<p>The high schools in my state have a program with the state university and all the community colleges under it - the ability to take courses, when and where available to the high school student, that also count for high school credit. </p>
<p>Come my senior year, I'll have 4 or 5 of my 7 periods open, needing 2 or 3 more credits to graduate - meaning I'll get early release - and I'll be able to take classes at my county's CC if I want. Or, I could fill my schedule with the APs I wouldn't have taken.</p>
<p>So my question lies in which ones a college would find more valuable. Both are for partial college credit, obviously. There's a chance classes taken at the CC won't transfer, but is it better that there's a much broader range of subjects at the CC?</p>
<p>Depends on what you want to take-if you are trying to take a course in a subject not offered in HS, going to CC would be a good option. Some states also have centralized transfer guides that show you exactly what courses will transfer where. Ohio, my own, is one of these.</p>
<p>that makes complete sense - there wouldn’t be any other way I’d be able to take the courses not offered in my high school without going to the CC after all =)</p>
<p>But what if… say, both were offered, and both transferred to the colleges I’ll be applying to? Would it be wiser to take AP Bio, for instance, at school instead of the bio courses at the CC? That’s where I’m stuck.</p>
<p>My state (WA) has the same thing. I have talked to a number of HS guidance counselors about this, and their advice was that it depended on where you intend to apply. If you are applying in-state, it will be easier to get those courses counted toward your 4-year graduation requirements. On the other hand, if you are applying out-of-state, those colleges fully understand what certain numerical scores mean on AP tests; and they may not be as impressed with your CC courses.</p>
<p>My daughter took both AP English and English Comp at the local CC. While the discussions that took place in the AP class were stimulating, she learned so much more about writing in the CC class. In the end, she decided to not even take the AP test and expect more advanced placement on the strength of her CC transcript (English Comp and Intro to Poli Sci). The choice was made easier for her because her college (Hampshire College) will only use AP scores for placement.</p>
<p>ALF is correct – the answer may depend upon the particular colleges you are planning to apply to next year. </p>
<p>If you plan to go to your in-state public university, then definitely go the CC route since there is no question that those credits will transfer over (and you don’t have to worry about scoring high on an AP exam!). If you are planning to go to an out-of-state public university, then the CC classes are still probably better than AP classes, since most public schools will accept CC credits with minimal hassle (although I don’'t know if that applies to the truly top schools like UVA, Michigan, or Berkeley).</p>
<p>On the other hand, you might be better off taking AP classes if you plan to apply to top private schools. Private schools almost always have a straight-forward policy regarding AP, whereas transferring CC credits is subject to more uncertainty since it will usually depend on how familiar the college is with that CC and if they think the CC class is truly the “equivalent” of their own class in that subject. </p>
<p>Then again, some of the most elite private schools offer absolutely no AP credit, so you might want to take your chances with the CC classes there.</p>
<p>If you do go the CC route, make sure your CC classes do NOT appear on your high school transcript. From our experience, most private schools will absolutely not give you credit for “dual enrollment” classes (where the CC classes also count towards your high school graduation requirements). Since you don’t need the CC credits for HS, there is no reason for them to appear on your HS transcript.</p>