<p>Hey guys, so I'm wondering if colleges would see it as acceptable if I took Calculus at a community college instead of at my high school. The reason for this is because I can't get into AP Calc because I only took Precalculus junior year (instead of honors precalc) because I was an idiot and didn't know the prerequisites. If I don't take AP Calc at my school I'll be in Calculus I, which is taught by a teacher who many students complain about, saying she cannot teach, and coupled with a language barrier, makes the subject even harder. The good thing about her however is that she gives a lot of extra credit (but then again so does the ap calc teacher). So I'm wondering if colleges would understand/accept that I took Calculus at a community college, and then switched out Calc I at my school for something like AP Comp Sci or AP Stats. I'm asking my guidance counselor about this as well but I wanted input from peers as well. So would colleges understand/accept this or would they not like that I didn't take AP Calc senior year? I understand that it is completely my fault that I screwed up so please don't berate me for that aspect of this situation.</p>
<p>sorry I forgot to add: I’d also self study for the AP Calc exam. Additionally the AP Calc at my school is AP Calc BC not AB if that makes any difference</p>
<p>You don’t need to take the AP exam if you are taking Calc 1 and 2 at the community college because the credit will transfer. Take calc 1 first semester, calc 2 second semester, which will be the equivalent of BC if you want to match your school curriculum, taking Calc 1 would be the equivalent of AB. Colleges will not look at this negatively. In fact, it might be a positive since you’ll be taking one more class period than what most of your peers take.</p>
<p>Colleges will certainly recognize the fact that you’ve taken calculus at a community college as legitimate, but whether or not they accept it for credit is another matter entirely. Many of the elite schools won’t accept CC or AP credit, but they will allow you to start at a higher level.</p>
<p>@MrMom62 that is a bit of a myth. Most schools do take AP scores of 4 or 5, however they may limit the number of credits they take. Classes such as Calc should transfer, but you are right, there is no guarantee </p>
<p>There’s also the question of if credit is offered, should you take it? This has been dealt with numerous times in various forums, but if GPA is important, especially for pre-professional programs, the advice generally is not to take the credit unless you can get an A on the final of the college course you’re bypassing. Despite the advertising, AP and CC classes are often NOT the same thing as true college courses, and skipping ahead can be detrimental.</p>
<p>One should check out the AP and transfer credit policy for each school as there is no general answer. </p>
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<p>Community colleges are colleges… Probably the big difference between high school courses (including AP) and college courses (including community college) is the general expectation of more student self-motivation with less hand-holding in college.</p>
<p>However, if you are concerned about whether your transfer credit from AP or a previous college represents the same material at the same depth and rigor of the course at your new college, try the old final exams for new college’s course that you may be allowed to skip in order to see if your knowledge matches up to the new college’s expectation.</p>
<p>In college (community college or otherwise), there may be more than one calculus sequence. The version for math, physics, and engineering majors will generally give you the most flexibility later. There may be a less rigorous version for business majors as well.</p>
<p>You are probably correct, but I would also say that there is a big difference between California community colleges and the ones around here, who are just an extension of high school. I’ve known people who’ve taken their first two years at CCs here, then transferred to the state engineering school and they really struggled with the level of math and science at the state engineering school vs. the local CC. As they say, YMMV.</p>
<p>@MrMom62 Where is here?</p>
<p>The Midwest - Flyover Country</p>
<p>Wouldn’t the quality of CCs in different midwest states vary? I.e. your state may have inferior CCs, but some other midwest state may have good CCs.</p>
<p>Anyway, the OP may want to check the transfer credit web pages of colleges that s/he is interested in applying to, in order to see if they accept the calculus courses at the CC as equivalent to their own calculus courses.</p>
<p>Oh for cripe’s sake, get the facts straight about CC @mrmom62. I’m sorry, but I am so over the baloney of constant misrepresentation. I don’t know what your Burning Stump CC is like mr mom, but don’t blanket all CC with your nonsense. I’m sorry, but it’s just so flagrantly wrong. </p>
<p>CC classes can be different in the aspect that if a CC student were to transfer for a university… they would undoubtfully be taking more difficult classes since they already took all of their prerequisite courses at the CC itself…</p>
<p>The UCs transfers are 93-97% from community colleges. That covers nine campuses. The comment was that it was virtually impossible to transfer from a CC to a four year university. In reality, CCs are often an excellent way to GET INTO a four year university. Not all high schools are on the same level either. Of course it’ll be harder. It’s not the point.</p>
<p>I am not tarring all CCs with the same brush, I’m merely pointing out that they are all different, some are great and some mere extensions of HS. How any one CC is in quality, I don’t have the slightest idea, all I’m saying is that a few that I’m familiar with don’t translate very well to a four year engineering school - they may be fine for other courses of study. To assume that all CCs are great is as silly as saying they all suck. It’s why we invented the phrase YMMV.</p>
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Actually, that’s false - it varies but about 50% overall is closer to the mark. UCs also admit from 4-year colleges (OOS then In State). It REALLY differs depending on states. In some states, CC’s primary function is to offer vocational education, for instance.
California is different from other states, too. While some CC have excellent transfer rates where more than 50% transfer to a 4-year university, in many states that percentage is 10-20% students who don’t drop out (and there are no stats there comparing transfers to students who started out at a community college). We do know nationally that only a fraction students who start at a CC with the intention of transferring end up at a 4-year college. For a student who’s URM, lower income, 1st gen, the best bet for graduation is to attend the highest-level college they were admitted to rather than CC, for instance. </p>
<p>There are stats for California community colleges:</p>
<p><a href=“California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office - Data Mart”>California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office - Data Mart;
<p>For transfer velocity, it looks like the following stats may be of interest:</p>
<p><a href=“California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office - Data Mart”>California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office - Data Mart; </p>
<p>Statewide, 39% (50,903 out of 129,091) of the 2007-2008 [url=<a href=“http://datamart.cccco.edu/App_Doc/Transfer%20Cohort%20Methodology.doc]cohort[/url”>http://datamart.cccco.edu/App_Doc/Transfer%20Cohort%20Methodology.doc]cohort[/url</a>] (defined by those who complete 12 units and attempting transfer-level English or math within six year of entry) transferred after six years or less. Yes, six years is a long time, but California community college students are, on average, half-time students (there are about 2.2 million students, but only 1.1 million full time equivalent students). Going further back, 50% (71,610 out of 142,737) of the 2002-2003 cohort transferred after nine years or less (after 40% (57,233 out of 142,737) transferred after six years or less).</p>
<p>Of course, one must be careful with these stats, the same as how one must be careful when comparing graduation rates of four year schools, since the graduation rates tend to track selectivity. Due to community colleges’ intake of weaker students and part timers attending at less than half time, the low six year transfer rate may not be that surprising. Also, the low bar to enter the cohort as defined above may also include some students who are not that motivated to transfer.</p>
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<p>Yes, there are advantages to attending a four year school as a frosh for many students. But that does not mean that starting at a community college is automatically a bad option for many students.</p>