College courses to take over the summer during HS?

[Anonymous]

Someone mentioned in another thread of his/her dc taking a college chemistry course over the summer while in HS. Is this common? Are they taken online or at Nova, George Mason? Why would they do this? Because they're not offered at their local HS or to free up an elective? This is actually interesting to me. What are some common courses taken at colleges by HS'er?

[Anonymous]

There is a difference between classes taken as a HS student in conjunction with a community college and just taking classes on your own. Once you take classes at any college outside of dual enrollment you are no longer considered a first time freshman. This can severely impact your ability to get into many four year schools. Proceed with caution.

[Anonymous]

My son took all his college gym requirements while in high school. He also took two psych courses and a drama course. So, electives. Just to get them out of the way.

[Anonymous]

UMD has a summer program for HS students, 3 weeks for 1 college credit class. Will not impact students' admission/eligibility status whatsoever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a difference between classes taken as a HS student in conjunction with a community college and just taking classes on your own. Once you take classes at any college outside of dual enrollment you are no longer considered a first time freshman. This can severely impact your ability to get into many four year schools. Proceed with caution.

This really isn't an issue for college classes taken before high school graduation. No one will force your DC to apply as a transfer. The selective colleges will generally not give credit or advanced standing, but admissions will definitely consider them as meaningful indicators of competency at college level work. Certainly if your DC's highs school doesn't offer courses past the AP level, advanced classes at local colleges can be great (though expensive).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a difference between classes taken as a HS student in conjunction with a community college and just taking classes on your own. Once you take classes at any college outside of dual enrollment you are no longer considered a first time freshman. This can severely impact your ability to get into many four year schools. Proceed with caution.

This really isn't an issue for college classes taken before high school graduation. No one will force your DC to apply as a transfer. The selective colleges will generally not give credit or advanced standing, but admissions will definitely consider them as meaningful indicators of competency at college level work. Certainly if your DC's highs school doesn't offer courses past the AP level, advanced classes at local colleges can be great (though expensive).

This is correct. A number of students at the most selective colleges took college courses in high school. It shows ambition, commitment, passion, and - assuming a good grade -- ability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a difference between classes taken as a HS student in conjunction with a community college and just taking classes on your own. Once you take classes at any college outside of dual enrollment you are no longer considered a first time freshman. This can severely impact your ability to get into many four year schools. Proceed with caution.

Uttter and total bullshit. I'm the poster about the chemistry class. DC had done well in high school chemistry (A) but knew the subject matter (SAT II) chemistry test is unforgiving and hard and that he had giiven given "baby chemistry". So he signed up and both GMU and UVA to enroll as a "nondegree candidate". He had to pass a math test at both to be eligible for the course and his highschool had to send an OK letter and transcript to prove he could do the work. He took a 6 to 8 week chem. class at NOVA. He initially enjoyed it but it quickly because clear that the teacher was just phoning it in and, indeed, her ratemyprofessor scores were abysmal. So my strong suggestion to anyone doing this is to try to pick an excellent professor. DC is now in UVA and four other universities for fall 2016. I'm encouraging him to take more advanced bath and a long paper writing course at GMU this summer.

[Anonymous]

In MoCo you can go to your counselor and get a shortened HS schedule and go to Montgomery college part of the day. AP classes are unnecessarily stressful and pushed for rankings.

My kids took 2 classes in Fall and 2 in Spring of their senior year. The only HS class my children had to take senior year was English.

Also, your child could take that English credit in the summer and graduate early and just start at MOnt. college full time.

Hogan is offering scholarships for kids that graduate early.

[Anonymous]

When my DC was at Langley High School, a number of kids took advanced programs at NOVA - some during the day with special permission but most during the evening and summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a difference between classes taken as a HS student in conjunction with a community college and just taking classes on your own. Once you take classes at any college outside of dual enrollment you are no longer considered a first time freshman. This can severely impact your ability to get into many four year schools. Proceed with caution.

Uttter and total bullshit. I'm the poster about the chemistry class. DC had done well in high school chemistry (A) but knew the subject matter (SAT II) chemistry test is unforgiving and hard and that he had giiven given "baby chemistry". So he signed up and both GMU and UVA to enroll as a "nondegree candidate". He had to pass a math test at both to be eligible for the course and his highschool had to send an OK letter and transcript to prove he could do the work. He took a 6 to 8 week chem. class at NOVA. He initially enjoyed it but it quickly because clear that the teacher was just phoning it in and, indeed, her ratemyprofessor scores were abysmal. So my strong suggestion to anyone doing this is to try to pick an excellent professor. DC is now in UVA and four other universities for fall 2016. I'm encouraging him to take more advanced bath and a long paper writing course at GMU this summer.

So when you take these courses in college as a "nondegree candidate" and you're not getting college credit for them, do the colleges you apply to see the grade you got in them? What if you do poorly in the course? Can you just not tell the colleges about them?

[Anonymous]

nondegree candidate means just that--you're not pursuing a degree. But you still get credit for the course. A transcript will be generated.

Some places will allow you to enroll non-credit. No transcript, no credit awarded. I do this at American,a s they allow their alumni to audit one course per semester at an insanely discounted rate. Again, no credit, but I enjoy the intellectual challenge as well as staying up on my skills and what's going on in their field.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So when you take these courses in college as a "nondegree candidate" and you're not getting college credit for them, do the colleges you apply to see the grade you got in them? What if you do poorly in the course? Can you just not tell the colleges about them?

I took college classes at GWU while in high school because I wanted to learn subject material not available at the high school level. When I applied to college, the public universities wanted the transcript, since they would grant credit and allow me to start as a sophomore. The Ivies took me at my word, but they would not give any credit. If I didn't tell the schools I took the GW classes, they wouldn't know since they weren't on my high school transcript. But, the actual college courses were a lot more challenging than AP classes and it's pointless to do if you aren't really interested in the subject.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a difference between classes taken as a HS student in conjunction with a community college and just taking classes on your own. Once you take classes at any college outside of dual enrollment you are no longer considered a first time freshman. This can severely impact your ability to get into many four year schools. Proceed with caution.

Uttter and total bullshit. I'm the poster about the chemistry class. DC had done well in high school chemistry (A) but knew the subject matter (SAT II) chemistry test is unforgiving and hard and that he had giiven given "baby chemistry". So he signed up and both GMU and UVA to enroll as a "nondegree candidate". He had to pass a math test at both to be eligible for the course and his highschool had to send an OK letter and transcript to prove he could do the work. He took a 6 to 8 week chem. class at NOVA. He initially enjoyed it but it quickly because clear that the teacher was just phoning it in and, indeed, her ratemyprofessor scores were abysmal. So my strong suggestion to anyone doing this is to try to pick an excellent professor. DC is now in UVA and four other universities for fall 2016. I'm encouraging him to take more advanced bath and a long paper writing course at GMU this summer.

So when you take these courses in college as a "nondegree candidate" and you're not getting college credit for them, do the colleges you apply to see the grade you got in them? What if you do poorly in the course? Can you just not tell the colleges about them?

Yes, in our school, the college Chemistry Class at NOVA went right on his transcript as well as the A he received. It was also factored into his GPA to give him a 4.02 on a scale with a top of 4.00. I assume the final destination college will also see the colloege course and may give him partial credit but that wasn't the reason he did it. The AP tests are abetter vehicle for that. As to the "do poorly" question what we did was mark the calendar - first day to drop out and get all money back - and then first day to drop out but not get money back. So if you pick a bummer teacher you need to watch those dates in case you want to dump the class, in which case, there is nothing to tell the college. So a win-win. Believe it or not in my DC's chemistry class there were a lot of UVA and W&M kids who were taking the Nova course not to let it be accepted for their college chemistry requirement but because they wanted to perform well on their UVA and W&M courses so wanted a refresher so as to be familiar with a higher degree of chemistry before they returned to campus and took the actual, graded ones.

[Anonymous]

I took art history and something else that I can't remember over the summer when I was in college. I wouldn't take anything that was required for my major though.

[Anonymous]

I don't see many dual enrollment students who are headed to the really competitive colleges. I don't know how much a NOVA or Montgomery College class impresses admissions officers at the Ivies. On the other hand, classes above the freshman survey level at four year colleges can.