hello all, I am a junior in high school and I am taking a couple of college courses through my school instead of AP’s. My guidance counselor said they would look better than AP’s. So, naturally i trusted my GC and took the college courses at my state college. They are very rigorous and quite demanding. Although, I have never taken a AP course in my life. Only ACTUAL college courses and then all honors besides that. Was taking college courses over AP a bad decision!!! I really hope not, i trusted my GC and this is what happens!!! Anyways, it sort of made sense to me to because instead of taking college preparatory classes… I was actually taking college classes! Help i need Advice!
what do you mean by “through your school” because an AP class is supposed to be on par with a freshman college course, which is why many schools give students credit for scoring a 5 or 4 on the AP test
well I am taking them at a college but they are going on the same transcript as my high school so its all together
It is dual enrollment. The course rigor is good. The only concern is sometimes the credits are not recognized by OOS school.
^ what @billcsho said would be most worrying for me, if I were you.
AP classes are not “college prep” classes. Also, did you take the AP test for you cc classes at the end of the school year?
In most cases, college classes are more challenging than AP classes. For college admission, it would show not just course rigor but also college readiness. You just need to choose the school that accept those credits. I also know students gave up all DE credits for an OOS school. Taking the AP exam is one way to insure those credits, but high achieving students may know which school to go before the deadline for AP exam registration. One may also take CLEP instead which would be more flexible in schedule. In most cases, DE credits are fine.
Are the classes through a community college or a regional 4 yr university? We move quite a bit and our kids who have taken dual enrollment classes through universities have not faced transfer credit issues. I’m not sure if the same would be true if they had DE through a CC. We chose not to use the CC bc the course rigor was not on par with what we wanted them to take.
The school where you are DE should have a transfer equivalency page on their website where you can see courses that have been approved for transfer from other schools. You can also go to other schools’ websites and see if the courses you are taking have been approved for transfer credit. It will give you a general idea, if not a complete one. We had people tell our ds that a couple of the competitive schools he applied to would not accept his credits from our local regional university. After he submitted the course description, textbook, and syllabus info to the appropriate deans, all of his classes were approved for transfer credit.
IOW, don’t freak out; research and find out the reality of the situation.
Not all caps on the title please.
@billcsho I think it depends on OP’s school. My school is quite competitive, and the AP program is outstanding. Great teachers, high pass rate, but our local cc is quite below average.
my school does not have that many AP courses and is a smaller school… i couldn’t take that many at the school that was available to me so i reached out and tried my local state university (4 yr). I didn’t have many AP classes available to me at my school unfortunately :-(((
how many? and which subjects? are the subjects related to your major?
@chubii at my school, they only offered APUSH and APENG. so, instead, i took 4 college courses + spanish 3: COMP 1, College Bio (while taking physics), and College US history. next semester I am taking a liberal arts math at my local state college + Algebra II honors. The college I am taking these at is NOT a community college, it is a state college. @chubii
by the way, my school didn’t offer spanish 3 so, i had to take a course through online learning…
@chubii Most AP classes are not at college pace no matter how competitive is your school. In general, they spread out one semester of college course into one year.
ohh okay. then I think it’s good that you took the college courses then, if your school doesn’t offer ANY science or math APs.
Many HS use block period and the AP classes are taught in 1 semester (college pace). Students take at most 4 classes per semesters. Many students take only 3 classes per semester.
Many community college classes are not as good as AP classes.
@chubii @billcsho so do you guys think overall, taking college courses is the right thing to do??? (well I am doing it now anyways so…). Also, do you think colleges will look down on my application because of this? Or will they understand…?
@coolweather if you would’ve seen, I said I am not taking them at a community college… it is a state college
State college classes are good, especially when they are beyond the highest AP classes that your school offers. How strong are the AP classes at you school? Do students at HS score well on the AP exams? How does your HS fare in college admission? Will you have schedule difficulty with other EC activities when taking classes at both places?
@coolweather no, most students who go to my school end up going to small Christian universities, and i am aiming for Stanford!