Taking Electives at Comm. College in HS

[123med321]

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Hey,
I was wondering if it hurts your application if you take non-BCPM classes at a community college while in HS. I want to just to get some of those stupid classes out of the way like Speech, Sociology, etc., but as a HS student I am not eligible for scholarships, so classes at the university will be very expensive.

Thanks!

 

[indianjatt]

There is no harm whatsoever.

 

[Silverman780]

There no harm at attending a CC at all! There are a couple of HS in some of my lower division classes that will be graduating HS with a transfer degree in hand.

Just double check to make sure they will transfer!

 

[rkaz]

Actually, I will say... it DOES matter.

I am currently a medical student. I took many community college classes when I was in high school over 10 years ago. At that time, I was just taking classes for the heck of it (so that I wasn't bored in the summers). I didn't do very well and got mostly 'B' and 'C' grades at that time.

Ten years later when I was applying to medical school (after finishing my degree at a university, and working on a master's degree even)... I had to report all college grades to the medical schools I was applying to. This even included all the community college courses I had taken from 1996-2000. It really brought down my average GPA significantly and made me less competitive for medical schools... even though it was so long ago.

The bottom line is that it is okay to take community college courses while you are in high school, but be aware that those grades will affect you in the future. If you are a very hard-working student and can get good grades... then you should be absolutely fine. However, if you are just taking classes because you are bored and don't really feel like doing homework, then it can affect you later. So make the decision based on how much you trust yourself as a student to do well. If you are in your early stages of high school (like 9th or 10th grade) then don't bother, as it will be hard for you to gauge your competency in community college courses. But if you are in 11th/12th grade and are taking AP and other advanced courses in high school, then taking a few community college classes may be perfectly fine and a good way to prepare you for college. Good luck!

 

[Tiktaalik]

Don't be so sure about being ineligible for scholarships. Talk to your counselor about dual enrollment first. When you dual-enroll, at least in my state, the school has to pay for your tuition at the college for the classes you take while in high school.

I dual-enrolled, and while I had to pay a little bit because I took my classes at a private school whose tuition exceeded the price the school was obligated to pay, I still got a pretty steep discount.

Granted, this is 6 years back, so things might have changed, but I'm pretty sure it's all still the same. You should look into it.

 

[indianjatt]

Yeah I forgot to mention the part about grades carrying Over. I, myself, was uninformed about that rule and in my Sophomore year of high school I ended up putting my self at a disadvantage by getting 2 B's at a CC. My point in the original post is that taking them is not a bad idea as long as you get A's. You save money and it is easier.

 

[123med321]

thanks for all of the advice!

one last question:
I have taken a few AP tests, CLEP tests, two of those expensive university courses, and I'll be taking a lot of IB classes. Assuming I get decent scores on them, I will have enough credits to graduate in 2.5 years with an average courseload and without summer school. Should I take advantage of this and graduate early in order to save money and time? or should I just keep going for another 1.5 years and take more elective classes?

 

[indianjatt]

If your credits are for non science/pre requisite courses, I would go ahead and take advantage of your opportunities. However, if they are pre-requisite courses I would definitely retake them. Since you'll already have taken some pre-requisite courses, retaking them will give you an easier time with getting As.