Hi, I am a junior in HS who is taking Calculus 2 at local CC.
At the end of the year, I will have taken three CC classes (calc 1, 2, and 3) and my HS gives me an choice to whether to include those courses on my HS transcript.
However, the school does not give weighted GPA boost for CC classes (they changed it recently) and including those will cause my weighted GPA to drop.
In addition, I’ve noticed a few people saying that some colleges don’t give transfer credits if the courses are on HS transcript.
It is not dual enrollment(our school doesn’t have the program), but was recommended by my counselor to take it over AP calculus AB/BC
Taking account of all these problems, would there be any advantage if I include those three classes on my HS transcript?
Thank you and have a great day!
I’m sure someone will provide an example,but I am unaware of any college that requires a CC course to be listed on the HS transcript to get credit. It is infinitely more likely, unless you ultimately attend an in-state public, that you will not get credit regardless. If you have colleges in mind, check their credit policies. You may still want to take the AP Calc BC exam to increase your chances of earning credit for Calc 1 & 2.
Whether you choose to include on your HS transcript or not, you will still need to send the CC transcript to colleges you apply to. Colleges will not care about your weighted GPA, unless it impacts your rank to the point that you no longer qualify for autoadmit, e.g. UT. So really, the choice is yours.
Looks like the OP was asking the opposite question, as in whether putting the courses on the high school transcript decreases the likelihood of transfer credit later.
In any case, colleges that the OP applies to will want all high school and college courses and grades, so it may not matter too much for admission, except for any effects on high-school-determined class rank.
Ahhh, I misread. But the answer would be the same - look at the credit policies for the target colleges.
I’ve also never seen a school that said “we would have given you credit, but since they’re printed on your transcript, you don’t get it”. That wouldn’t make sense.
As I’m sure you will be sending the CC transcript with your application, and putting them on your HS transcript would lower your weighted GPA and , presumably, class rank, it seems to not make sense to do so. I suspect most AO’s are smart enough to figure out and equalize applications, but why take a chance.
Going to CC rather than an available AP course is an interesting recommendation, but that’s a topic for another thread.
If the CC class is used to meet a HS graduation requirement and was listed on the HS transcript, I recall being told the class could not be used for college credit.
Now, I find it hard to believe that target colleges can really track this or care. As others have stated, target colleges will want all transcripts even if CC classes are already listed on HS transcript.
I found out about the concerns that CC can be less rigorous than AP after I enrolled, but I guess I am going to stick with it and prove myself by getting a good score on the AP exam? thank you for your advice!
Since placing classes on HS transcript doesn’t seem to make a difference, I wouldn’t include it after all but try to get a good score on the AP exam. Thank you for your detailed response!
Yes. That was my main concern that it might affect my class rank negatively. But since it won’t affect the admission very much, as you said, I wouldn’t worry about putting it on HS transcript. Thank you for the response!
We struggled with this with my daughter but it was only 1 class. Her senior year she took Calc 3 at a local college. If we left it on her high school transcript it would not be weighted and drop her GPA and thus maybe her class rank. There was also some schools she was looking at who would not accept the credit for if it were on her high school transcript. However, if we left it off her transcript there was some concern the school wouldn’t cover the cost as a dual enrolled class. They didn’t really seem to know how to handle it. But, there was also some issues with it being left off because she would not be earning enough credits that semester so they school wanted to put her in a filler class, sort of an independent study.
In the end we just decided we had no idea what college she would or would not end up at and what they would or would not accept. So we decided not to stress about it. She also decided not to get super hung up on the GPA/class rank issue. She was ranked high but had never chosen classes for that reason. The school was also just confused about how to handle it if we didn’t put it on her high school transcript and we didn’t feel like dealing with it.
Turns out it did impact her class rank. She dropped one or two spots…but was still very high (top 1% - 2%). Since this happened between 1st and 2nd semester we had her counselor write a letter explaining the drop when we sent in her grades to the schools where she had already applied.
In regards to her college accepting the credit, their policy is:
“The college courses, on the official college transcript, must not have been used to meet high school graduation requirements and must not appear on your high school transcript as dual credit.”
So, she is currently taking the equivalent class. BUT, the class is significantly harder than the university where she took it and as a STEM major she’s happy to be getting the stronger foundation.
Which, to be clear on concept, is akin to a pimple on an elephant’s butt, and will have zero impact on college decisions, unless the rank drop puts them outside of an autoadmit window or out of contention for scholarships. Other than those rare instances, it’s more psychological than anything.
100% agree! Truly believe it had no impact on college admissions at all.