We are somewhat interested in having D try a computer science class at a local community college this summer. She spoke with her GC who mentioned the forms for dual enrollment.
Her high school has a strong AP/IB program so we are not seeking to bolster her transcript. Our goal is simply to learn something new and find out if she has an aptitude.
What are the pros and cons – and possibilities?
I received one PM (thank you!) about a B ending up in the transcript. Another possibility may be an AdultEd course through the school district. Still thinking!
Pros–allows student to explore potential major, looks good to colleges, credit might help with completing college requirements
Cons–will go on college transcript even if student is not quite ready for college work and flounders, scheduling may result in student not having the same holidays between schools (inconvenient for college visits and family vacations) and/or student having to drop out of ECs, cost and transportation issues, credit may not be accepted by college attended and/or course may not line up with new college’s curriculum resulting in repeating material.
What CS class is it? Like what language/program?
mathyone, OP’s D is planning on taking the course in the summer, so no scheduling conflict with her HS, I shouldn’t think. But perhaps you or someone else can clear something up for me. My D is also looking at taking a summer course at a local CC “for fun”. She is not looking to use it in any way towards college. Are you saying that it will HAVE to be applied to her HS transcript, even if she doesn’t want to use it? Running Start (free dual enrollment) is very popular here, and is arranged through the HS. Many kids use it and our state colleges accept many of the credits, but that’s not what D is planning to do. It will NOT be dual credit.
A class that is not officially taken for dual credit will not automatically be recorded on the HS transcript. You would need to ask at the HS to find out if it can be done if you want it to be there.
But the really important thing to remember is that if the CC class is credit bearing, for the rest of your child’s life, your child will have to get an official copy of that transcript for that one class whenever your child applies for admission to a degree program at an accredited college or university in the US, or for a job that requires official copies of all academic transcripts. This will be a pain in the you-know-what forever. Trust me. I’ve had to do that myself.
If the child wants to take a class “for fun” look for something that is available through the non-credit adult/continuing education division of the CC. Sometimes those courses have one price if taken for college credit, and another if not taken for credit. Make sure your kid takes the non-credit version.
I took community college classes after my sophomore year in high school, instead of working. It built up college credit to save money, and helped my boredom. If she is only taking one class, I wouldn’t worry about the gpa; it doesn’t add to a high school gpa.
You would have to check with your high school on whether dual credit is issued. Our school only gives hs credit for designated dual courses. My understanding is that all college credit courses count for the college GPA, and need to be reported to any entities requesting college transcripts, but perhaps someone else can speak to this since we have not had to deal with this yet.
Thanks all for the comments so far. I’ll try to take a deeper look and post again tomorrow.
@mathyone - Yes. Any college-level course that results in a transcript have to be reported, and official copies of those transcripts need to be provided. That is why I don’t recommend that high school students take credit-bearing classes just to have something to do in the summer. They need to know that that one summer class will produce a piece of paper that they will have to order copies of at multiple times in their lives. Summer classes for credit make more sense for students who are already dual-enrolled or who expect to take classes in the future at that same college/university.
Still awake. It looks like auditing the course may be her best option. According to the community college website, one must pay the full course tuition and complete a particular form to audit a course. She must have the professor’s permission and there must be space available. Dual enrollment is $10 per credit, so significantly cheaper than auditing!
You have to be careful with dual enrollment I think. It’s very easy to automatically assume that because it’s a college course it’s automatically more rigorous, when it isn’t necessarily so. I’ve seen quite a few instances where, for example, someone might take Bio 101, when if they took AP Biology and got a 5, they would have gotten credit for Bio 110. On the other hand, dual enrollment could also be a good way to try something new, or get used to taking college courses actually in a college. So whether or not it’s a good idea depends, both on what’s taught in the class and what other options there are to be exposed to computer science, but also on your daughter’s personality.