Hello, All,
My DS19 has been accepted to Early College Academy at his high school where he will take college classes through all four years and graduate with both a high school diploma and a two year college Associate Degree in humanities.
I think this is a great opportunity but I am concerned that when he goes to college, he will still be a freshman but his classes will be at the junior/senior level with older students, or that he will be considered a transfer student and be put in different categories and miss the freshman orientations/acclimation to school. This could be good in that students at that level are mature and focused, but I also want to make sure he is in the right place when he goes off to college. We are encouraging all of our kids to get at least a Master’s Degree, so this could help with that as well. I also like that he will be taking college classes over AP classes, which I think are harder in some ways, LOL! One other thing I like about this program is that he will have a “group” right from the start, since he is not particularly interested in athletics, however, I don’t know if that is a good reason to be in the program. We could move him out of the program in sophomore year if we don’t like it. I’m not worried about his ability to get good grades in the program. I’m just not sure if it is good to have so many college credits. It is also an added expense, and while in-state is supposed to take all of his credits as a graduate, they may not actually take all of the classes, and then he will be taking some of these classes all over again.
Does anyone have experience with this type of program OR does anyone have kids who have taken many college classes (more than 3) before graduating high school. Is this a good way to go or should we go back to traditional high school with a few college classes/AP? Thanks for any input!
Hi back…I currently have a son who is a senior at an Early College High School and will be attending OSU in the fall. My understanding is that he applied as an incoming freshman, since he technically doesn’t have his high school diploma yet, and upon receipt of final transcripts credits will transfer and that’s when he will get classified as “junior status”. He has also received merit money and was invited to enroll in the scholars program as an incoming freshman and will still need to take math placement testing like all the rest of the freshman. We did use a credit transfer tool to see how many of his 63 credits will transfer specifically for his degree, 55 will transfer (not sure as to the accuracy) which will cut his total 4 year college time in half and saving Mom some $$$$.
As for the athletics aversion, my son is the same way. He has a group of about 7 young men at the college (3 came from his original high school and 4 from another school in the county) that he does everything with, and as you could imagine it’s like watching a live version of The Big Bang Theory some times…LOL.
Not sure if this helps or not…good luck to your son though!
My daughter is at an early college school, but she is still in the middle school so no direct experience as yet. My sense, however, is that the program is really just replacing AP courses with actual college classes so if your daughter’s program is similar, she will graduate with the equivalent of many college credits. Like students who graduate having taken an abundance of AP classes, however, whether the college she is applying to will accept those credits and whether she will want to use them for placement, requirement exemptions, or graduation acceleration will be up her and that college and, of course, your budget. The idea is that students who have trouble financing four years of college will have a jump start. My daughter, however, is unlikely to graduate college early regardless of how many credits she receives while in high school because she wants four years of a college experience and her academic interests will likely require that as well.
Make sure your child has access to some quality ECs even if no athletics are offered. Colleges will still want to see that and you’ll still want a shot at merit aid for college. Lack of quality ECs is the biggest drawback at our district’s ECHS.
To add on to credit transferring (or not!), at least in Texas (at a residential early college program), public schools will typically take the comparable college credits. Private colleges are more picky, and at most of the private colleges I looked at (including the one I currently attend), they would not take EC credit/took a very, very limited amount of EC credit.
Thank you all! These are great points and I’ve received some feedback on the class of forums as well. I have to do some research and call some colleges based on some of the great points you all have made and see where to go with it.
Thanks again!!!
In general, college courses taken before high school graduation do not disqualify the student from applying as a frosh to college. However, transfer credit (credit units, subject credit, and placement) policy based on college courses taken while in high school does vary (some colleges are very stingy with transfer credit for college courses taken while in high school, or other college courses in general).
With regards to EC activities, if you go the early college high school route and the school doesn’t offer certain activities, don’t forget about other opportunities. My daughter’s school has no music program, for example, but she auditioned for, and was accepted into, the local symphony’s youth orchestra and so has a way to keep up with that interest.
^it’s VERY important to keep EC’s while in “Early College HS”, as it trips several worthy applicants on their way to “meet100% need” colleges. You’d need to check how your child could stay involved with HS clubs (as a 14-year does not belong in some college clubs… unless he’s very advanced and mature… and even then it’d be hard socially as many students in these clubs will be 19 or 20) and what activities at the college would be interesting to him. Good news is that typically colleges have dozens and dozens of clubs, and also that college classes meet less often so there’s more time for extra curricular involvement. Finally, you’ll need to find activities (if not possible on campus or at the HS) that he can do in town, which will require more organization on your part.
There’s also a “sorta” expectation that kids who have been involved for 2-3 years on a college campus shoud be able to find a mentor and an interest, and try their hand at research. However, many juniors don’t have the maturity to do very much (and at first it will not be fascinating work, more like cleaning stuff or making copies or similar).
Finally, there’s the issue of transportation: who will ferry him to the campus, to the HS, etc, does the district offer buses or is there a public bus system?
thanks again everyone for all the helpful information. We had a long talk and decided that the program was not right for my ds. Mainly because hee did not like that it was mostly humanities which did not allow for him to take extra science classes. Also didn’t like that he would be at college his entire senior year, and transportation would be an issue since the hs does not provide busing. ECs did come into the conversation, and he really wants to try new things. We met with the guidance counselor and he picked new classes that he is so excited about, and the counselor actually said he can still start college classes on the High School campus as early as sophomore year, so he is going to choose the ones he likes like English psychology history and maybe computer science. As soon as we left, he was very excited so I know we made the right choice.