<p>MIT recommends one year of high school biology. Would one semester of community college biology be counted as equivalent? The CC class is counted as such by the University of California system and is a course that would transfer to the UC system. The course covered similar material to AP Bio, but probably less of the ecological portion and more of the molecular. The community college is highly-regarded within California, but MIT would likely not know that.</p>
<p>Similar question for history/social studies. If the student takes a 1 semester World History and 1 semester US History at the community college as dual-enrollment instead of the AP courses, would those be counted as equivalent to a year each of high school history? Both are courses that can transfer as UC credit. (Will also take AP US Govt and one or two of the AP Econs, which are all semester-long HS classes, so the 2 year history/social studies recommendation is not borderline.) </p>
<p>My advice would be to go for a full year of those courses.</p>
<p>I attended CalState LA for a while, and a year of calculus there was very similar to a year of calculus in my high school. MIT’s pace is fast - not just amongst high schools, but amongst colleges.</p>
<p>Alternatively: What would you do with the spare time?</p>
<p>Taking Biology at community college over summer allowed him to avoid taking non-honors (really low level) biology as a HS freshman and to take AP Physics B instead that year.</p>
<p>Taking World History this fall as an evening community college class allows him to take AP Chemistry as a sophomore. In addition, AP World History is only offered during periods that conflict with the only times he can take Calculus BC and an Engineering sequence for an academy he is in. There is no honors history option. Non-AP is very low level–essentially no homework completion expected in order to pass. </p>
<p>Thanks for the advice. I understand about the differential rigor of calculus classes. He will take physics/chem, engineering, and math at the high school until he “runs out” (soon except engineering). He has already exhausted the one Computer Science course. Mainly wondering about non-major subjects like biology and history.</p>
<p>I think you might want to email the admissions office to ask if the community college classes count for the recommended courses. Note that they are recommended, not required. My guess is that they are fine.</p>
<p>If I were in your position I would do whatever I could to take more and more challenging courses, and to try to do big, interesting things that you are passionate about outside of school. If taking classes at a community college facilitates that, then I would do it.</p>
<p>If you’re worried about MIT not thinking the community college classes are challenging enough, one option would be to take the community college classes, study a bit on your own with prep books, and then take the AP exams for the subjects in the spring. That will give MIT something concrete to compare to other applicants.</p>
<p>Conflicts and trying to get into other hard courses earlier are good reasons for that sort of schedule. I’d ask the person filling out his secondary school form to make a note of these decisions in there just to let MIT know, but I think you’re fine here.</p>
<p>(But I’m not officially representing MIT - as Lydia said, asking the admissions office will give you more definite advice.)</p>
<p>These are required courses at the high school- I am thinking at least of US History. If the high school accepts the community college courses as satisfying their requirements, that really answers the question. I would expect that MIT has a pretty good handle on the rigor of the various community colleges in California. I agree with @lidusha that taking the AP exams would provide an objective basis of comparison, if you are still worried after contacting admissions. You are spending extra time, ~$50 for the review book, and ~$100 for each exam for this extra insurance, though (and the chance that the student will have a bad day and bomb the exam).</p>
<p>Do the community college courses show up on the high school transcript and count for credits? If so, I would just go with the conversion on the transcript. FWIW, at my high school, a 5 credit hour course at a community college was equivalent to 1 high school credit, which means any one semester class that was only 3 or 4 credit hours wouldn’t quite count for 1 high school credit. I can’t figure out if this is standard or not though.</p>
<p>MIT accepts transfer students including those from community colleges, so I wouldn’t worry too much about rigor, and I would guess that MIT is at least somewhat familiar with community colleges in the US.</p>