My son would have finished both AP Computer Science A & AP Computer Science Principles by end of Junior HS. He likes both and does well. There is no more AP CS class to take, and online college CS course seems limited (may be we have not found the right ones). Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!
Perhaps he may want to self-study (not for credit) https://cs61a.org/ or https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-001-structure-and-interpretation-of-computer-programs-spring-2005/ or some other CS course whose course materials are available on the web.
Depending on what he is interested in he can take some extra online classes in SQL, Data Analytics, visuals etc. or he can try out some projects himself.
Can he take any Dual Enrollment classes at his local Community College?
I would advise that, instead of more classes, he learn some new programming languages and create some apps or games in his spare time. My son is a CS major in college, currently looking for internships, and I see on the job descriptions and applications that most companies want to see what you’ve done outside of the classroom, things that you’ve done from a love of coding. So if your son has run out of classes, he certainly hasn’t run out of programming languages or projects he can start on his own. Obviously, my comments are based on the assumption that your son will want to major in CS in college, although I don’t think you actually said that!
Wow, all unique and awesome perspectives. I love the online option but just need to find the right one, the project idea is great too! Dual Enrollment is bit challenging due to scheduling/off HS but certainly worth looking as well. He’s best at and passionate about computer science and Biology. Interesting combination. Would be nice to find something can best use both talents.
Has he considered biomedical informatics? I know there are some online courses for that but I am not sure of the quality. If he finds it interesting maybe he could focus on learning programming languages that pertain to that…like the R programming language for statistical computing and graphics. Johns Hopkns has a Coursera course for R … might not be too interesting for a high school senior though.
Math is an excellent background to have for CS. My honors math added CS college major son who works in software development self studies a lot for interest. He had no HS CS courses. The caliber of material presented varies widely among colleges (reference- friend who was expected to cover far less in a CS course than at the school she did her CS grad work). I would encourage your son to take AP classes that may mean fewer breadth requirements in a likely college course instead of taking class time for travel to a CC for classes.
Some useful classes to take would be anything related to scripting languages (Perl, Python) or a Data Structures/Analysis or Discrete Math/Logic class.