Whats better for college admissions?(dual enrollment pathway)

Applying to College
1

Background- My son goes to an Early college HS that is on campus of our local community college.(we are in NC, and he is a rising senior) it is a small public school that doesnt offer alot of HS classes, but those that are offered are all honors classes and curriculum is picked for students until last semester of junior year. All students are enrolled in Associate of Arts degree and they begin taking one college class in 9th grade so that when they graduate HS they will also graduate with an associates degree.
At the beginning of junior year my son asked to be switched to the Associate of Science pathway and now he wants to go to school for computer engineering or electrical engineering with computer focus. His junior year courseload was heavy, for next year(his senior year) he will have a light courseload, one HS class a semester and can only take 2 more college classes, he has enrolled in college calculus2 for fall.

He will have all the requirements to graduate with an associate in science degree this upcoming fall semester. I suggested for his spring semester class to take college physics, since his high school does not offer that class and he has never taken it. However, we just realized that he only needs college ethics for him to also get an associate in Arts. If he takes college ethics, he can not take college physics.

  1. Should he still do physics because he is going into the engineering field? Or would double degrees look better? He is going to apply for questbridge and will be applying to very competitive schools. His GPA 4.0 UW- 4.67 W ACT comp32, but math is 29, because he ran out of time, so he will retake if he doesnt do well on SAT this Aug. He is taking SAT math and bio june 1st.
  2. Will his light senior courseload look negatively on his college app? He has no control of the amount of his HS or college classes and no AP is offered.
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  1. Colleges look at applications in context: his HS will attach a ‘profile’ of how the school works to his application. If he has no choices that should be clear from the profile and the GC LoR.

  2. For engineering a lack of physics is a problem, but note that it is also a negative for a lot of schools- and especially competitive schools. I am genuinely surprised that his GC didn’t point out that most competitive schools expect to see a year each of Bio, Chem & Physics from all applicants (not just science-focused students). The negative of no physics- esp for an engineering / CS applicant- doesn’t come close to being worth a “double AA degree” to AdComms.

  3. What else is he doing with senior year? If he is only “allowed” to take 3 classes he should be using that time for something substantive.

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He doesn’t need an associates in arts as well as one in science. Of course physics is more important for a future engineering major.

4

@collegemom3717

  1. he is restricted on how many college classes he can take in total, since he loaded up junior year, he is only left with 2 his senior year. Most of his classmates still have a full load first semester senior year, light load spring semester.
  2. He has taken 3 years of HS science, environmental/earth, bio, and chem. I was unaware they did not offer HS physics until now-his GC left earlier in the year and they have not replaced her yet- bad move on the school so when i found out thats why i suggested he take college physics. The kids are are currently being advised by the community college advisors, its a mess.
  3. His fall semester is HS english, seminar, and college calculus2, his spring semester is HS humanities, a college class and another seminar. Depending on the times his class ends, he will try to volunteer at an underperforming elementary school.
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@cheddarcheesemn I was thinking the same, but when we seen he only needed one more class for the arts degree, I threw the question out there just in case i was wrong.

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The “very competitive schools” you mentioned prefer Bio/Chem/Physics, as the ‘core sciences’ over Enviro (which relies on all 3 once you get past the generic level). I’m sorry your son’s GC let him down, but it looks like you are picking up the pieces nicely!

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Right, it’s usually phrased as “lab” sciences. Not just any from a sci teacher. And yes, physics is critical. There will be anecdotes, but think of the competition.

Assuming his school does offer rigor, for top colleges, he needs the math-sci ECs, too.

Is he truly prevented from taking more classes or they just won’t count for the hs/aa degree?
Working with little kids won’t be as effective for stem at top colleges as something stem. Can he get a part time internship of some sort for fall? Then the light courseload may make sense.

If the elem school thing is to make up for missed comm service, use this summer for some service.

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@lookingforward he is prevented from taking any more classes.
Helping at the elementary is not making up for anything, a requirement of his school is community service every year, so he is fine on that front. He wants to work with the kids because it is a real need in the community.

9

Ok. Working at an under-resourced elem school is nice. A lot depends on what else. It may not matter as much for in-state publics. I like to see kids cover more bases, rather than fewer.