<p>How much do (community college/ early college) courses boost your application? Taking them complementary with AP courses in high school and other extra-curriculurs.</p>
<p>For example: I'm working about to have 20 college units from taking courses at my local community college and at a program that lets me take classes at my local California State University. I've earned A's and B's. </p>
<p>How beneficial is this to my application.</p>
<p>where im from it hurts the application unless you are applying instate because here its so much easier to get an A in a cc class rather then in the equivalent AP class. </p>
<p>so the only people who go to the cc and do running start are people who usually arent doing well at normal high school</p>
<p>That sucks. I hope your not from california =P. Well im maintaining a great GPA with AP/honors. The community college/ CSU classes are just Political Science and International Relations classes because im interested in majoring in IR in college.</p>
<p>When you have a passion in a particular area and you pursue it with intensity you can boost your application. If your HS doesn’t provide your with the necessary courses, and you take them at a CC then the extra courses may help – moreso by demonstrating your commitment than anything else. Best if there is some result other than grades – such as an independent research project that you’ve done as part of these CC courses, etc. Additional courses at a CC that are measured strictly with grades in my opinion do little to improve your application.</p>
<p>My sense is that the conventional wisdom is to harvest the course/opportunities at you high school before you step outside.</p>
<p>all the classes i have taken are for self-enrichment about our globalized world. 
If by research projects you can include research papers then yes i have done some.</p>