<p>I am a junior in HS and I am planning to graduate this summer so I can enroll in a community college (Montgomery College), and than after a year use the MTAP program to transfer to UMD College Park. The reason I am doing this is because I messed up my gpa REALLY BAD beginning of sophomore year and it dropped from a 3.5 to a 2.9. But since then I have really improved and this year I have maintained a 3.8 unweighted GPA. But it seems to be too late in my opinion, because by my calculations even if I keep this up, my overall GPA will only go up to a 3.3 by the end of 1st semester senior year. I know I can work at a college level because I have taken 4 AP classes and done good on all the exams. Even with all of this my shot at getting into UMD CP straight out of HS seems slim because it is very competitive (average accepted is 3.6 I believe). So this why I think if I graduate early, do good in CC, and than apply to UMD CP I will have a better shot. Also since I graduate early, I will be the same age as the incoming freshmen. Does this seem like a smart route or should I stay in HS?</p>
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<p>High school AP courses are not necessarily the same as college courses, even if they cover the same material to the same depth. To some extent, it depends on which ones – many cover a semester’s worth of college course material over a year in high school, and some are not considered to be worth any subject credit at many colleges. Also, college courses will have less hand holding and will expect you to be more self-motivated to go to class, read the book, and otherwise learn the material.</p>
<p>I have taken AP World History, AP Language and Composition, AP Goverment (NSL), and AP Programming. AP World seemed to me to be close to what people say college is like. The teacher even told us he wanted to prepare us for college, so we had to take notes while he lectured and showed power points. The amount of material we had to learn was insane so I had to do A LOT of studying and note taking at home from the college text book and we only had 1-2 Unit Tests a quarter with a few essay’s that made up most of our grades. I have gotten A’s so far in all my AP classes. And most people say CC is not as hard as universities, but that it’s more like HS, especially freshmen year so I’m not too worried.</p>
<p><a href=“The University of Maryland | A Preeminent Public Research University”>The University of Maryland | A Preeminent Public Research University; indicates that each of these AP courses is considered equivalent to at most a one semester course at UMD.</p>
<p>CC courses often emulate the courses at the state universities (they have to in order for the universities to accept them for transfer credit, particularly in specific prerequisites to various majors), so they will be more like courses at the universities than at the high schools, although the social scene at a CC may be more like a high school.</p>
<p>However, college students normally take about four or five courses at a time, rather than six or seven courses at a time that one takes in high school.</p>
<p>What does your own guidance counselor say about these two options? Most of the MCPS counselors can tell their students exactly what GPA and test scores were needed for UM-CP last year. I expect thatthe counselors at the private schools would as well.</p>
<p>Happykid graduated from WJ, spent two years at MC, and now is at Towson. We know students who were successful following the plan you propose, and others who transferred into UM-CP without MTAP. To my mind, the critical issue is if you are fed up with high school or not. If you are, go to MC next fall. If you still have interesting things to do in HS (club, sports team, Forensic Science class, whatever), stay in HS.</p>
<p>Applications are free at MC until March 1. You could apply now, take the Accuplacer if required, and have a couple meetings with the counselors there before you commit to early HS graduation.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>