Ill be graduating hs from an early college high school program which just means i will graduate with an associates degree and my highschool diploma. I wanted to know if this would help me with admissions to an ivy league school. i like yale & upenn but columbia is my top choice
It will show rigor. But that’s it. Most strong applicants will have similar rigor.
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It’s more important for you to take the right courses at the early college than earn the AA.
What are you taking and what are you scheduling next year?
What activities are you involved in at the cc? Do you have a job? Practice a sport?
Have you run the NPC on all these colleges?
I will be getting an associates in business management. so far (im a junior right now) I have taken business principles, principles of management, organizational behavior, music appreciation, human resources management, introduction to speech communication, composition 1, composition 2, principles of macroeconomics, principles of microeconomics, general psychology, business law and supervision. I don’t know what I will be taking this summer and next school year yet because my counselor handles my schedule. Im not involved in ecs at the college but I am at my hs. I don’t currently have a job and the only sport I do is Varsity Cheer. What’s an NPC?
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NPC= Net Price Calculator. There’s one on every college’s website to give you an idea of what the actual cost for you will be. You need to know if you can afford the schools you apply to!
Are you covering the core HS classes (4 years each of English, Social Sciences, Lab Sciences, Foreign Language & Math)? I’m not sure why you don’t have any say in your course selection?
With the courses you list I can see why UPenn would appeal to you, but I’m curious about Columbia. What makes it your favorite?
I will apply for financial but i’m fortunate to have parents that are willing to pay full tuition at any of the schools on my school list! so thankfully I don’t really have to stress. and yes, i’m also taking all the highschool core classes needed. columbia appeals to me because nyc has always been my dream location. not just for university but for living there for the rest of my life. Im also applying to barnard, nyu, fordham and the new school and im actually interested in being a lawyer. I’ve done so much school specific research and i’ve already written my why columbia essay and I plan on applying ED.
For Columbia, next year’s schedule (at the CC or the HS) should include calculus (1&2 or BC or MVC and/or calculus-based statistics), philosophy, history, a foreign language, and a science (assuming you’ve already taken bio/chem/physics, you can take whatever interests you although something quantitative like Physics would be a plus) plus Intermediate Macroeconomics, Intermediate Microeconomics, and something involving Global Issues (ie., global studies, development economics, intercultural communication, etc.); for Wharton or Stern, replace Foreign Language level 4 or AP with Accounting 1 and/or Finance 1.
No matter what your parents say, complete the NPC on Fordham, Columbia, AU, Penn, Northeastern, and your state flagship(s) with them.
Each university is likely to return a different number for “net cost”. The difference could be quite drastic in fact.
Talk with them about what they can afford from their income and college savings.
OP- get cracking working with your guidance counselor on next year’s HS classes. The colleges you are interested in are not going to get excited that you’ve completed a course in human resources management or business law.
You need to focus on the basics- excelling at traditional HS courses like chemistry and history. These pre-professional courses are not going to help you. Take the most rigorous courses available at your HS. And if you can’t take them at your HS, take them at community college. A CC course in Physics is better than business law.
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so far, these are the classes I have taken and plan on taking. is it good?
8th: alg 1, eng 1, principles of human services, spanish 1 (i was in advanced classes so i got h.s credit for these)
9th: pre ap bio, pre ap geometry, pre ap eng 2, pre ap world history, maps (college prep), modern band non varsity, p.e, dual credit: business principles
10th: pre ap alg 2, pre ap chem, debate, environmental systems (1 semester), theatre 1, u.s history, health, swim (the class for p.e credit), dual credit: principles of management, organizational behavior, music appreciation, human resources management
summer 2020: dual enrollment: introduction to speech communication
11th (current): american sign language 1, physics, us gov, sociology, environmental systems (1 semester), dual enrollment: composition 1, composition 2, principles of macroeconomics, principles of microeconomics, general psychology, business law, supervision
Prospective Classes for Senior Year: AP European History, AP Statistics, AP English Language and Composition, American Sign Language 2, dual enrollment: TBD
I have to take those classes to get the associates degree. 
I’m on spring break right now so I will have to wait til next week to talk to my counselor about class requests
If I’m reading this right, you’ve got one year of Spanish and will have 2 years of ASL. That is a problem. Top schools like Ivies expect that you will have studied a language for 4 years so that you get to level 4.
They also expect 4 years of science and I only see 3. I also don’t see precalc. In my opinion this is not the type of schedule someone would take if their goal was a top college. Taking all those business courses got you off track.
Is there a way you can quit going after the associates degree and focus back on core courses?
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classes i’ve taken
english: english 1, english 2, comp 1, comp 2
science: Biology, Chem, physics, health, environmental systems
social sciences: dc general psych, sociology
history: us gov, world history
math: alg 1, alg 2, geometry
foreign lang: spanish 1, spanish 2, asl 1
idk what my dc macroeconomic & microeconomics would fall under…
aps my school offers:
which ones should I take next year? I can only take 3-4.
English
English Language and Composition, English Literature and Composition
History and Social Sciences
European History, Macroeconomics, United States Government and Politics, United States History, World History: Modern, Human Geography, Psychology
Mathematics and Computer Science
Calculus AB, Statistics, Computer Science Principles
Sciences
Biology, Environmental Science, Physics 1: Algebra-Based, Chemistry
World languages
Spanish Language and Culture, Spanish Literature and Culturestrong text
I do not go to a school that is developed very well academically despite having an early college program. my options were and are very limited. I wasn’t allowed to take AP courses my freshman or sophomore year. And they limit how many I can take. Dropping out the program is absolutely not an option at this point and it isn’t something I want to do. If all else fails I may go to one of my safeties and attempt to transfer and there’s always law school to look forward to . Im also a junior so you won’t really see 4 years of anything. although Columbia is my dream I want to enjoy my high school experience and take classes I enjoy
OP- you don’t need AP’s if your school has limited offerings. You DO need to cover off the basics- four years of the same foreign language, lab science (hopefully the sciences you’ve taken have been with labs), math (straight up math) to as far as you can go- Calculus AB is great.
Sociology, general psych- these aren’t helping you. Your program does not seem to have the curriculum or rigor that a college like Columbia is going to look for.
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I disagree. They are fine social studies electives. The bigger issue is the weak math preparation and the limited foreign languages taken. Those will be red flags.
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ELECTIVES, Skieurope. The red flag is opting for an elective-heavy schedule vs. the traditional HS curriculum. That was my point. Electives only get you noticed if you’ve covered off the core.
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My advice would be to skip AP Stats next year and take AP Calc instead if possible. If they won’t let you do that because you didn’t take precalc, then you should take precalc instead. Not having at least precalc is going to hurt when applying to colleges even at less selective schools. It is more important that you take precalc than try to load up with APs.
There is nothing you can do about the foreign language situation. It’s unfortunate that your GC let that happen but that is also going to be a problem.
I think you should take an AP English and an AP history (whichever one you find most interesting. An AP science would be good but given what you’ve been taking I’m concerned that may be too much for you.
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The associates degree from a community college doesn’t mean much to an Ivy. What will matter is that you have taken the most rigorous classes available to you, in your school, and if that means the dual credit track with the community college, so be it.
The good thing about that AS from the community college is that it may allow you to enter your flagship state U as a transfer, into the business school, at the junior year level. This would be very good, as it would save you two years of tuition, thus leaving more resources for an MBA, or law school.
If you are an URM, or a recruited athlete, or a first gen to college from low socioeconomic background, your record of high performance in the most rigorous classes available to you, combined with a high standardized test score, plus some leadership in extracurricular activities, MIGHT lead you into an Ivy. If you’re not in one of the above categories, think of some way that you can show leadership or awards at the national level - if it’s not too late.
But the fact is, you can get an excellent education at your state’s flagship state U, and if the community college degree dovetails with a transfer into the business school there at the junior year level, you could do very, very well and make your mark there, be done with undergrad at age 20, go out into the working world for a year, and then apply to business school at an Ivy for an MBA. You’d have the money to pay for it, since your parents will not have spent much on your undergrad.
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Looks like you will only reach foreign language (ASL) level 2, and math to algebra 2, based on your prospective schedule.
Penn business has an expectation that entering students have had calculus 1 or calculus AB, since they expect students to start in calculus 2 (which they call “calculus 1”). But you are two classes behind in math relative to that.
Can you be dual enrolled and NOT get an Associate degree? Or can you choose another Associate degree that is NOT Business related?
You need to course-correct if your goal is the Ivy League.
This schedule prepares you for your 4-year public university and probably for your flagship if you live in a less-competitive state, but ABSOLUTELY NOT for the type of schools you’re talking about (Ivies and NESCAC, I assume), and especially not Columbia (which has a Core Curriculum).
Some issues that will simply block your application from consideration at most selective 4-year colleges that “meet need”: math and foreign language. Fortunately it can be fixed if you act quickly.
1° math
You MUST take Precalculus. Calculus would be nice (it’s often expected but if your HS doesn’t offer it you won’t be docked for it. However you must have Precalculus before you take calculus, as the name indicates precalculus is the pre-req for calculus, and all selective colleges will expect precalculus as a minimum.)
So, 2 options: if you’re very good at math and got an A in Algebra2, you can take College Algebra over the summer and calculus during the year (it can be AP Calculus AB or dual enrollment Applied Calculus).
Or if you struggled to get an A in Algebra 2, take Precalculus at your HS or College Algebra at the CC during the year.
A middle path would be for you to take College Algebra and Statistics at the CC during the year.
2° Foreign Language:
Take Dual Enrollment Spanish 1 over the summer (you’ll review high school Spanish 1 for a month then it’ll be all new material). Take Spanish 2 and 3 at the CC senior year. That will take care of the required level for most selective colleges.
You can take ASL2 in addition to that at your HS.
Since you took Composition 1&2 at your CC, AP Language and Composition is likely to be similar, unless your HS estimates there’s a difference in levels and content, in which case definitely take it: it’s an essential class that will serve you well for all subjects. If there’s no difference between Dual Enrollment Composition1&2 and AP Language, take AP English Literature or Dual Enrollment Literature. It would really help if you could take one semester of DE Philosophy (especially for Columbia).
Other classes you could take beside Calc AB and AP Literature: AP European History or AP World History, AP CS Principles, AP Physics 1 * or their Dual Enrollment equivalent*.
You cannot AP Spanish Language because it supposes you took Spanish up to Spanish 4, so the only way you can reach the level of foreign language expected by Ivy League/Nescac colleges is the path described above (with DE Spanish 1 over the summer, then DE Spanish 2 and DE Spanish 3 during the year).
Do you know your EFC? If you don’t, https://fafsa.ed.gov/spa/fafsa4c/#/landing
and tell us what your EFC is so we can help you better (as EFCs will direct different types of application strategies).
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