<p>This occurred to me after seeing another thread on something unrelated. When I take a college course, should I send the official description to colleges?</p>
<p>I mean, things like Calculus I, II, III are pretty obvious... but what about things like General Chemistry and General Physics? General Physics is calculus-based and equivalent to both AP Physics C and General Chemistry is the same as AP Chemistry but I realize that colleges wouldn't know this.</p>
<p>So, do I send descriptions or not, and do I send all of them?</p>
<p>No. They are colleges, after all, and they know more than enough about equivalencies. AP Physics and AP Chem are known to be the 101/General courses. Unless you are taking a course with a very bizarre name, or no name at all (Independent Study, for instance), you won’t need a description.</p>
<p>It’s not worth it. You might even be risking yourself looking condescending. They most definitely know what General Chem means. Don’t overcompensate- if they’re confused, they’ll ask you.</p>
<p>What triggered me to ask was a thread that asked, “would a Physics 2401 and 2402 look impressive?” It made me think that colleges wouldn’t always know what you’re talking about.</p>
<p>I’m most worried about physics I guess, because there’s a big difference between calculus-based and algebra-based. Oh, and if it makes any difference I will have taken 17 college courses by the end of senior year (plus APs) and so I was also worried because college courses make up a significant portion of my high school classes.</p>
<p>I would have to disagree, you should always send course descriptions when you take college courses. What colleges title courses varies widely and there are often different levels of particular courses. The description gives a school a better idea of what was covered in the class you took (the example you give for calc vs non-calc based physics is a perfect example). It isn’t condescending and it’s better to send them in and the schools can decide if they want to look at them or not, rather than expecting the school to get back to you to ask for more information. </p>
<p>My D sent in college course descriptions to all of her schools, HYP and more didn’t seem to think that she was condescending to them.</p>
<p>I guess it comes down to what courses they are as to how colleges will see them.
Here they are:</p>
<p>American Government
American Literature I
Calculus I
Calculus II
Calculus III
Differential Equations
Elementary Spanish I
Elementary Spanish II
{Intermediate Spanish I}
General Biology I
General Chemistry I
General Chemistry II
General Physics I
General Physics II
General Psychology
Introduction to Computers
Physical Fitness for Life</p>
<p>So I guess one of the issues is exactly what “General” is and what the Spanish courses actually cover. I’m kind of inclined to go ahead and send them.</p>
<p>I guess it would depend on how long you’d consieder a “course description”.
This seems to be acceptable: “General Physics 1, calculus-based, equivalent to Physics 101 or AP Physics”. But a paragraph-long list of curriculum is a little much. You’re aiming for concise yet descriptive.
The other courses are very self-explanatory, perhaps with the exception of Differential Equations and Physical Fitness for Life.</p>
<p>See, I would think Differential Equations would be self-explanatory, anyone in math would know what that is. But these are admissions people…</p>
<p>I was just going to copy the description out of the book. Perhaps I should include the title (in bold), AP Equivalency (If applicable), and the description out of the book. That way admissions people can read what a course is if they so desire, or just look at the short description.</p>
<p>There is no reason to send out course descriptions of your college classes. It’s overkill, unnecessary, and will probably be filed in the nearest garbage can.</p>
<p>I’m not including it. If they cared, then there would probably be a spot on the Common App for it (notice how they responded when everyone ended up self-reporting AP scores).</p>