Can putting down that you took a college course on your application negatively affect you?
I took a precalclus course online through a local community college because I wasn’t able to take it junior year. And I’ve been debating with my mom over whether to put it under the college and university section on the common app. Apparently she’s read online that if I put it on my application, I may he automatically disqualified by the computer for certain scholarships that are only for students who have never attended any college. I also mention it later in my application when explaining something else in the additional information section.
Is this true? Am I better off just not including that?
Depending on the grade you received, you should include it! They’ll love to see that you challenged yourself in high school. I’ve never heard of a college not giving scholarships for just one course, and your admissions officer will ultimately review how much money you get, so they can see if the computer made an error like that,
You are required to report all courses taken at a college/community college in-person or on-line. You will also be expected to send the college transcript to all schools that request it. Since you took the course while in HS, this would not disqualify you from any scholarship even if such a thing existed.
There is a clearinghouse colleges use to tell them if you have taken college classes before, so you are obligated to report the class. In fact, you will probably need to have the college send a transcript to the colleges to which you are applying in addition to the high school transcript. However, as you were concurrently enrolled in high school, it will not affect your freshman standing and whatever associated benefits there might be.