<p>Im a sophomore and my school only offers 3 APs next year. Its not good enough if I go for the top 25 colleges, so I plan to self study more.
Should I self study 2 of the AP courses (AP stat, US government, micro/macro economics) or should I go to the local community college to take these courses and have community college credits?</p>
<p>AP courses vs. community college credits, which one college weigh most?
(Suppose I would get good scores on both) Thanks.</p>
<p>It’s hard to say which one is weighed more. Chances are the top colleges won’t give you credit for a community college course (assuming it isn’t well-known), but might give you credit for the AP exam.</p>
<p>if money ain’t an issue, you could do both which would be the ultimate option. You would basically have an AP prep class which would improve your chances of passing, and possibly get credit regardless of what score you do manage.</p>
<p>I second eyeheartphysics. Taking CC classes shows initiative, and you can take the ap exam to show that you learned at a level comparable to an ap class, and possibly get credit for it.</p>
<p>i do know that AP COURSES are seen more favorably than CC courses</p>
<p>I have to disagree with the belief that AP courses are “seen more favorably than CC courses”</p>
<p>If you are applying to UCs (UCLA and Berkeley included) and USC, college courses are way BETTER choice than APs. CC courses lets you skip out of their lower division and GE courses. They transfer MUCH MUCH better than APs. I am attending UCLA in the fall and I regret not taking as many CC courses as I could have. I could’ve cut down on my AP courseload.</p>
<p>Even if you are applying to HYPSM, taking CC courses shows initative and better assesment of college level work than APs (since difficulty of AP classes vary widely in different HS). They most likely transfer better than APs.</p>
<p>CC courses most probably will not transfer to HYPSM and peers. These colleges automatically reject transfer credit for courses that also appear on a student’s high school transcript. Taking the AP class and getting a 5 will be useful for most courses, whether for placement or outright credit in college.</p>
<p>APs definitely seem better for college. I asked Penn, Princeton, and Georgetown reps this and they all said they’d rather see AP than a university dual enrollment if both are offered.</p>
<p>I would take the CC courses and then take the AP tests after them. If you do well on the AP tests, then it will show colleges that your CC courses did teach you a lot. Good luck.</p>
<p>CCs are, I would assume, better. Why? They’re actually at college. Not a high school; a COLLEGE. There are certain changes between HS and college that require different “skills”.</p>
<p>But, CC courses cost money. :[</p>
<p>APs are better because colleges have a uniform way of comparing your ability to others. And it depends where you take the dual enrollment. If you take it at a pretty credible state school or something, then it might be better. But there is no way that my local community college will have the same rigor as an AP course, even if it is technically a “college” course. And I’m sure most good colleges would recognize the fact that CC courses are almost never as rigorous as AP courses in most cases.</p>
<p>Thank you all for replying 
I think i’ll take AP online courses and AP exam in next May. It will be a lot of work.
My local CC is not very good but is much easier; I took a course over there before.</p>
<p>I agree about the UC thing but i dont really like UCs </p>
<p>But I had the same dilemna and this year as a sophomore, I took AP classes and a CC course in chemistry. </p>
<p>My experience was horrible because CC was really depressing and nobody wanted to be there, plus I think you have so much more guidance and a chance to do better in AP courses. Having said this, its still up to you to decide. What I have done was I took the college chemistry and now im going to take AP chem so I dont have to send in CC transcript but it will look impressive that I have AP chem with no signs of previous expererience. voila! I hope it works in my favor!</p>
<p>I have a friend who goes to Stanford and took actual state college courses, not CC courses. If you could do that, it would be infinitely better (than AP courses). </p>
<p>Actually… I have several friends who take courses at our local state college. Hm, perhaps I should look into that…</p>
<p>EDIT:</p>
<p>I should note that our local state college is not some nobody. One of the best in the state, so comparatively it will of course look better than an AP class.</p>