Greetings, currently I’m a freshman in high school. At my school, students have the opportunity to take community college courses while in high school. I’ve been thinking of taking an introductory astronomy course over the summer. The course doesn’t have any prerequisites and I’ve always had an interest in the subject. I think that I could really benefit from this course since I’m hoping to go into astronomy/physics someday. Any thoughts or advice from someone who took college courses while in hs? Sorry if this is the wrong category. I’m a bit new to the forums.
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Start by double checking with your gc to see what the school procedure is to sign up etc. It is probably easy but you need to go by what your school says. You may need to take a placement test for English and math if it is your first class though that may not be needed it is common. If it is free sometimes funding is there for the summer and sometimes it isn’t.
Since summer courses are often condensed in terms of time they may work through material faster. Consider other summer obligations as well as potential family trips etc to make sure the dates work and you have time to focus. Unless it is remote may sure transportation is not an issue. Often Astronomy requires night time observation outside of day time class hours so make sure if that is a requirement it works as well.
Astronomy sounds like a fun class. I hope it fits your plans and works out. A suggestion for any college class while in high school is to make sure you save the syllabus because when it is time to matriculate some colleges will ask for them. If college credit is a thought just know that some colleges will accept it and some won’t so don’t take it for guaranteed credit. As to how it fits into your high school that is also school specific so talk to your gc or see if your high school program of studies explains it to you.
Thanks for the advice. But I do have one question though. Let’s say a college I’m applying to doesn’t accept the credit, will they still see that I took the class though?
When it is time to apply to any college undergraduate and graduate schools you need to submit a transcript from high school and any college courses you took which you took in high school. (For grad level no high school transcript is needed but still all college classes need a transcript even if taken in high school)
Colleges will see all classes/courses you take in other colleges. For admissions yes they see all classes/grades. As to matriculation which is when you finalize and put money down on a school it isn’t until after matriculation that schools will finalize which courses are accepted and how. Even if you talk to admissions and they tell you that a specific class you took as dual enrollment in high school will not be given credit you are still expected to submit that as part of submitting info on all courses you have taken.
I’m not sure if this answers the question but i hope it helps.
To give you an example my oldest is in college. She sent her high school and dual enrollment transcripts to colleges when she applied. At the college she matriculated at they reviewed her courses then let her know what was accepted an how. She can go online and see an a list of all the the dual enrollment classes and if credits count as an actual required class, count as free electives, or don’t count at all.
You will need to provide the records / transcripts for the college course in any of the following situations:
Applying for frosh admission to colleges: include all high school and college records / transcripts.
Applying for transfer admission to colleges (after enrolling in college after high school graduation): include all college records / transcripts. If you do not have sufficient college work (defined by the college applied to), you may have to include high school records / transcripts.
Applying to graduate or professional school: include all college records / transcripts.
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