<p>When I mentioned "local state university" I was refering to Metropolitan State University.</p>
<p>no guarantee unless you see it in writing -- no matter how good the CC is! Even courses taken at other universities or colleges are not guaranteed to transfer.</p>
<p>Also -- if you take community college classes or university classes in high school, keep a file with the course description, name of textbooks used and syllabus. Take a photo copy of the textbooks table of contents. When evaluating transcripts, they often ask for some of this info -- and it is a pain to find it a year or two later! Just file the info away and you will have it ready!</p>
<p>my son goes to a colorado community college. The have a written transfer agreement with most of the colleges and universities in colorado as to what transfers. (this includes university of colorado and colorado state and many others). If you take what is on the list, it will transfer to the university as per the agreement. Example, my son is taking Composition I and Science of Biology at the CC this semester. both will transfer if he chooses to go to CU. They will meet the requirements for Comp I and a lab science at the college. He is taking these courses to fulfill high school requirements (he is a homeschooler -- this will be his first high school science and his 4th high school english).</p>
<p>Because these courses help him meet his high school requirements, I sincerely doubt that ANY other college or university would accept them as college credits. He plans to take AP Language and composition after taking Comp II next year as a back-up.</p>
<p>The best we are hoping for: he goes to a really great school where the COMP I and COMP II classes are a step above what he has already learned OR the classes allow him to take the next level higher class, even if he doesn't get credit.</p>
<p>
[quote]
the classes allow him to take the next level higher class, even if he doesn't get credit.
[/quote]
This happens pretty frequently. The college you end up attending may not give your credit for your AP scores or for college courses you take in high school, but they might let you use them to take a higher level course. It is not in any school's best interests to have a bunch of its students sitting through classes on material they already know.</p>
<p>I think the best approach, if one wants to generalize, is that high school students should always choose the best educational opportunity (AP vs college courses) without regard to credit, and then view any credit they end up with as a gift from the gods rather than an entitlement.</p>
<p>that is exactly the conclusion we have come to "high school students should always choose the best educational opportunity (AP vs college courses) without regard to credit, and then view any credit they end up with as a gift from the gods rather than an entitlement."</p>
<p>My other question would be -- for very selective schools (i.e.HYPS) -- does it matter for admissions? Do they like to see some AP?</p>
<p>I can't really get a definitive answer (because I don't think there is one) so our solution will be to have my son take at least 5 AP tests (which isn't much in comparison with some others) and take University level courses in junior and senior year (not community college courses) and hope that he appears competitive.</p>
<p>
[quote]
My other question would be -- for very selective schools (i.e.HYPS) -- does it matter for admissions? Do they like to see some AP?
[/quote]
I don't think colleges care whether you challenge yourself with AP courses or with CC courses. But I think that AP scores are very useful to elite admissions offices, allowing them to compare high level students from very different educational backgrounds. </p>
<p>Rachel Toor, former Duke ad com, writes about AP scores on p. 92-93 of College Confidential:</p>
<p>"Although the scores on the (AP) tests were meant, originally, for placement into higher level college courses and were not intended to be used in college admissions, they are. We expect students to score 5s on their tests. If they get a couple of 4s, that's okay, but anything below a 4 doesn't help much. We don't require that students report these scores for admission; if they do, however, we use them. I always told students that if they scored below a 4, not to report it to us."</p>
<p>Michele Hernandez, former Dartmouth adcom, says on pp. 119-120 of Acing the College Application:</p>
<p>"The second key point (and this is a major flaw of the common application) is that you will notice there is no space at all for either AP or IB scores. That might give you the impression that these scores don't count, but that is not the case. In fact, since both AP and IB tests are considered the most difficult and collegelike tests around, colleges sometimes weigh these even more heavily than SAT Is and SAT IIs.... A strong showing on these tests can counterbalance less than stellar scores elsewhere... Do not leave out these scores even if they are not perfect." (she recommends putting them in the blank space to the right of the score listings on the Common App. and drawing a box around them so that they are easily spotted. </p>
<p>Here's some past CC discussion about this:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=78247%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=78247</a>
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=75510%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=75510</a></p>
<p>that is exactly what we were thinking! My son is more humanities oriented, though, so I am thinking that more than one AP science test would be too much to ask. I told him that one AP science test would be enough as long a he took a bunch of the others.</p>
<p>He will be sophomore next year and he will take the english lang and composition, maybe world history or euro history, and psychology, human geography.</p>
<p>He plans on taking english lit and composition, maybe AP biology, ap comparative government and another social studies AP junior year.</p>
<p>it will be interesting to see how it all works out.</p>