<p>I'm starting to take free online college courses in Physics and Math due to interest and also because I want something extra to show my interest in a specific area.</p>
<p>Right now I'm in Duke's Introduction to Astronomy course on *************, and in the middle on January I will be starting Caltech's Galaxies and Cosmology course on the same site.</p>
<p>With regards to Math, Ohio State University's Calculus One is starting soon, which I have enrolled in, and a couple months later, Calculus Two will be starting (Not sure if I should defer that to a later date, the Calc 1 course takes a few months to complete).</p>
<p>One other course I have enrolled in is HarvardX's Introduction to Computer Science course. I'm not sure if it has a timeline to it, but it says that there are about 90-180 hours of problem sets on it. Also on EDx, I might try to take an MIT course in Physics, but Electricity and Magnetism seems too difficult, and Classical Mechanics overlaps too much with Duke's Introduction to Astronomy course.</p>
<p>I was wondering how this would look on my application to MIT? I'm pretty sure it will be a positive thing, but how positive? Obviously I would have to do well, including the fact that I need to obtain a certain grade in the Coursera courses for a certificate of achievement.</p>
<p>One other thing. For Coursera, some courses have the option of paying $90 for a chance at gaining some college credit. Would it be enough to simply do well in the course, or does it matter if I pay the extra money to get a more "official" statement of completion?</p>
<p>MOOCs are a great way to expand your education beyond what’s available in your high school, and they’re certainly a good thing in the eyes of MIT admissions. </p>
<p>In general, it’s better to take courses that will provide you with some evidence of completion, although I don’t think it’s necessary to pay money for the chance of college credit. But evidence of completion is definitely preferable – after all, anybody can say he completed a million MOOCs, but it’s good to have evidence if you’ve actually completed the classes.</p>
<p>HarvardX’s Introduction to Computer Science course will stand up if you get an official statement. Isn’t there a way to have it attached to your ID so they know it was actually you who completed the course online? </p>
<p>The problem with MOOCs is that not all of them can prove the identity of the student who completed the work. If you are just interested in learning more and have the time to do it, then do it. But you may not be given the recognition from college admissions that you may expect.</p>
<p>Thanks. I wonder why my original post was moderated. I saw an example of an Honor Code certificate for HarvardX’s CS50X course, and it has a link to verify the student. However, for my Coursera course on Galaxies and Cosmology from Caltech, I may need to pay the $49 for a Signature Track course, as I have no idea if I can verify to universities my completion of free courses on Coursera.</p>
<p>I’m not so sure how much the edX certificate will be worth, though. Coursera’s Signature Track uses keyboard typing patterns and photo recognition and Identification, so completing a paid course there will be fully backed with support, but I don’t know of what edX does for free course takers other than a link verifying completion.</p>
<p>@Lagunal. ID verified certificates are available through Harvard Extension school for $350… I may be wrong, but I’m pretty sure.</p>
<p>This might not be useful for the MOOC subjects you’re considering, but sometimes you can prove you’ve learned the material if you take an AP or CLEP exam in the same subject and post a high score. Check out the list of AP and CLEP exams to see.</p>
<p>Thanks. I’m hoping to study enough CS material to take the Computer Science AP exam, even though my school does not offer the class. That, however, may be the only course I can really take at the moment, as next year I’ll probably be in AP Calculus AB as a senior, which wouldn’t help my applications in the fall and winter, and I don’t know what my school thinks about taking a test twice, or taking something like BC before you even enroll in AB. I might be able to take the Stats exam if I really study hard for it in another area. But I’ll look into CLEP. Obviously, the higher range schools that I am applying to don’t tend to accept CLEP credit, but it would be good to have the proof of knowledge.</p>