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Here is a bit of advice about community college classes...


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This is garnered from several recent threads.

 

If you are taking community college classes for college/university application purposes, take them in 11th grade. Colleges, especially if you apply early action, will not see the grades for the ones taken in 12th grade.

 

Not all community college classes will transfer to the 4-year college/university. In fact, the university may refuse to take any of them. If they do transfer, they may only transfer as electives, not as required courses for one's major.

 

Many colleges/universities that will accept the transfer classes still consider the student a freshman/first year student if the community college classes were taken while still in high school. That means test scores and high school transcripts will still be part of the university application. It also means the student is still eligable for freshman/first year scholarships.

 

The reverse is also true. Some colleges that accept transfer credits from community college will consider the incoming student a transfer student rather than a freshman/first year student. This might make it harder to get into some colleges because some colleges only accept a few transfer students every year. This also might disqualify the student from the freshman/first year scholarships and financial aid packages.

 

Keep the syllabus and the course description from any community college classes. You many need to show these to the 4-year college/university in order to get the classes to transfer.

 

Be sure to be aquainted with the add/drop/withdraw policy at the community college. That way, if the student finds himself in over his head, he can bail.

 

HTH

Nan

 

ETA: Keep lab notebooks, also. Someone pointed that out farther down in the thread and I thought it was important enough that it should be added to this post.

Edited by Nan in Mass
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Be sure to be aquainted with the add/drop/withdraw policy at the community college. That way, if the student finds himself in over his head, he can bail.

 

 

Check with the college to see what the drop date is and when a course appears on the student's transcript. At my undergrad, I think I had three weeks during which I could drop a class and it wouldn't show up on my transcript. The cc where I teach has courses go on the transcript much earlier and a number of W's wouldn't look good when applying elsewhere.

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Great info!

Some community colleges have a relationship with local universities and offer direct transfer programs- where all classes are guaranteed to transfer - some even offer programs where the student is guaranteed entrance to the 4year university.

It really pays to tour the community colleges when your child is a sophomore to see what types of programs are available!

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Keep the syllabus and the course description from any community college classes. You many need to show these to the 4-year college/university in order to get the classes to transfer.

 

Also, keep lab notebooks for any science lab classes for which your student will request transfer credit.

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Great info!

Some community colleges have a relationship with local universities and offer direct transfer programs- where all classes are guaranteed to transfer - some even offer programs where the student is guaranteed entrance to the 4year university.

It really pays to tour the community colleges when your child is a sophomore to see what types of programs are available!

 

This is what my hubby and I did. We both got straight A's in CC, but when we transferred to the college that we had an agreement with, we found that we were quite ill prepared. Our English teacher told us to drop English 201 and start over with 101. We had to do some serious catching up for math and science. This was from a very highly rated CC. That is why I won't even consider CC for my serious college bound students.

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And a financial tip ~

 

When your child is enrolled full time in college in their freshman year, you are able to claim all (college) tuition paid that year on your taxes (not just that paid since they began as a matriculated college student). So, you would be able to claim any tuition payments paid in January through June of their senior year of high school.

 

ETA: Save receipts for textbooks for the that same time frame.

 

Regards,

Kareni

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Here in TN there have been great efforts statewide to elevate the level/quality of CC courses to make them equivalent to those taken at a state university. Many (most ?) community colleges have agreements with state universities that make transfer "seamless". Lots of students in TN take the basic courses at CC to save money and then transfer to a state university.

 

A friend in another state said the cc system there is "glorified high school" and many credits do not transfer to the state university system.

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Here in TN there have been great efforts statewide to elevate the level/quality of CC courses to make them equivalent to those taken at a state university. Many (most ?) community colleges have agreements with state universities that make transfer "seamless". Lots of students in TN take the basic courses at CC to save money and then transfer to a state university.

 

A friend in another state said the cc system there is "glorified high school" and many credits do not transfer to the state university system.

Since 2004 in TN all of the 2yr and 4yr TN Board of Regent institutions require 41hrs of general education requirements in specific categories. These general ed requirements transfer as follows:

 

Students who complete blocks of subject categories will have satisfied the general education requirements for the categories of note. For example, if the eight (8) semester hours of natural sciences are completed, then this block of the general education requirement is fulfilled upon transfer to an institution within the Tennessee Board of Regents System. When a subject category is incomplete, a course by-course evaluation will be conducted, and the student will be subject to specific requirements of the receiving institution.

 

In general we have been pleased with the math classes except that now so much of the class is online. We found a fabulous US history prof. She always showed up, followed her syllabus, and graded exactly as stated on the syllabus. She was passionate about her subject, shared that passion with the class, and gave the students all the tools they needed to be successful if they chose to use them.

 

The rest of the classes have been hit and miss. Some required less than I would ask of a middle schooler. Other profs have required so much and/ or graded with venom. Some profs have barely followed anything on their own syllabus. Some classes we were unsure of the grade until it posted, because we had no idea how individual assignments were weighted. However, I just sort of told my boys that this is the way it will be anywhere so suck it up.

 

Neither of my big boys ended up at a TN Board of Regent 4yr college, so some credits transfered and some did not. Regardless of whether or not the classes transfered, the cc was a good stepping stone outside of what can in this area of the country be a pretty sheltered homeschool bubble.

 

Mandy

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Just my "usual" beware to any who might be heading to med school after finishing undergrad... it's well known that most med schools frown upon pre-req courses taken at cc, so don't take those there (Bio, Chem, Org Chem especially - sometimes Calc). Save them for the 4 year school. It's perfectly ok to take other gen ed courses at a cc. Taking the pre-reqs at a cc is considered trying to take the "easy" way out of tough 4 year classes and the med schools don't like to see future applicants trying to make anything "easy" since med school, itself, is difficult. They want to know they feel up to taking the challenge.

 

If taking dual enrolled classes, know that all cc courses will still count on your med school GPA. Make sure you do well - very well. And still shy away from Bio, Chem, Org Chem, etc.

 

Don't get too distracted by stories of people who started at cc, finished undergrad, and opted for med school later in life. For them, cc is often allowed (because they made up their mind later, after other things). For those who know they want (or think they might want) med school, the unwritten "rules" are different.

 

Don't be swayed by those who say they did it 15+ years ago either. The competition is fiercer now... so nicks on the application can matter more.

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Just my "usual" beware to any who might be heading to med school after finishing undergrad... it's well known that most med schools frown upon pre-req courses taken at cc, so don't take those there (Bio, Chem, Org Chem especially - sometimes Calc). Save them for the 4 year school. It's perfectly ok to take other gen ed courses at a cc. Taking the pre-reqs at a cc is considered trying to take the "easy" way out of tough 4 year classes and the med schools don't like to see future applicants trying to make anything "easy" since med school, itself, is difficult. They want to know they feel up to taking the challenge.

 

If taking dual enrolled classes, know that all cc courses will still count on your med school GPA. Make sure you do well - very well. And still shy away from Bio, Chem, Org Chem, etc.

 

Don't get too distracted by stories of people who started at cc, finished undergrad, and opted for med school later in life. For them, cc is often allowed (because they made up their mind later, after other things). For those who know they want (or think they might want) med school, the unwritten "rules" are different.

 

Don't be swayed by those who say they did it 15+ years ago either. The competition is fiercer now... so nicks on the application can matter more.

 

I'll also add a buyer beware clause for other STEM degrees. DD is in chemistry and some of her friends are in engineering and physics...none of them could successfully transfer a community college class in math, science, or technology. Some managed to get College Writing to count as well as a token history or foreign language class here and there, but that was it. The STEM departments are pretty stringent about this stuff! Some of them had 60 credits of CC and ended up getting to count 9! SERIOUSLY be careful. California, due to heavy regulation of CC's for content and rigor, do a LOT better about transferring cc credits into uni's and there may be other states that are better as well. But, if you are in Michigan, watch out. It's not pretty and that's even if the admin's tell you differently. Just as soon as your kid applies to a specific major, the rug can be pulled out from underneath them. Friends have witnessed a little more leniency in humanities majors than the sciences.

 

Faith

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I am going to have to disagree with much of what has been said here. My dh is a chemistry teacher at a community college. Most of his students are engineering or pre-med students. I also took many cc classes. I easily got into Duke as a transfer student with cc credits and a high GPA. I couldn't afford tuition, though. :glare: My dh has not had students with problems even transferring to UofI for pre-med/bio or engineering with cc courses or an AS from his school. He still talks to many of his students and in our experience, cc classes in high school (he also teaches dual credit) or early college do NOT keep you out of good schools! He has many students come down to take Organic Chem with him in the summer while they are home from U of I or SIU because too many of those classes are taught by TAs or people with accents they can't understand (nothing against that-my favorite Bio professor at University was Romanian, but some are hard for students without experience with different accents).

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Thanks for sharing, Nan. Wise advice indeed. I am :bigear: re cc topics these days.

 

Ds is not doing the cc route to shorten his university experience. We don't care if his senior year cc courses transfer to uni. He wants to build his transcript and show he can handle college material so he can have a better chance at admission to one of his dream schools. He will probably start over and do the calc sequence and sciences at uni.

 

The freshman year math-science death-march may be slightly less brutal by taking tough cc courses as a senior.

 

(Yes, I know some here claim that cc courses aren't as good as uni. For what we need, it will be sufficient.)

 

:bigear:

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...The freshman year math-science death-march may be slightly less brutal by taking tough cc courses as a senior...

 

Yup. This is a major reason we are doing cc classes. It is unlikely to shorten his stay at his 4-year university. hopefully it will lighten the load a little by getting some humanities electives out of the way. It will give him some grades and verification of his mummy transcript. But mostly and especially, it will teach him how to manage multiple math/science classes at the same time. I hope.

 

Nan

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I am going to have to disagree with much of what has been said here. My dh is a chemistry teacher at a community college. Most of his students are engineering or pre-med students. I also took many cc classes. I easily got into Duke as a transfer student with cc credits and a high GPA. I couldn't afford tuition, though. :glare: My dh has not had students with problems even transferring to UofI for pre-med/bio or engineering with cc courses or an AS from his school. He still talks to many of his students and in our experience, cc classes in high school (he also teaches dual credit) or early college do NOT keep you out of good schools! He has many students come down to take Organic Chem with him in the summer while they are home from U of I or SIU because too many of those classes are taught by TAs or people with accents they can't understand (nothing against that-my favorite Bio professor at University was Romanian, but some are hard for students without experience with different accents).

 

If there's one thing I've learned from the Hive, it's that all ccs aren't equal even if they are all called cc. Some of us live near ccs that don't even offer Calc 1 (or might offer one section of it if you catch it right). Others of us live near ccs where they offer the whole Calc sequence.

 

My suggestion to anyone considering cc for anything other than dual enrollment (for which it's good for hs students to have at least a course or two to confirm mommy grades and show our students can handle a classroom even if the credits won't transfer) is to check with people who have been there and done that FROM that cc (and recently). If people have successfully transferred credit, transferred into a 4 year you like, and/or made it all the way into med school at a med school you'd like, then it's a possible path to take. If it's all available "in theory" but no one has actually done it, I'd worry. If people report not being able to get what they thought they would be able to get, I'd really worry.

 

Look for been there, done that.

 

As for my "beware" thread above, my info comes from med school admissions people (not undergrad admissions). They never said having cc pre-reqs was an automatic rejection. They said it would be a nick against a student on their app and a large nick if they thought the student was doing it to take the "easy" route to get to med school. It's entirely possible they know which ccs aren't necessarily the easy route. It's also entirely possible that certain med schools like kids from certain paths (especially state med schools which are more stats based than holistic). NOT going the cc route is the common advice on college confidential's pre-med thread too, but it doesn't mean it would never work.

 

If you look for the been there, done that (recently) - taking the exact path (including which med schools you're interested in) - successful students (not just on paper), then you're probably ok. I'd be seeing if I could contact the students (via e-mail or whatever) to ensure they were happy with their path. The majority should be happy to share.

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Ds is not doing the cc route to shorten his university experience. We don't care if his senior year cc courses transfer to uni. He wants to build his transcript and show he can handle college material so he can have a better chance at admission to one of his dream schools.

 

 

 

This was us too - except my guy never had specific dream schools. He just had schools he liked and would have been willing to go to any of them. Having cc courses (and letters of recommendation from profs) was undoubtedly helpful. Oldest had his English course transfer (but said if he'd taken the class at the 4 year school it would have been more rigorous). Middle is unlikely to have any credits transfer. I'm ok either way (though in hindsight would have preferred my oldest have the more rigorous course - just because).

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If there's one thing I've learned from the Hive, it's that all ccs aren't equal even if they are all called cc. Some of us live near ccs that don't even offer Calc 1 (or might offer one section of it if you catch it right). Others of us live near ccs where they offer the whole Calc sequence.

 

My suggestion to anyone considering cc for anything other than dual enrollment (for which it's good for hs students to have at least a course or two to confirm mommy grades and show our students can handle a classroom even if the credits won't transfer) is to check with people who have been there and done that FROM that cc (and recently). If people have successfully transferred credit, transferred into a 4 year you like, and/or made it all the way into med school at a med school you'd like, then it's a possible path to take. If it's all available "in theory" but no one has actually done it, I'd worry. If people report not being able to get what they thought they would be able to get, I'd really worry.

 

Look for been there, done that.

 

As for my "beware" thread above, my info comes from med school admissions people (not undergrad admissions). They never said having cc pre-reqs was an automatic rejection. They said it would be a nick against a student on their app and a large nick if they thought the student was doing it to take the "easy" route to get to med school. It's entirely possible they know which ccs aren't necessarily the easy route. It's also entirely possible that certain med schools like kids from certain paths (especially state med schools which are more stats based than holistic). NOT going the cc route is the common advice on college confidential's pre-med thread too, but it doesn't mean it would never work.

 

If you look for the been there, done that (recently) - taking the exact path (including which med schools you're interested in) - successful students (not just on paper), then you're probably ok. I'd be seeing if I could contact the students (via e-mail or whatever) to ensure they were happy with their path. The majority should be happy to share.

 

 

The bolded. All CC's are not created equal and many states do not regulate them one.little.bit. So, you have to check each one out individually and you have to find out the transfer policy for each and every college/uni your student may attempt to transfer to.

 

I qualified my statement by saying MICHIGAN is tough. I didn't say that all states were like that and clearly identified California as one of the much better states for CC's.

 

Our local CC only offers business accounting courses, algebra 1, and remedial math for mathematics classes. Their reputation for anatomy and physiology and other science classes is so poor that I know of only two regional, barely ranked colleges in this state that will accept their credits. The tier 1's and 2's here do not accept from this particular chain of cc's.

 

It's all about doing the research. Some areas will be fine, some not so much. As for pre-med, I know for a fact that Creekland is correct. We have this from the horse's mouth, so to speak, of the U of M Med school as well as Wayne State Uni - when it actually comes to applying to med school, any classes taken at CC and transferred into the uni for undergrad - meaning that the prerequisites were not ALL completed at a four-year institution - is a HUGE nic against the applicant.

 

I also spoke on May 12th with a college scout from MIT and according to him, in most cases, planning to transfer cc credits to MIT is a major nic against the applicant. I would imagine some public institutions do not have issues. So again, do the research. It could be could be fine or it not so much depending on the institution being applied to.

 

Faith

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This is what my hubby and I did. We both got straight A's in CC, but when we transferred to the college that we had an agreement with, we found that we were quite ill prepared. Our English teacher told us to drop English 201 and start over with 101. We had to do some serious catching up for math and science. This was from a very highly rated CC. That is why I won't even consider CC for my serious college bound students.

 

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. I think things have changed a lot in recent years though -

Many CCs not only have general agreement programs with local univerisites, many have a 2+2 program in engineering specifically. All of those classes are designed to be equal in rigor to the classes in the university that the students will be transferring to.

 

My oldest went to cc and transferred to NCSU he had no trouble at all. and NCSU is a very good school with a strong science/engineering focus and can be a bit difficult to get into as a freshman.

My niece transferred to University of Houston and was able to tackle classes like microbiology, organic chem, etc... with no issues. She felt well prepared.

 

Like someone previously posted, many of the teachers are people who have taught at the university level and many of the classes *have* to be equal in rigor in order to transfer. A dear friend of mine was talking to me about how when she taught english at a major 4 yr university she was a grad student with very little experience, but when she retired and taught at a cc she had 25 yrs of teaching experience under her belt!

 

The UNC Alumni magazine had an article a few years ago about really liking cc transfers because they are usually motivated to succeed!

All of this to say that it really pays to check out each community college and see how rigorous their programs are and how successful their transfer tend to be. You can even talk to someone at the university your child might transfer to and discuss with them how well prepared cc transfers seem to be.

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...I also spoke on May 12th with a college scout from MIT and according to him, in most cases, planning to transfer cc credits to MIT is a major nic against the applicant. I would imagine some public institutions do not have issues. So again, do the research. It could be could be fine or it not so much depending on the institution being applied to.

 

Faith

 

And how does one tell the schools where one is applying that one does not care if the courses transfer?

 

We don't care, and this is something that I have been wondering about...

 

Nan

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Two more things (much less generally applicable and true)...

 

We were told by an admissions person that for application purposes, grades for 3 academic classes would demonstrate ability to do college-level work. Three, not one. Math, Science, English, Social Studies, or Foreign Language, not How-to-use-your-computer or Photography. I'm not saying those aren't useful classes or that they wouldn't help to fulfill things like humanities electives or basic requirements if they transfered. I am just saying that this particular admissions person said that they would not be helpful for demonstrating that the student had the skills to handle college classes. (The advice was advice for applications without AP and SAT2 testing.)

 

My other tip is even more subjective. If you have a brightish student and you are trying to use community college classes to hone their time management and study skills, you might need to tell your student he or she must get A's. It was entirely possible, in many cc classes (at least at my cc), for a brightish student to get at least C's just by going to every lecture and doing all the homework assignments and occasionally reading the textbook and memorizing a few formulas - and not ever actually studying. In some classes, he still will be able to not-study, but at least if he is trying for A's, in some he probably will, at least at my cc. (I alwasy felt that sending them to cc was rather risky. It could work out well - teach time management and study skills, give them a better teacher for the things I can't (or don't want) to teach well, give them access to laboratories and class discussions, let them expand their world. Or it could work out badly - teach them they don't have to work, teach them to be snobs or scare them into not going to college (depending on the class level), infect them with the general student apathy, burn them out prematurely, and put some bad grades on their permanent record. Telling my youngest he had to get A's was one way to avoid some of the risks.)

 

Nan

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Great info!

Some community colleges have a relationship with local universities and offer direct transfer programs- where all classes are guaranteed to transfer - some even offer programs where the student is guaranteed entrance to the 4year university.

It really pays to tour the community colleges when your child is a sophomore to see what types of programs are available!

 

:iagree: this has been our experience...As well as hefty transfer scholarships for Dean's list kids.

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Ds is not doing the cc route to shorten his university experience.

 

Exactly. Community college has been a way to finish high school and to demonstrate ability outside of mommy classes. If the credits transfer and count towards any general ed requirements, that will be a bonus.

 

There are other benefits to taking community college classes that haven't been mentioned here yet, benefits that have nothing to do with education or college credit. Having my ds at community college has helped me let go of the need to be in charge of every minutia of his education. I didn't choose his courses or register for him -- he did it all on his own with some input from me. He had to figure out how to study and prepare for final exams, to keep track of assignments, to approach the professor with questions or issues. That first semester was tough as I fought to keep my mouth shut and let him sink or swim, but he figured it out and I didn't sever my tongue from biting it so hard. ;) Most important is that by letting go our relationship transitioned nicely back to mother/son, instead of staying stuck in the mode of homeschool nag and reluctant, sulky teen.

 

I've gotten used to having an empty house for chunks of the day, and have started living my post homeschooling life. I've spent lots of quality time in the car with him going to and from classes, especially coming home after classes when he is bubbling with enthusiasm over the day's lectures. I've watched as he discovered a love and talent for math, listened to his disbelief over how apathetic most students are. I got to watch him learn to advocate for himself, whether it was crashing a full chemistry course or asking a professor for a letter of recommendation.

 

His community college experience also changed his 4 year college plans. He originally was going to transfer to a state college, but after experiencing all the effects of state budget cuts, of being one little cog in a sea of anonymous students, he decided a small, personal, liberal arts college would be a better fit. It really has been the perfect finish to his homeschool journey.

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Exactly. Community college has been a way to finish high school and to demonstrate ability outside of mommy classes. If the credits transfer and count towards any general ed requirements, that will be a bonus.

 

There are other benefits to taking community college classes...

 

The most important, the major reason we are using cc classes is to make the transition from homeschooling to college more gradual. (What a horrible sentence lol.) I helped a lot in the beginning with the signing up process and the how-to-do-a-college-class (not with the actual coursework) and very little at the end. I did less tongue biting. And I agree with Jenn - a very nice side effect to cc classes for the youngest has been a gradual transition for me into my new life. Instead of hovering and driving him crazy, I am in the happy situation of saying with genuine enthusiasm, "Oh, you don't need me this morning? Great! Then I am going to go paint." He is working very hard to take care of things himself so I don't have to. This pleases his independent streak, but it is also his gift to me, his way of thanking me for all my hard work on his behalf. I thank him almost every day for this. There are still areas where we are fighting over the steering wheel and areas where I annoy him by double-checking, but there aren't many anymore. My family doesn't like change. Gradual transitions work better than abrupt ones. I am SO grateful to our cc for making this possible.

 

Nan

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Thank you Jenn for mentioning some more of the positives! I don't know why, but cc related threads here tend to take a decided turn to the negative. Some of the concerns are valid, but so are the definite benefits of taking cc classes, especially while in high school. I had seriously considered that I might be doing my dd a disservice by encouraging her to take cc classes after reading many threads here. I had also thought about ditching Saxon math after reading many threads here. Thankfully, I researched more and decided that both were a very good idea for my student. And the key words are "for my student".

 

We each have to think about what's best for our own child and not what's good or bad for the majority. Not only do community colleges vary tremendously in their offerings and standards, so do individual classes, and within those classes, how they're taught and the rigor provided by individual professors. I think that's one thing we've all learned with homeschooling is that the teacher makes all the difference. It's no different in cc classes, or university classes for that matter.

 

I have so many thoughts on this topic, but that's just one I wanted to put out there lest someone think that cc isn't a good option to explore. :)

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Between them, my children have so far taken 14 community college classes. We LOVE them here. However - I often contribute to the negative threads ( : ) or even start them) because some of the assumptions I seem people make here worry me. People often seem to have the impression that ALL cc classes are better than AP classes and especially worrisome, that taking cc classes will ALWAYS shorten the amount of tuition/time spent at the 4-year college/university. Neither of these is true. People also seem to overlook the undeniable fact that community college is SCHOOL, with many of the disadvantages that we seek to avoid when we choose to homeschool. I have posted other places about the advantages of community college classes for my family, huge advantages. I would have had to rethink entirely how we did high school if I hadn't known from the beginning that we were going to use our community college for part of it. It just worries me to see people making wrong assumptions about them. I suspect that some of the negativity is because people are coming smack up against the results of those wrong assumptions.

 

I guess we all should remember that some people are only just beginning to read these threads.

 

Nan

Edited by Nan in Mass
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Nan I'm not saying that the negatives shouldn't be talked about at all. And it's helpful to hear of people's experiences and to warn others. I'm just glad to see that there have been recent contributions giving a more balanced perspective. I haven't just begun to read these threads, I've been reading them for well over a year now. I read many before dd signed up for her first courses, and have since read more. I'm not speaking from the theoretical as I had a year ago before she began cc, now I'm speaking from our experience. As with all homeschool topics, our experience is different from that of others.

 

Since my dd is still in high school, I won't be able to speak from the perspective of someone who has BTDT with regard to how it affected college admissions, credit transfers, or impact on any courses she will take at a 4-year. I think it's often overlooked that even if the student doesn't get any credit for a course taken, that knowledge does not go to waste. If the course is "repeated", the student will be able to grasp it that much better and delve deeper possibly having more time for research projects or having to spend less time on homework and more time on other activities. Other than the view medical schools may take, I don't see a downside. Dd has reassured me she has absolutely no interest in medicine. Then again, we all know how that goes. :lol:

 

Nan, I always appreciate all you share here with regard to your experiences - I learn sooooo much! I thought your opening post was a very good summation of what's been shared recently about cc. I also learn from all the people who share their negative experiences as they can serve as a head up to the rest of us. I'm just glad to see the benefits mentioned too. :)

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Nan I'm not saying that the negatives shouldn't be talked about at all. And it's helpful to hear of people's experiences and to warn others. I'm just glad to see that there have been recent contributions giving a more balanced perspective. I haven't just begun to read these threads' date=' I've been reading them for well over a year now. I read many before dd signed up for her first courses, and have since read more. I'm not speaking from the theoretical as I had a year ago before she began cc, now I'm speaking from our experience. As with all homeschool topics, our experience is different from that of others.

 

Since my dd is still in high school, I won't be able to speak from the perspective of someone who has BTDT with regard to how it affected college admissions, credit transfers, or impact on any courses she will take at a 4-year. I think it's often overlooked that even if the student doesn't get any credit for a course taken, that knowledge does not go to waste. If the course is "repeated", the student will be able to grasp it that much better and delve deeper possibly having more time for research projects or having to spend less time on homework and more time on other activities. Other than the view medical schools may take, I don't see a downside. Dd has reassured me she has absolutely no interest in medicine. Then again, we all know how that goes. :lol:

 

Nan, I always appreciate all you share here with regard to your experiences - I learn sooooo much! I thought your opening post was a very good summation of what's been shared recently about cc. I also learn from all the people who share their negative experiences as they can serve as a head up to the rest of us. I'm just glad to see the benefits mentioned too. :)[/quote']

 

Northern Virginia CC seems to have a pretty good arrangement for transferring from NOVACC with an AA/AS into a good list of state 4yr schools. (I say that based on reading not experience.)

 

What I did think was useful was the checklist for a successful transfer. What especially caught my eye was that starts 4 semesters before the desired transfer date.

 

In general the website seems to have a lot of information.

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Northern Virginia CC seems to have a pretty good arrangement for transferring from NOVACC with an AA/AS into a good list of state 4yr schools. (I say that based on reading not experience.)

 

What I did think was useful was the checklist for a successful transfer. What especially caught my eye was that starts 4 semesters before the desired transfer date.

 

In general the website seems to have a lot of information.

 

Great link! It's definitely handled differently depending on the cc and the state universities. But planning well ahead of time is critical to ensure that the required courses will fit into the schedule. Talking often with an advisor (I wish spellcheck would allow this spelling! :tongue_smilie: ) is our plan.

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This is what my hubby and I did. We both got straight A's in CC, but when we transferred to the college that we had an agreement with, we found that we were quite ill prepared.

 

It's funny how different everyone's experiences are. My hubby and I went to Purdue with STEM majors, and our daughter's CC calculus courses were MUCH tougher than any of ours were. She transferred into U of I as an engineering major and found herself better prepared for upper-level math courses than the math majors there were! I guess it's good advice to ask around locally and find out what your area CCs are like.

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The most important, the major reason we are using cc classes is to make the transition from homeschooling to college more gradual. (What a horrible sentence lol.) I helped a lot in the beginning with the signing up process and the how-to-do-a-college-class (not with the actual coursework) and very little at the end. I did less tongue biting. And I agree with Jenn - a very nice side effect to cc classes for the youngest has been a gradual transition for me into my new life. Instead of hovering and driving him crazy, I am in the happy situation of saying with genuine enthusiasm, "Oh, you don't need me this morning? Great! Then I am going to go paint." He is working very hard to take care of things himself so I don't have to. This pleases his independent streak, but it is also his gift to me, his way of thanking me for all my hard work on his behalf. I thank him almost every day for this. There are still areas where we are fighting over the steering wheel and areas where I annoy him by double-checking, but there aren't many anymore. My family doesn't like change. Gradual transitions work better than abrupt ones. I am SO grateful to our cc for making this possible.

 

Nan

 

:iagree: Very well said, Nan, and my current college son says that taking CC classes was the best thing for helping him transition to his 4-year school. He got used to the classroom environment, and he also learned how to advocate for himself.

 

Brenda

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Oh. Shoot. Went to edit something and now I deleted what I wrote before.

 

Ummmm.... sorry. NOT going to type that all over again.

 

Summary: so far it looks like CC dual-enrollment is going to work out well in the long run for dd. So it can work. You might be surprised to discover a well-respected resource sitting in your backyard. We did.

 

Peace,

Janice

Edited by Janice in NJ
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So do you have any words of wisdom on how to figure out if the CC in your area has a good rep or not?

 

Is this something that you have to just talk to a lot of 4yr uni reps about? I read through one of the transfer agreements with the local system. It seemed like the most transferability was if the student had earned a full AA/AS. I'm a little worried that what was granted with one hand might be pulled away with the other.

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So do you have any words of wisdom on how to figure out if the CC in your area has a good rep or not?

 

Is this something that you have to just talk to a lot of 4yr uni reps about? I read through one of the transfer agreements with the local system. It seemed like the most transferability was if the student had earned a full AA/AS. I'm a little worried that what was granted with one hand might be pulled away with the other.

 

It's not always a matter of whether or not a class will transfer - esp to a state 4 year school - because many schools (again, esp state schools) will transfer a course regardless of how good/bad the class is. They want to "prove" the worth of their cc and they show that by courses transferring. What matters is if the student is well prepared for the next class.

 

The only way I can think of going about doing that is to find people who have been there, done that and asking them how prepared they felt. Can you find someone at the 4 year school who took the class(es) you want to take with the profs you'll have and ask them if they felt well-prepared or not? How easy it is to track someone down could prove difficult... but it would be the best way. The second best (maybe equally as good in some situations) would be asking professors at the 4 year school how prepared they felt students have been. This may be more difficult unless it's common for students to go from one cc to that 4 year (which, for state schools, might be common).

 

If you find a cc where it's common for kids to go from there to college B (and they do well there), I think you'd be safe if you also wanted college B or a similar caliber school.

 

You can try Rate My Professor for ratings, but try to read between the lines to figure out who is actually a good teacher vs an easy teacher. We do that at 4 year schools anyway - to get started. Afterward my guys use word of mouth.

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... As for pre-med, I know for a fact that Creekland is correct. We have this from the horse's mouth, so to speak, of the U of M Med school as well as Wayne State Uni - when it actually comes to applying to med school, any classes taken at CC and transferred into the uni for undergrad - meaning that the prerequisites were not ALL completed at a four-year institution - is a HUGE nic against the applicant.

 

Faith

The transferring in credits I can understand. However, I have also read that any science classes taken at the cc in high school - even if the classes are not transferred to the 4 year school - is also a nic against the medical school applicant.

 

I have not had any success confirming that statement with an official institution. Creekland, Faith, or anyone else, have you received any official confirmation on my bolded statement? (it came from the parents at college confidential)

 

S just completed AP Chem, and I was told months ago that s could perform organic chemistry labs at our local high school next year, only to be told this week, "Sorry, it will not work out."

 

I'm hoping to find a mentor so s can continue with his chemistry studies next year, but it would be a lot easier if I could just sign him up for a cc class. I don't care at all about the cc classes transferring - in fact, the organic chemistry class offered by our cc will not transfer to our local selective private university even if he wanted to transfer the credits. He just wants to continue studying chemistry.

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The transferring in credits I can understand. However, I have also read that any science classes taken at the cc in high school - even if the classes are not transferred to the 4 year school - is also a nic against the medical school applicant.

 

I have not had any success confirming that statement with an official institution. Creekland, Faith, or anyone else, have you received any official confirmation on my bolded statement? (it came from the parents at college confidential)

 

S just completed AP Chem, and I was told months ago that s could perform organic chemistry labs at our local high school next year, only to be told this week, "Sorry, it will not work out."

 

I'm hoping to find a mentor so s can continue with his chemistry studies next year, but it would be a lot easier if I could just sign him up for a cc class. I don't care at all about the cc classes transferring - in fact, the organic chemistry class offered by our cc will not transfer to our local selective private university even if he wanted to transfer the credits. He just wants to continue studying chemistry.

 

Supposedly any college level class taken at any time goes on the application to med school and counts toward the GPA. We haven't reached that far on our journey to know "for sure," but that's what I've been told. I was also told (by pre-med advisers) my son's microbiology cc class is fine, since it's not a pre-req, but to stay away from chem, bio, and org chem. We studied the first two at home at a college level, but opted not to take AP tests (ok with med schools, but not ok to transfer credit, so we opted to save the $$). He's just going to do org chem at his 4 year. It might not matter in the long run, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

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