Our 21 took all of their high school classes at a local college for junior and senior years of high school. It’s a super popular DE option in the district because it is free - it’s considered a public school option so taxes pay for it. You just have to pay for your books and lab fees. I think something like 25-30% of the kids in the high school (total high school population of about 2400) did the DE option. It gives the students so much more freedom and opportunity for unique courses not available at the high school. But not for everyone. When our 21 went to college out of state, they gave credit for all but one of the DE classes (PE, so no surprise) so 21 had almost junior standing as a first year college student. Really helped a lot with housing and course selection!
That is awesome! That really helps make college more affordable. Is the college in your community? That’s the main difference here, DE is online and can’t be taken during school time, which would not leave time for ECs. Starting out as a junior is very beneficial come class registration!
In AK, the state university system offers relatively inexpensive online asynchronous lower level classes (for obvious geographic reasons) to high schoolers or anyone else. These classes all officially come from one of the community college or main university campuses depending on where the prof is based. However, it does seem like they are often lighter than APs. My D28 took one and got >100%. On the other hand, there are also some higher level classes offered online – but with no discounts – regular in-state tuition. D27 took a hybrid (some students online, some in the room) 200 level genetics class that accepted her AP bio and chem scores as prerequisites, which was both a really good class and tough and her only B thus far. She is planning to take a 400 level course with the same format and prof this fall.
All AK high schools (regular public schools and public correspondence schools for homeschoolers) accept these as credit, I’m pretty sure, and I assume would do the same for in-person classes for urban kids. But I don’t know that there are any college classes taught IN high schools. I didn’t know that was a thing.
Your kids sound like great kids. Good for them taking actual college courses online during high school. I’m impressed!
The regional differences in the US can be quite different for many things, including education. For example, I went to the west coast to visit family. We went out for ice cream and I asked for jimmies on mine. Now my uncle, born in Boston, knew what I meant, but chuckled and told me they’re called sprinkles there. He also worked in AK for some time, but I don’t remember the details as I was a kid. Another example, is although some kids take the ACT in the Northeast, the SAT is the more popular test. Go down South and it’s the opposite, I believe. Seems the same for DE and AP classes. It’s nice to learn about theses things through this community.
D27 left for her summer job today. She’ll come home for one last final. One teacher let her take one early. The other classes she had projects, she finished early. That is hard thing about AP classes here when school can go until late June, there is not much more to do in the class after the AP Exam. Works out though, because she already did those class finals before the exam, so now only one final at the end of the year!
One bomb she dropped on me last night is that she may take the SAT one more time and study with a group at camp during their time off. Do you think that will happen? I think they are mostly all high achievers, so maybe…. We’ll find out Friday after scores are released.
Yes, the college my student went to was about a 15-minute drive. Every local community college in the state allows high schoolers to do the program. If there isn’t a local community college, you can go to a local public university near you (typically a “directional” one).
Last day of school here. Kids are very much ready for summer.
I guess it’s definitely a regional /school district specific thing. Our school offers tons of DE classes with the community college it partners with as well as a few classes available at a nearby university for kids who have finished all the coursework/prerequisites at the high school.
The average ACT in our northeast state is SKY HIGH because the only kids who take it are taking it because they think they will do REALLY well in comparison to the SAT. it is almost humorous.
This summer the Kid is taking a health class that is required for graduation. For his current assignment, I just took a video of him performing CPR on a stuffed shark.
SAT was all I ever heard of growing up in WA, and it is more popular in Alaska too, but only a minority of students take either test (27% SAT, 13% ACT).
My kids are both headed out of state tomorrow – D28 to go to French camp and D27 to go visit grandparents for 10 days or so and learn to scuba dive. I was hoping she’d get more of a head start on college essays before she left – July is going to be super busy with trail building trips, so she’ll mostly end up pushing that all to August so she can do fly-in apps before the first trail work trip.
Just got done with this month’s big sets of low tides – intertidal biodiversity surveys and building a computer program to analyze them and tracking trends (over 8 years) is D27s biggest activity/project, so that always makes for a pretty busy week. I am kind of dreading how she’s going to try to explain this (or any of her activities, really) in the tiny space they get on a college app.
My kid is trying to get some admission prereads, Scout merit badge requirements, and some modules for his online government class completed this week before he heads out to XC team camp for a week in cabins in the woods. Progress is slow on all fronts but at least not non-existent. I was hoping by now that he would have spent some time on his Common App essay but aside from some very rough work at the end of AP Lang, that hasn’t happened. He’s got a couple busy weeks ahead so hoping he manages to squeeze that in somewhere because once school starts back up at the end of July, there isn’t going to be much time for serious writing outside his classes.
He sounds so busy. Best to him (and you) in this busy week!
S27 receives his best grades ever this semester - he worked hard this year.
On the other hand, I got so excited/pressured about a really good Southwest sale about to end and the possibility of seeing family out west whom we haven’t seen in a while, that I booked flights during the weekend of the Aug SATs, which he is signed up for. I thought I found a week that worked for everyone here and out there…but I forgot about that.
So now trying to weigh options on that…reschedule his SAT for September or have him stay home (husband wasn’t going due to his work schedule) and take. Kid is leaning toward August, wants to wrap up before school starts. On the other hand, we DON’T get to see this family often so I would hate to have him miss. We agreed to table until he gets his June scores next week but I think that is more avoidance than anything. I doubt his scores will make anything clearer.
Sounds like everyone is busy this summer! @GraniteStater , I hope you can figure out the SAT and make a decision you are both happy with. (I have personally enriched the ACT company by switching S27’s test multiple times, which made sense with every change but was very painful to do. He finally took it last weekend and thinks it went well, so I hope that he is done with that.)
@challengingvenn –hope all the stuff gets done!
@AKmom314 –honestly, your D27 sounds really unique. Between that, being a strong student, and the added geographical diversity of being in AK–I think she’s going to do really well in admissions. (Opinion, but this is my second run through the gauntlet.)
@stuffedtacos I am loving picturing cpr on a stuffed shark!
Re: DE–around here it’s free, and as far as I know, it’s almost never at your high school. When my D25 did DE it was at multiple local CCs (or online with the same CCs). My D25 did it because she was at a charter school that had limited offerings; while I’m sure there are some kids that use it that attend brick and mortar schools, it’s not common at S27’s high school.
S27 is doing a 40 hr/wk internship for six weeks this summer and is staying with a friend’s family, as it isn’t local. I am humbled by this great opportunity for him, but I wasn’t really ready to test out empty nesting this July while both S27 and D25 are doing their things elsewhere. The house feels pretty quiet, and I’m trying to lean into more exercise with less laundry and fewer people to feed at home. (But both kids are coming home tonight, God willing, for our family vacation next week. I CAN’T WAIT!)
27’s Eagle Scout project has been greenlit! They’re now off working the whole summer as a counselor at a residential Scout camp, so the project will have to wait to be completed until August, but nice to know they are so close to finishing. Will likely aim to have Eagle Board of Review in September.
sooo coool!!!
Why do these schools spend so much money in Marketing? We received a big thick envelope from Syracuse today. They don’t even have her major! 
. How off was their yield this year?
very
Did your kids check the college board ‘market to me’ box? I told mine not to, and they have never received a single piece of college mail (with the exception of something from the state public university my kid has taken a DE class from). I’ve been pleasantly surprised that it worked to opt out of it, but maybe I’m speaking too soon.
Neither of mine checked the box (25 or 27) and we only get mail from schools we interacted with…. (Visited or signed up for mailings for DI purposes).
I think you will be ok!