<p>I am thinking of taking summer courses at my nearest UW campus. This way, I can live at home and still go to work while I take the class. It is a 2-year school, and definitely not as competitive as UW Madison. However, they offer introductory courses to students and the credits are transferable to Madison. Should I take the summer courses at the 2-year university? The class is the same with number and everything but I'm a little worried about the rigor of the class. If I took a class at a 2-year campus, would the class be less informative as a class at uw-madison? If it was a pre-req for another course, would taking the course at a 2-year school cause me to be ill-prepared for another class at UW-Madison?</p>
<p>Good idea. Go ahead and get some breadth reqs out of the way- the credits do transfer (you have to do the “paperwork”). Check the course syllabus and even email the professor(s) about course content so you know what is/isn’t covered for a course as a prerequisite- you can make up any knowledge deficits on your own with self discipline to be well prepared for the UW course. The student who does all of the work and gets an A at a “lesser” campus will be better prepared than the one who gets a C at UW. Save a course you really want from UW for that campus. Use the local campus to ease the load in Madison.</p>
<p>You’ll be fine. I assume you’re an incoming freshman? The classes you’ll be going into at Madison with your summer classes as the prerequisites aren’t going to be rocket science - they’ll probably be typical sophomore/second semester freshman classes, which while more difficult than 100-level classes, they aren’t that hard. Also, people often take a class and then wait a year or more to take the next level of said class…they do just fine even though they may not remember a lot from the prereq’d class.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about the lack of rigor at anywhere you’d take a summer class. Many people take summer classes at CC’s and it’s fine. They don’t not teach you the things you’d need to know because the school isn’t as rigorous.</p>
<p>If you are an incoming freshman you don’t need to get a head start with college credits (I was thinking of a returning student when I posted above). Use the summer to work and enjoy the last time most of your HS friends will be together. There is a lifetime ahead of you- enjoy the last days of “childhood”. A 3 or 4 credit course now won’t make the difference later but time spent with others can’t be done later. If you don’t know the UW courses you may miss a class you wish you had waited for.</p>