<p>I have been wondering for a while how admission officers look at kids who have been taking summer/online classes in high school to get ahead in the program. Ex. Honors Physics through CTY to be able to take AP Physics the following year at school. From what I am reading on this board there seem to be a trend among very competitive students to proceed this way in order to skip some prereg.
How do you think/do you have any evidence of, does it play in their competitive college admission?</p>
<p>I can't imagine the example you give would not be just fine. What I've been told is that the meaningful classes are the bricks and mortar ones in general. My nephew did a year abroad and needed to make up some math and science. He wanted to do this on line. When I asked 2 knowledgeable counselors, the consensus was not to do it online.</p>
<p>If you are not sure, do not put them on transcripts. Also, be prepared for NOT skipping some classes anyway. For example, some schools will not allow to skip Bio if you are pre-med even if you have "5" on AP Bio exam and high score on Bio SATII. Also, there are programs that do not allow to graduate earlier either. So, make sure that you remain flexible even coming to college with tons of AP's. They are still good to have because it shows commitment to taking the most difficult classes.</p>
<p>What I am wondering about - does it not look too desparate, does it not hint of the kid who has material advantage, since those courses generally run $1000/week?
After all "most " teenagers , even smart ones, would rather spend the couple of months during the summer surfing, camping, hanging out with friends.</p>
<p>My kids did not seek high school credit for CTY courses, and did not list them on any applications. If your high school requires them on the transcript because they are prerequisites, I would just let the transcript speak for itself without further explanation.</p>
<p>But in all honesty, I think there's somewhat of a cut-off line of competitive colleges where one might employ different strategies. At the very top of the pile, we felt that the applications needed to emphasize activities and involvement outside of academics, and let GPA, SAT's, AP's, college courses, etc tell their own story. For the safety schools that were more numbers oriented, they emphasized academic coursework/achievement on their applications. In other words, you can call attention to it...or not, depending on the audience. This worked extremely well for them, but others may have different experiences.</p>
<p>Colleges seem to love the free academic summer programs like TASP and RSI. Also community colleges classes.</p>
<p>Kelowna:</p>
<p>My S did two Fast-paced High School sciences courses at CTY so that he could skip the middle school science classes and Honors sciences classes. They both prepared him very well for AP-classes in those subjects. Those classes were not listed on his transcript (he took them before getting into high school anyway).
I don't think that colleges focus on these at all. Besides the free academic summer programs mentioned above, colleges like math programs such as MathCamp, Ross, PROMYS, HCSSiM, but also more arts oriented programs such as Tanglewood.
While "most" teenagers would rather surf or camp, those who do go to academic camps generally have a ball. I've seen kids in tears at the end of both CTY and PROMYS.</p>
<p>Neither one of my kids did any academic summer programs and got into their "elite" first choice schools. They did summer leagues and camps with their sports and music. I once asked the admission director of a top ranked school if mine were at a disadvantage compared to those kids who spent summers doing intensive scientific researches, accelerated classes etc. and he said no, he just wanted to see kids doing something active and not "wasting" time.</p>
<p>My D had already skipped a grade and chose to remain in college even though she could have graduated one semester early because she wanted to enjoy her "childhood" longer.</p>
<p>I was always under the impression you should just do something you actually genuinely want to do and that is meaningful. </p>
<p>I think doing something DIFFERENT than everyone else, that is aligned with the applicant's real interests and unique identity, would be helpful. </p>
<p>I think it could even be a disadvantage if it conveys a sign of priviledge and oversupport. Or disadvantageous if it looks too much like someone trying to impress adcoms. Or if it entrenches the appearance that someone is only a bookworm. </p>
<p>I actually think some very selective free programs such as TASP might appear to help with college admittance. But it could be that the kind of kid that gets through the difficult selection process of such programs already has the numbers and attributes that help him or her later for college. </p>
<p>I find it sad when I searched the summer programs forum and the most popular threads are about 'which program looks the most prestigious?" You should be doing summer programs for lots of reasons, not because it looks good. But this is what the pathetic college selection system is creating.</p>
<p>My son took CTY fast paced chem after freshman year to solve some scheduling issues. He went ahead and took the Regent's exam. I think he got credit, but no grade for the course. But I don't think it mattered one way or the other. It appeared on the list of summer activities. I think it's good to have something productive listed every summer. Classes are one way to fill up a summer, but by no means the best or only way. Two summers my son took classes, for at least part of the summer. (He worked or volunteered the rest of the summer.)</p>