Hello
I am a parent of a 9th grader. He is trying to get courses signed up for Community College but we are late and most courses are on waitlist for Spring 2025. Question: In general, if he wants to learn something and is not worried about getting college credits by taking community college credits, is there any value (college admission wise or present his profile in LinkedIn - Future) in getting certified through platforms like coursera, edX etc. They seem to have courses with the same syllabus as their equivalent community college courses from college extensions. Please help so we can guide him.
Are you home schooling? Is that why you want these courses?
If at a public high school, aren’t there courses available to him there?
He is a ninth grader…
But to answer your question…if he is doing this for the knowledge only, then any course or certification that gives that knowledge should be fine.
Thank you for your quick response. He attends private school. He has not decided on any major and while he has time he wanted to try and if he likes it he wants to use it to accelerate at school. He does not want to sign up for a course at school for a whole year and stuck. For example he is trying to see by taking Java Course if he can skip AP Comp Science Principles and get into AP Comp Science A, as he has some programming back ground. Also, later in 10th or 11th grades, for his major selection he wants to get a taste of some of these courses to get an idea. YouTube can give him knowledge, but these courses (& community) college are structured, while spending time why not get some formal credit and/or recognition.
I think you need to discuss these options with the school if you are hoping any of these things will be able to replace courses offered by the high school.
So…I’d suggest…starting there.
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Thank you. Very true. It wont be official replacement but make his skip request more solid than saying i know programming (as an example). His school has given AP CS A to people with no prior experience in coding. We believe that that it is working with the councilor and staff who approves such request, as long as the student is capable.
We will follow the school process either way, was just wondering other peoples experience in this topic.
Don’t rush!!
To answer your question -class or certification will depend on who is viewing it ( employer etc) but by the time they’re seeing it, the cert will be outdated.
But if he wants more flexibility and a shorter timeframe, that may be a better way to go.
On the other hand, better would be he’s a child and does child things - hanging with friends etc.
Best of luck whatever you choose.
Thank you so much, I’ll advise him to choose either. We have always emphasized on balance - stress does not help.