<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I'm a freshman in high school, and my school has a program which offers both a high school diploma and an associate's degree at the same time. However, the courses which I take at the local community college will seriously hurt my GPA since they count as regular courses. Should I still try to pursue an associate's degree? Will it look really good on an application to HYP? I appreciate any input.</p>
<p>it'll look good. don't worry about your gpa. it's just 3 numbers.</p>
<p>worry about your grades. Colleges see those too. If you have straight As, it shouldnt matter if your gpa is only a 3.92, because colleges will understand that you took courses to enrich your mind and not your gpa. </p>
<p>Take as many honours/ap/ib courses as you can without killing yourself. Just... don't forget about those other wonderful courses that your school may offer. Courses like creative writing, sculpture, ceramics, and psychology.</p>
<p>People will ask adcoms whether it is better to get an A in a regular course or a B in an AP course. The answer is to get the A in the AP course.</p>
<p>Seriously, it is better to take the harder course. The number one thing that colleges care about is difficulty of curriculum. On the other hand, you do have to pace yourself. It is not worth it to take 6 AP courses per semester instead of 3-4 if it is too difficult and it kills your gpa. If you want to make the commitment and you think you can handle it, go for it. Taking the Associates degree would be a risk, though. It would look great to HYP to get the Associates degree, but you might blow yourself out and have trouble getting into your local public uni.</p>
<p>Thanks so much.</p>
<p>I just have a few more questions. My high school offers medical science courses like microbiology and anatomy. Should I take these classes too, even though they are regular level (I have no clue why) and at a high school level? I was really interested in these courses ,since I want to be a doctor, when I first came to my high school until I realized that they would hurt my GPA.</p>
<p>One thing to consider is that if you have an associate's degree, you will most likely have to apply to colleges as a transfer student, not a freshman.</p>
<p>ampersand has a point. I would ask your high school GC about that since your hs seems to do alot of it.</p>
<p>I would recommend that you try to take some hs courses like Anatomy if that is what you are interested in. It isn't all about gpa/rank. You could make your EC be a love of medicine it you have one. On CC, there are a lot of threads about how extracurricular activities differentiate between apps with high stats. Every admissions guide in the world talks about how colleges want well rounded freshmen classes and not well rounded students. It is better to have long-term commitment and "passion" in one or two activities than a long of activities with little involvement in any. Don't think of EC's as being clubs in school. An EC is an interest. Then you can write about it in your essay.</p>
<p>I'll probably pursue the courses I desire at the community college, but what impact will it make if I am considered a transfer student? Is it bad?</p>
<p>If you have a certain number of college credits, and the number depends on the college, they treat you as a transfer student instead of an entering freshman. The criteria is different. They look more at your college gpa, ignore your high school gpa and probably your SAT scores. For the elite colleges, they probably don't care much for transfers because they see somebody who spent freshman year somewhere else, someplace easier.</p>
<p>I wouldn't worry about this too much. A lot of high school students take courses at community colleges, and it is seen as trying to take a more challenging curriculum. Talking about getting an AA degree is a little different. I'm not sure how you could do that anyway, though.</p>
<p>It may be surprising, but I have it on good authority that adcoms prefer AP/IB courses over CC courses.</p>
<p>is this a good thing to do during high school? (summer)</p>
<p><a href="http://honors.uta.edu/academy/%5B/url%5D">http://honors.uta.edu/academy/</a></p>
<p>excel: You are hijacking the thread. A lot of colleges offer summer classes to high school students in order to make extra money. It could be good, but consider the $price. Attending definitely won't influence the adcoms at UT any more than it would influence the adcoms anywhere else.</p>
<p>Hm, I'm a little concerned now, heh.</p>
<p>I'm concurrently completing the IB program at my school and getting my Associates Degree (as of this last semester of Junior year I'll have 3/4, or 45 credits, of my Degree completed) I plan to have my degree by December of this year, and will also get my IB Diploma.</p>
<p>Will colleges look at me as a transfer student? I plan on applying to HPY (particularly Princeton), and I know my chances would drop to like nil if I was regarded as a transfer student. And I might decide to take a few of the mathematical courses over anyways (I have a 4.0 GPA on my college transcript - but some of the classes I felt were lacking and I could learn more in a Princeton class). Is there any way I could just refer them to my degree, but have them look at my application as I was entering as a freshman but I still opted out of all of the general education requirements that I completed with my A.A. (which, by the way, would be in mathematics).</p>
<p>If anyone has some information on this, it'd be really appreciated.</p>
<p>I would recommend that you "Ask the Dean" on this one. I asked something last year and got a really good response from Sally Rubenstone who co-authored "Panicked Parents' Guide to College Admissions". She is one of the people at CC. Try at:
<a href="http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/%5B/url%5D">http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/</a></p>
<p>classes taken at community college while still in high school are looked at differently when you apply to competitive schools.</p>
<p>you are not going to be able to transfer into HYP with an associates degree from a CC. They will tell you to apply as a freshman.</p>
<p>They will not count the hours you earned from your associates, but it will look good.</p>
<p>Do ask the college admin department directly, but getting an associates along with a high school diploma is becoming an option for many.</p>
<p>I think the colleges will look favorably upon taking cc classes -- my son's plan is to take the AP tests for classes he took at cc when available -- best of both worlds and hedging his bet as to what is best looked upon.</p>
<p>good things about AP/IB tests -- they are standardized, so the college knows that a 5 means the same thing no matter where you are from.</p>
<p>good things about cc classes -- shows student initiative, that you can handle the college type class (note -- I didn't say level, but type -- college classes are taught differently). cc classes come in many different areas, so you have a wider choice to pursue interests.</p>
<p>Which is better in quality of teaching--a CC course or an AP course?</p>
<p>Wow, hsmomstef, that was EXACTLY what I was thinking they were going to do, and I was planning on taking complementary AP tests also to show that I did actually learn something in my CC classes.</p>
<p>Thanks for your post :)</p>
<p>cooljoe:</p>
<p>As a general rule, highly selective colleges prefer AP/IB over juco courses bcos a) there is a national standardized test; b) juco classes are generally easier and colleges know that. Thus, if you have the option of AP/IB at your HS, go that route. Juco courses are great for kids in schools with no AP/IB program.</p>
<p>Be VERY careful about earning an AA, and contact each school you might be considering and ask them directly whether you can still apply as a Frosh. For example, the UC's are clear: having that many college units means you MUST apply as a transfer.</p>
<p>windslicer said:
[quote]
Wow, hsmomstef, that was EXACTLY what I was thinking they were going to do
[/quote]
Although common sense might indicate that getting a 2-year degree would be good for college admissions, the world doesn't run on common sense. I urge you to check this out.</p>
<p>The Harvard website on transfers was screwed up. The following is from Yale. It seems like all colleges have the same language.</p>
<p>"If by the end of the current academic year you will have completed less than one year of full-time college study, you should apply through the freshman admissions process. ... If you have received a bachelor's degree (or the equivalent) or if by the end of the current academic year you will have completed more than two full years toward the degree, you are not eligible to transfer to Yale, nor may you apply through the freshman admission process. (You may not voluntarily relinquish credits in order to qualify for consideration.)"</p>
<p>I contacted Sally Rubenstone last year on CC and she provided a quite detailed response on the AP versus comm college question. To summarize, adcoms view AP courses more favorably than cc courses, even though this may not be fair depending on the quality of the high school and the quality of the cc. In any case, taking the cc courses shows initiative on the part of the applicant and that they are seeking a challenging curriculum.</p>
<p>My own response to this was that the cc course is obviously better. My S's high school was awful and 67% of the AP test-takers were getting either 1's or 2's. The nearby cc is actually quite good and almost all credits can be applied to U of Maryland. So the question was do you wanted to take the course from a high school teacher among high students, or from a doctorate among college students? Still, the AP course appears to have more status among the elite adcoms.</p>