Hello I am a sophomore in high school in the International Baccalaureate program and next year I will be a junior. During the summer after Sophomore and Junior year I was considering taking classes at a community college or local university in Chemistry and Biology. I have a passion for science and next year will be taking IBChem, IBPhysics, and IBBio. These classes during the summer will help me prepare for next school year but I was also wondering if it would look good on college applications? Any comments/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Yes it will. A college-level summer class will show colleges that you can handle their work.
Thanks. What if the class is just advanced for my age. For example I am going to be taking 200 classes in Chemistry I think and while that might not be the hardest college class I am taking it summer after my sophomore year.
^ How long is the summer course? I took a 6 week chemistry course (about the level of AP Chem) and it was hard. I almost wouldn’t recommend it since you don’t have enough time for the material to digest. However, if you are a good student and you are able to handle the work, it will look very good to colleges. If it is simply too hard (which is nothing to be ashamed about, these classes are a challenge), you can always drop, and I don’t think colleges will care too much about you dropping such a hard course in the summer before junior year (just don’t make a habit out of dropping courses).
The class or classes would be around 6 weeks as well. And there are a variety of classes at different levels I can take. My Chemistry teacher told me that it would be a good idea. I looked through most of the 100 level courses (not 100 percent sure how that all works) and I have learned everything taught in them. So I was thinking about taking the class that would be a normal progression from topics. My teacher told me that if I was ever in doubt I could email her the syllabus of the class and she would check to see if that was what we were learning Junior/Senior year (because that’s what I’m going for), and if I would have knowledge sufficient enough to handle it. I would describe myself as a good student and if given a textbook and time I have never had any trouble with understanding concepts. I also might do some independent study/research at the university (maybe) and I was just wondering if when I applied for colleges if that would look good on an application.