Taking college courses at high school level?

Question

Should an incoming junior in high school take extra math//science classes at a community college to get ahead?

Answer 1

if they have the time...but why not senior year cuz that is closer to college

Answer 2

Well if you think you are able to handle classes at your high school and some at a community college, well then go for it. If you are good at math I think you should. I'am a junior right now and i have Algebra 2 when most of my other friends have Calculus. I'm good at math and i would have liked to take Calculus AB at a community college so for next year, my senior one I would have Calculus BC. In science i suck so i do not care. If you take those classes at a communty college it will probably help you a lot when you arrive at a college and you might not even have to take those classes again. It all depends on you, just make sure you keep those grades up. B's and A's look very good.

Answer 3

There are two schools of thought on this.

1. There is limited time left to be a kid. If you are in high school (or even junior high), the number of summers you have left to do nothing, sleep all day, and hang with friends is declining rapidly. Take the time to be a kid and not worry about getting extra classes in. The clock on your childhood is rapidly running out.

2. You have only a short time to be a kid, so you better start getting ready to be an adult. College is expensive. The more classes you can get out of the way at a cheaper community college, the less your college degree will cost you. Also, if you can get some of the classes out of the way before college, the less pressure on you during your college school years were the heavy workload can get old real quick.

Personally, I wish I had taken the time to take some college courses before I was in college. Talk with your guidence counselor and make a plan.

If you have an idea of what college you want to go to, call them up and talk an/or meet with a councelor or visit the Registrar's office. Find out what classes can be transferred in from your local community college. Usually, the Registrar's office will have a list of classes from various community colleges in the region that they will transfer in. Get the list and begin taking as many as you can. If you can get 2, 4 or 6 classes out of the way, that will help relieve the congested college schedule. Also, it will cost about 1/4th as much as when you take similar classes at a 4 year school. While you are in college, take more classes during the summer. If you are on a free ride, your parents are paying, or don't need to work summers for money, keep going full-time at the community college during the summer. If you have to work during the summer, you can probably still sneak 1 or 2 easier classes in during your off-hours.

If you are early in your HS career, talk with your HS guidence councelor and find out what classes will transfer into your high school. If you work at it, you might be able to get out of high school in 3 years. I would recommend getting classes out of the way to make time for AP classes that will look good on your college applications.

The only thing I would recommend is that if you are taking college level courses at the community college, don't take "core" or important classes too far ahead of time. For example, I went to school to be an Engineer. If I had taken Calculus a year before I needed to use it, I probaly would have forgotten a lot by the time I got to the next class that uses it. Make sure to take the classes that are "important" just before you take the next classes that builds on them.

I can't stress enough, get as many classes out of the way as you can!!! Whether you take HS classes or college level classes at the local community college, make sure to find out if the school will transfer the credits! Keep on top of this so you don't waste your time taking a class that the schools won't take! Don't be afraid to ask the appropriate school!

Good Luck!

Answer 4

YES!

It shows initiative and it'll help sharpen your skills. If you can handle college level work, there is no reason to spin your wheels at the high school level anymore.

Answer 5

hm... depends. is the community college a good college. i don't think it would make a big differenc.e just take ap calsses. cause they arel ike college classes. so yeah.