<p>I am planning on attending community college for my first two years. It is the financially feasible option for me at the moment and I would like to avoid any loans for the time being. </p>
<p>I really would like to start school this summer, but am afraid that there may be a very limited selection of professors at the community college, and therefore may end up with a bad prof, while attending a class with an already accelerated schedule. My intended major is in engineering (perhaps chemical) and I am interested in you guys opinion on what courses (if any) I should take during the summer. I am looking to make at least a 90 in the classes and higher than that if it is an easy elective or something along the lines of pretty easy. I am very motivated, but I really need to set a good gpa freshman yr and make sure I do not make the same mistake from freshman yr of hs, so I can then transfer to Texas Tech, UT, or A&M.</p>
<p>it’s not a bad idea. what college courses are you most concerned about failing? take a course in one of these, an intro course, and get your confidence up. get a sense of how much work 3 or 6 hours is. find out who’s teaching in the summer and go sit in on one of their spring courses. ask their permission first. tell them why you’re interested. do the same for another course that day. talk to the students in the course after class. make an appointment to speak to an admissions counselor that day. </p>
<p>Good idea. I am fairly confident that I will pass any class my freshman yr, but because the classes go quicker in the summer and professor selection is more limited, I am afraid I may not do as well as I need to. I will definitely try to get plenty of info as you suggested before I commit to beginning school in the summer.</p>
<p>Are intro classes like Physics, Calc, or Chem. generally pretty easy?
I am actually in AP Calc and AP Physics in hs anyway, so idk why I am so scared. lol</p>
<p>No Physics Calc and Chem are not generally considered easy. They are also foundational classes that you want to do well in and understand thoroughly in order to go to the next class in the sequence. What level of math did you get to in HS and how did you do in it? Science? Did you have Chem in HS? I think your concern about the professors is overrated, but the concern about the pace is real. As part of your requirements you will have other than engineering related classes. Maybe start with your English 101 and either calc or chem if you have proper preparation. Remember that Calc I is like AP Calc BC compressed to one semester or in your case one summer. If that is no problem for you fine, if not, take some other distribution requirement that is easier while you get used to a college schedule.</p>
<p>Go sit down with one of the counselors at the community college you will be attending, and draw up a plan of studies for the two years that you will be there. Then investigate the summer offerings. It is likely that one or more of your general education classes (English 101 as suggested above, Social Science, Fine Arts, etc.) will be available. One of those would be a good thing to get out of the way in the summer. Our local CC offers a summer dinner theatre class which can always use a few pre-engineering types to build sets and run sound systems and can be a fun way to knock off those three fine arts credits required transfer into the state university system.</p>
<p>You probably don’t want to take a science class over the summer, except one you’ve already taken as an AP (ie, Calc 1 if you’ve taken Calc BC, Physics 1 if you’ve taken Physics C, Chem 101 if you’ve taken APChem…) since it’ll go very, very fast. Don’t take a “new” engineering course then. Do take an English or Social Science class, it can be a lot of reading but it may be easier to manage during the summer than during the semester.</p>
<p>I agree with MYOS and Happymom that non-science GE requirements, such as English or History would be good to take during the summer.</p>
<p>I suggest that you look at your target university (Texas Tech, UT and T A&M) to see if there are classes
that all these potential schools require for transfer.</p>
<p>Be sure you confirm that ANY course you take will be eligible for transfer.</p>
<p>You have gotten some good advice here, so I will add to it briefly. Summer science classes are fast paced and time consuming, so they are not the best choice for an incoming student and if taken, one at a time is probably taxing enough for most students.
Summer session is a great time to take classes that fulfill part of the general education requirements for all majors. Each college has them. I agree with the poster who advised you to sit down with a counselor and go over all the transfer requirements for the schools you are interested in, and to be sure that the classes you take are accepted for transfer credit.
The colleges post the general education requirements on their websites. This is the one for UT. As you can see, you have several options: art, history, social sciences.
<a href=“2012-2014 Core Requirements | TEXAS Undergraduate Studies”>2012-2014 Core Requirements | TEXAS Undergraduate Studies;
You will meet the requirements for science with your major.
Since your GPA is crucial, consider taking one class this summer. You have not experienced the level of college classes yet, and summer is even more intense. </p>