Hi! I’m currently a junior in high school and the local community college is offering online classes that students can take in high school during their junior and senior years to earn college credit; however; the tuition is a bit pricey for said courses. I’ve already taken AP classes and dual credit courses in the past but i was wondering if a community college 2 year degree would be any use when applying for 4 year universities next year. Thank you so much for your help, I really don’t want to be overloading myself on classes/paying for the courses if they won’t help… Has anyone actually done this? If so, can you please tell me about your experience and if you benefitted from it?
I can tell you this much. My D is a senior in HS and a junior at a local research university (not CC) here in Ohio. This is a state funded program. She is not a degree seeking candidate Since she plans to get her B.A. elsewhere and having an A.S.of A.A. may force her to apply as a transfer student to some colleges. There have been 4 main benefits from full time college classes: rigor, variety of class offerings, proof of college level ability, and advanced standing upon matriculation.
In addition to those benefits, college level writing skills can be valuable when writing admissions essays!
There are a few caveats however. First, professors are expecting you to be organized and self motivated, if you are not mature enough to do that, college is not for you yet. Next, if you are applying to very rigorous universities you may be limited as to how many credits will transfer. Although most colleges will place you in an appropriate class to start in, you will most likely still need to meet distributional requirements. Last thought, the quality of instruction, especially in your major classes will likely be much better at the 4 year college you matriculate to.
Try to consider your CC experience a warm up, have reasonable expectations for its value, and just consider it HS on steroids…
D was accepted to SFS at Georgetown EA still waiting to hear from Yale and Williams RD… But she is a competitive candidate.
One more thought. College classes are usually not weighted for HS GPA so while an AP “A” earns 5 quality points, a college “A” only earns 4. That may keep you from certain HS honors like Valedictorian. I highly doubt any quality university will worry about that. They will love the rigor and unweight your grade ( and everyone else’s too )
Good luck
That’s awesome! I hope she hears back from her other two choices soon… I’ll definitely look into just getting a few credits from CC, as i really dont want to go through the whole process of being a transfer student
@wagncy, check the college(s) you want and make sure your classes transfer before taking a ton of stuff. Like @Singersdad said, a full associates degree could make it so you can’t get the bigger scholarships offered at regular university. That being said, check the unit requirements at the schools you are wanting to go to and see how many college credits make you a transfer student, and take at least one class less than that so you stay under that number. The transfer credit number at the school I’m going to is 24, so I am only taking up to 22 units while dual enrolled and no more so that I don’t go over. But getting some credits in ahead of actually entering college full-time can’t hurt.
Singersdad - I have to disagree with your statement, “the quality of instruction will likely be much better at the 4 year college you matriculate to.” You may actually find BETTER instruction at a Community College since the faculty there is committed to teaching. You will often also have more interaction with the faculty at a CC and find them more available. What a CC student will find different is not really the quality of instruction, but the quality of his/her fellow classmates. Sometimes that can get frustrating for a motivated student. However, sometimes honors courses are available where you would not have that problem. CC’s do vary in quality, so it is important to do a little research.