<p>I have a friend that goes to Harvard right now. She's part of the Class of 2012 there. I've known her since I was a freshmen and she a senior in high school and kept in contact with her to gain some "insider information" (haha joking). So, I asked her what she did to get into Harvard (as well as acceptances from ALL of the HPYSM, UCB, UCLA, Cal Tech and a couple safety schools around East Cost) and she said two words: community college. </p>
<p>She told me she took 30-35 college classes and received two Associate's Degrees (two-year college degrees for 1st-year and 2nd-year education) before her senior year in high school and received like 3 or 4 nationally-accreditted vocational certificates. She completed 132 SEMESTER college units (you need 120 semester units to graduate with a BA) with her 20 AP tests and billion college classes transferred into her transcript. She received an offer from UCB and UCLA to transfer in as a 4th-year.</p>
<p>Besides this, she told me she had nothing else in her app that shined. She had NO officer positions at school... Top 20% of class... No major awards... regular Girl Scout for three years... Asian female.. and get this: a 1880 SAT</p>
<p>So considering all this....do you guys think community college is worth all the trouble? I have some friends that think college classes are worthless and waste of time and effort. They think I'd just better stick to high school studies instead of holding on to some weird plan...</p>
<p>I've taken six classes so far at a nearby OC community college and am willing to take some more classes (HARDCORE like my Harvard friend) but like I said, I still have my doubts.</p>
<p>Please give me some advice! Oh, and ask me anything that would help you help me. :]</p>
<p>well, if u really think u can make urself shine THAT MUCH thru ur CC courses, i think u should go ahead. it is certainly a way to distinguish urself from all these HS students who have loaded their schedules with many AP’s. However, i don’t know if having a few introductory cc classes will make THAT much of a difference. I am sure that none of these can hurt- i’m sure they do help, b/c they show that u have breadth and that u r taking the initiative to take outside courses. but i wouldn’t rely on them to get me into harvard. u should def have other great things in ur stats. a low SAT score IS quite risky. just saying. =]</p>
<p>I’ve been in a dilemma on exactly what you’ve said about having breadth. I’ve taken the March SAT last month and received…a disgusting score… I’ll consider taking some looking at my 2nd semester grades. thanks!</p>
<p>Her decision to focus solely on college credit classes is very risky. Although it’s extremely beneficial, especially with that much college credit, the inability to participate in anything else (including ECs, etc.) makes it almost not worth it.</p>
<p>35 courses is pretty crazy. Our district only allows 2 courses a semester after you turn 16, so 35 courses would be impossible. </p>
<p>I decided to take the advanced courses I couldn’t take at High School. I can’t see how taking breadth courses that aren’t at a level Harvard would expect, would be beneficial though. If you are really into math, or science I could definitely seeing taking advanced classes and getting more lab hours.</p>
<p>I’ve probably got 50 units, but I only took the courses to pursue my interest in those courses. I would definitely not say this is something that would significantly help you. It can only help show them your interest and how you are pursuing it. Other ECs that supplemented your interests would probably be more efficient than taking that many courses, anyways.</p>
<p>You should probably shoot for a more well-rounded path (that worked for her, because she was really sure that is what she wanted to do. You need to find something that strikes an interest like that). I’d say have several strong ECs, a much stronger SAT score than she had, and take courses that further your interest in a particular subject. It’d be better if that was also tied into your ECs and also explained in your essays.</p>
<p>Yeah, our district only allows 2 courses a semester also but my friend wrote an appeals petition to the dean there, allowing her to take over 12 units (a full-time college student’s unit load) a semester. </p>
<p>I’ve decided to take some business classes to match and enhance my major: business law. I’ll try going for the well-rounded path, Ramblinman :]</p>
<p>Also, besides a couple volunteering and internship activities, nothing else shines in my application so I consider all your advice really really helpful! Thank you guys!</p>
<p>How did she manage to get 132 credits? When did she start community college. I’m looking into Harvard and those kinds of schools and i’ll only have a couple of math and physics credits from CC. I suppose it is a risk, like someone said, but potentially worth it. Good luck.</p>
<p>Ummm . . . there is absolutely nothing approaching an undergraduate major in “business law” at Harvard. There’s no “business” major, no “law” major, and no combination of the two.</p>
<p>All right, first of all, I find this difficult to believe. I don’t know how it’s even physically possible to take 35 CC classes, let alone half of that. The only way would be to take like half high school classes and half CC classes. Now, this might have worked 10 yrs ago, but the game has changed.</p>
<p>First of all, I want to point out that CC courses are great for your application. What’s the point of AP classes? To see if you can handle college course rigor; CC classes have the same effect and are usually easier to handle. I would personally take CC classes as a supplement to my regular HS schedule (as I did), as it diversifies your experiences, but I would never do the thing your friend did. I don’t think you should take more than 6 CC courses. That’s more than anyone I know, and my school is very competitive. I would branch off.</p>
<p>Either she was blowing smoke up your culo or she is some weird phenomenon. Either way, I wouldn’t do it. Focus on high school when you’re a high school student.</p>