<p>Are CTY or EPGY[/url</a>] courses really more challenging than cheaper online courses (from [url=<a href="http://highschool.unl.edu%5DIndependent">http://highschool.unl.edu]Independent</a> Study High School, North</a> Dakota Center of Distance Education, or BYU</a>). Will they seem more impressive to college admissions than other online courses or community college courses? Are they worth the money?</p>
<p>Only speaking from experience - my d did online classes but not from any of the places you mentioned. She got excellent references from her teachers and was accepted everywhere she applied, including the top 20 LAC where she’ll start at the end of the month.</p>
<p>I would see what works for your schedule and your pocketbook; what philosophy of education matches your goals; and go from there.</p>
<p>Not being all the college admissions officers, or even ONE admissions officer, I can’t really answer your question. </p>
<p>I would think that for most non-standard classes, it would be very important to have a) good ACT/SAT/SAT II scores and b) good references. My son took mostly community college courses, with some Aleks.com and even just watching Teaching Company videos, and got into all the top schools he applied to (except the one where he was rejected after being waitlisted).</p>
<p>and more importantly, since almost anyone can take courses and bomb them, show that you followed further in a topic and gained from it…if I took online Economics course from EPGY and yet never followed up with it, did not apply to financing oriented school, consider that course a waste.</p>
<p>As with any college preparatory work, the rigor of the course work will be considered and factored in. All A’s are not equal. </p>
<p>I think it is great to hear about students gaining admissions to the schools of their choice. But it is difficult for prospective students to gauge these results if we don’t know the specifics. </p>
<p>It also goes without saying that course work is most certainly evaluated as part of the entire application, including test scores, letters of recommendation, extra curriculars. In the case of Highland Mom, we don’t know what her daughters’ overall application offered; we also don’t know what top 20 LAC her daughter is attending and if that school is in line with what the OP is seeking. Similarly, what school is Geekmom63’s son attending? If she doesn’t mind sharing that information, where was he wait listed? </p>
<p>Perhaps the OP could write directly to the admissions office of the schools he or she is interested in and inquire as to how homeschool preparations are viewed. In my experience, the very highly selective schools will want to see that the student took the most challenging and rigorous courses available to them. Since everything is available to homeschoolers, think hard about your choices. </p>
<p>As for finances, if these are truly an issue, Stanford offers generous financial aid to its EPGY students; just apply. You can work on the EPGY courses at your own pace, and if you can’t afford to keep the tuition payments going, you can take a leave of absence, or work more quickly to complete the course before your funds run out. </p>
<p>There are also free online courses posted on the websites of MIT, Yale, and Harvard. The lectures stream online and the course readings and syllabi are posted. There is no official registration and no grading, however; and no transcript at the end. </p>
<p>Speaking as an academic, I have first hand knowledge of the content and teaching involved in the Stanford courses versus other online course providers (state schools, etc. which I will not mention here by name, but only say they have been mentioned by other posters). The difference is quite noticeable.</p>
<p>^Yeah [Free</a> Online Course Materials | MIT OpenCourseWare](<a href=“http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm]Free”>MIT OpenCourseWare | Free Online Course Materials) is opencourseware from MIT, amazing stuff!! :D</p>
<p>My kids used a combo of self study and and online courses. Of the online courses, the one we used most was PA Homeschoolers. </p>
<p>My son had seven AP scores (all 5s). He also took 4 ap classes his senior year, but did not take any exams because he chose Caltech and they offer no credit. He also got into MIT, UCLA, UCSD and Berkeley. He got turned down by UCSC (no, I am not joking). He did not apply to other schools because Caltech and MIT were ED.</p>
<p>My daughter took 9 APs (a 3, a 4 and 7 - 5s). She is also taking 4 her senior year. She has been accepted at Willamette and Colorado College - both with merit but turned them down. She is also in at St Johns College. She is probably in at Scripps, because she has been invited to the scholarship weekend. She is waiting for Pomona. </p>
<p>Since so many online high courses are AP classes, the exam will be very important to show that you learned the material.</p>
<p>My son took one EPGY class - Physics C (well, I guess it counts as 2). Perfectly good class, but way too expensive for a kid who quickly grasped the material, and needed no help from the tutors.</p>
<p>My daughter took two classes for CTY (Crafting the Essay, and the class that comes next…) Both very good, but she also took classes from Write@Home for about a 1/4 of the price, and I think the teacher comments were much better from <a href=“mailto:Write@Home”>Write@Home</a>. </p>
<p>OCW is great, but uneven. There is a basic problem with liberal arts classes through OCW. You know how in many high school and college courses, you may get hand outs to read, that are xeroxes from copywrite books? That is legal. But, it would not be legal to put a PDF up on a website, so they cannot. Instead they list the book and page numbers. I was looking for a philosophy class for my daughter last year, and finally gave up. Some of them had as many as 10 of these extra books. It would be a logistic nightmare to get them all together.</p>
<p>
He will be attending Harvey Mudd (first choice) this
fall. He was accepted to Caltech, Harvey Mudd (with a bit of merit
$), Colorado School of Mines (with merit $), Rose Hulman (with hefty
merit $), Colorado College (with merit $), Case Western (with hefty
merit $), and Rice. He was waitlisted at WashU.</p>
<p>I guess we’ll never know if he would have gotten into HYPSM cuz he
refused to apply, so Caltech (13% admitted), Rice (22%), Colorado
College (34%), and Harvey Mudd (25%), are the selective schools he
got into. He was thrilled with EA (Not ED) admission to Caltech, Colo
College, and Rose Hulman, which were in a three-way tie for second
place (Mudd having the best combination of the strengths of all).</p>
<p>My son is a sophomore at a public high school. He would like to take philosophy and creative writing at the high school but his french requirement is getting in the way. Does anyone know of a reputable on-line French course he could take for French 4 that would be acceptable to good colleges?</p>
<p>My guess is that if he follows whatever class it is with an SAT II or an AP, he’ll be fine. Would the high school be willing to include whatever you find on his transcript? I know this didn’t answer your question - I don’t know about language courses - but these are still related! :D</p>
<p>BenFranklin:</p>
<p>I home schooled my S from K-12. He is now a freshman at Duke University. He was accepted to the 5 schools where he applied- $$ at several. (locally- U Iowa, Northwestern, Washington University, University of Southern CA, and Duke. (Chose not the apply to the Ivies) He took courses through several online sources including EPGY and PAHS. At least for the courses he took, both EPGY and PAHS were quite rigorous. For the AP course he took through PAHS, he was extremely well prepared for his AP exam and made a 5- the homework required 2-3 hours per day- (AB computer science- no longer offered by College Board). He took an advanced math course (linear algebra) through EPGY in his senior year. This course prepared him quite well for the challenging math coursework at Duke University. </p>
<p>My S also took several online classes through The Potters School (TPS)- English, Latin, and econ. These classes were fantastic! They are live (synchronous) classes with amazing teachers. I believe that the literature study and writing background he received through TPS was key to his score of 800 on the SAT writing. The Latin (he took 4 years through TPS) was again reflected in his verbal score- 780. I cannot say enough about the quality of TPS! FYI- TPS does teach with a Christian worldview. </p>
<p>I think that one of the most important considerations for looking at online courses should be about how well a student handles independent learning, especially for advanced topics. Both PAHS and EPGY required a great deal of self discipline and daily work. It would be quite easy to fall behind otherwise. </p>
<p>Particularly in the case of home schoolers, the universities will be more interested in seeing test scores from AP exams AND SAT IIs. They also like to see a variety of learning situations. My S also had a community college course and a course at small LAC. Universities like to know that a student can learn in a number of environments. The admissions staff will know that the student is a good independent learner when they see the online courses (especially with a corresponding high AP score or SAT II score attached); they will see that the student can work well with others when they see the cc or LAC course (with a teacher’s rec, good grade, possible SAT II, transcript, etc.). </p>
<p>The more ways you have to show you are a good student, the more a university’s admissions committee will want you! They will know that you will be able to do well when they see multiple sources of outside-the-home assessments.</p>
<p>I hope this makes at least a little sense!</p>