP course, but it isn't something to jump into your first term without thinking it through. If you can find easy profs on RateMyProfessors.com , then that's an entirely different story.

jfk

Hmm...but are there any real easy classes that would really be an easy A and won't require too much of an adjustment? It's not that I wanna take a lot of classes now so I can slack off later but rather that I have a small to reasonable course load each semester so I can really focus on those classes.