<p>I am a part of a program with my home high school and a local community college where I take college classes at a site solely for early college students, and then I come back to my home school and take AP physics. When i graduate high school i will also graduate with my college associates degree. I was wondering if this will help or actually hurt my chances in applying for a four year school?! I have a 3.7 college GPA right now and hope to continue improving on that. If anyone could help me out it would be highly appreciated because I am very worried over this!</p>
<p>Bump</p>
<p>It can help your chance of admission, but it can also complicate the matter of transfer credits. Make sure you contact the schools to which you are applying and determine whether your early college credits will be eligible for transfer or not. Some elite schools will categorically refuse to accept them; others may take them only if you stubbornly negotiate the acceptance after an initial refusal.</p>
<p>In addition, if you have the option of <em>not</em> receiving the AA degree, you should weigh both possibilities. The AA will likely allow/require you to apply as a transfer wherever you apply, whereas without the AA you may be able to apply as a freshman since your credits were taken prior to HS graduation. Again, the authority here is the admissions office in each school to which you apply. </p>
<p>In general, there is more aid available to freshman applicants. You’d spend more time on your baccalaureate degree, but you might come out ahead financially. Also, at many highly selective schools the transfer pool is even <em>more</em> selective than the freshman pool. If you want to pursue undergraduate research, you may find that all the good slots are taken by students who spent the past 2 years building relationships with professors toward that end. All these are things to consider.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, early college programs don’t always do a good job of advising students and families of all of the potential complications that can arise after graduation. However, the fact that you have taken on a more difficult curriculum earlier than most students will help you not only in admissions but in the rest of your college career.</p>
<p>Thank you very much @DreamSchlDropout !! That really helps out, i will talk to my guidance counselor and start talking to some colleges. Although im just a junior, I just wanted to be clear about this, as i had no idea of some of the setbacks when I applied to the program</p>