How to actually take a class at a community college?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

I apologize if this question sounds dumb, but I’m not extremely experienced in this type of thing, so I’m not sure how it works.

I’m currently a junior, and next year I don’t think I’ll have enough room in my schedule to fit all of the classes I want to take. I’m currently planning on taking the following classes:

AP Macro/Micro (one each semester)
AP Literarure
AP Bio or AP Chem
AP German
AP Statistics
a Cappella Choir

2

Sorry, I accidentally hit the “post” button and can’t edit it, so I’ll continue from here.

Next year they’re introducing AP Human Geography at my school, and this is a class I’ve always wanted to take but it hasn’t been available to me. I know it’s mostly an underclassmen class, but I wanted to take it because it interests me and would make senior year more fun. I wanted to potential replace AP Statistics, as I am already taking AP Calc BC, the “highest” math class at my school.

But I’m worried about how top colleges would view not taking math senior year. So I was wondering if I could take a statistics class at my local community college in order to keep math in my curriculum. I’ve seen many people on here talk about taking classes at community college in high school, but I have no clue as to how I would actually go about doing this? How much time would I have to spend at the college and how much would it cost approximately to take a class there? I understand this would vary from college to college, but can I get any estimates? Also, would universities view me any differently from a student who takes math all four years at their high school?

3

I would take math all four years, especially depending on your perspective major.

To take a class at a CC,

  • Get a catalog with the classes offered to make sure it fits into your schedule
  • Submit SAT or ACT scores if required by CC (ask them what they want, if they even want the scores)
  • Sign up for the class

It’s actually pretty simple. You just sign up and pay and go to class.

4

The first place that I’d check would be your school counseling office. Ask them how you can go about getting into community college classes; they’ll be the best ones experienced with your individual area community college.

In my case, the community college application process is done through the school - you tell the school what classes you want, they have to approve it and then the community college enrolls you into the classes. You can only take classes during times that you aren’t in school, obviously, and the cost is only textbooks because my district pays for all community college class costs. Your district may be different, tho.

5

Talk to your guidance counselor. If your school isn’t used to helping their students with this process, then just contact the cc. No one can tell you the exact procedure or cost; that is going to vary. Our school pays tuition only for a small number of dual enrollment classes. Anything else we would have to pay for. You also have to think about transportation and scheduling. It’s also possible that you may have last priority for registration. You don’t have to “spend time” at a college. You go to class, and no one is babysitting you at other times. But you will need to make sure the schedules and calendars are compatible.

Don’t overlook the cost, travel time and inconvenience of attending two schools. Personally, I wouldn’t do it just to take AP human geo.