How many of your college students took CC classes prior to....

[brendafromtenn]

going off to college? I have been reading the post of the freshmen coming home from the 1st semester and I was wondering how many of them had experience with CC or dual enrollment classes before they went "off" to college.

 

We have ds who is a Jr, and thinking and praying about his senior year.:D

 

Any thoughts or suggestions.....

 

Blessings,

 

Brenda

[Gwen in VA]

Both of my older kids took college classes before going off to college -- one took a class at the local CC and both took two classes from the local 4-year LAC.

 

Benefits I see from doing college classes before heading off to college --

 

1) We were able to coach them -- DO go to the review session even if you think you understand the material, DO go ask the prof questions if you have ANY questions, etc. While you can definitely just tell your kids these obvious pointers, seeing the kids on a daily basis and asking questions while they go through this process for the first time is helpful.

 

2) The kids were able to see first-hand that asking questions is not a sign of stupidity but a sign of caring -- and that the best students asked the most questions -- and that the professors LIKED having students ask questions after class and during office hours! Both my kids went off to college expecting to interact with profs outside of class.

 

3) The obvious one -- having a grade from a college class "proves" to the admissions people at the colleges your kid is applying to that the kid can handle non-Mommy classes, that the kid can actually go out into the "real" world and function.

[cathmom]

Mine did not.

[TravelingChris]

My oldest did not since we were living in Europe, he couldn't drive before 18 and we lived at least 25 minutes away from the base where College (not CC, but regular college) were held. My second is a junior and she took a class as a sophomore. We had problems with administration in this state and we will be trying to get her signed up for more this coming semester. Last semester they were messed up with granting us residence status even though our son is currently listed as an instate resident at the state college down the road.

[Miss Marple]

DS#1 graduated from high school with 35 university credit hours. He is in his sophomore year at university. He feels the experience has served him well in college.

[Tullia]

My son did take one CC course during his last semester in high school, and it was a positive experience for him. I think there are lots of things to consider ranging from meshing work done for the CC class with whatever you're doing at home, as well as the maturity of your student. Then too, there are the CC procedures you'll want to understand fully before committing the time and resources.

 

One thing to consider is that your child may well see a lot of people taking advantage of a "second chance" --at least that's how it is on our CC campus. My son has found that to be a good news/bad news kind of thing. Students who are motivated to do things better after dropping out make positive contributions to class discussions, but former dropouts who are there because someone sought them out and offered funding sometimes don't fit in well. However, those folks usually enroll in the remedial courses so one of the reasons ds did not begin CC as soon as he was eligible was that we wanted to make sure he would be able to meet the prerequisites for enrolling in college level courses.

[Brenda in MA]

My son had 4 courses at the CC prior to away college. He took 2 in the spring and 2 in the fall of his senior year. I would have considered him taking some there his junior year, but the school is a distance away, and he wasn't old enough to drive himself there his junior year.

 

My son says that the CC courses were really important to him in his transition from school at home to college away from home. He enjoyed his interactions with his teachers and classmates, and he gained confidence in being independent. The experience was definitely worth it for him.

 

Brenda

[brendafromtenn]

Our "plan" is to take 2 courses fall of ds's senior year and 2 courses in the spring.

 

We have a CC just 20 minutes up the road, and ds can drive there. Yea!

 

But really struggling about what classes to take. Hmmmm.....still praying about that.....

 

Thanks for all the information!

 

Blessings,

 

Brenda

[Nan in Mass]

First semester of CC (11th grade), my son took drawing and speech. The speech class, because it was all oral reports, was full of students' life stories. Our home environment is very, very sheltered, but travels with a group of people from widely, widely varying backgrounds, so he just found it interesting; however, many homeschoolers might have found the stories eye-openning and distrubing.

-Nan

[Nan in Mass]

This was our experience, too. Mine took two classes each semester in 11th and 12th grade. One thing to consider if you are using the classes to help with college admissions: it is better if your student takes a variety of academic classes his junior year, so their grades show on his transcript when he applies to colleges the fall of his senior year.

-Nan

[K-FL]

In Florida, dual-enrollment is free (homeschoolers must buy the books---ps don't) so we are taking full advantage of it. Short answer--very positive for us.

 

Dd#1 got her AA (62 hrs) by the time she graduated hs. Now she's a U "freshman w/credit" at a private, Christian school in-state. They accepted all her credits cutting her time to probably 2.5 yrs which saves $$$$. She gets to only take her major/minor classes (plus the "must take here" classes) instead of all the pre-reqs. She was still considered a freshman for the scholarships.

 

Dd#2 is taking a full load at the cc now & keeping a 3.87 gpa after 3 semesters of full class loads.

 

They both took the standard stuff (Fresh comp I & II, Speech, 2 maths, 2 science etc) required for the AA so instead of having to take them twice (hs & college) they just took them once. It's esp. great for the Foreign Language requirements. Makes is very easy to get 2-4 yrs of language, plus not have to take it again in college to be able to graduate there.

[April in CA]

Hi Brenda,

My older son took three CIS courses at our local CC during his soph yr of high school. The school policy is to only allow high school students to take one class per semester. I think seniors may take two classes per term, but ds doesn't have time to do any this year. Is your son interested in computers? That (intro to CIS) would be a practical class to take, and it is often a prereq for programming classes (it was for my ds). Given CA's budget fiasco, our CCs are not always allowing highschoolers in just now, so I don't know if ds #2 (10th grade currently) will be able to take any CC course, bit if he can, I am looking at Music Appreciation for him, and possibly the Intro to CIS course. Freshman Comp is not even on the radar for us - there are too many real freshmen not getting in! I would love for ds to continue his Spanish studies at CC, which may be possible if he can test out of Spanish 101. Good luck and happy thinking as you ponder these decisions!

 

One last thing, I am really glad ds 1 took some CC courses. They did help validate his transcript and were impressive to family members who are not so sure about the value of the whole homeschooling thing (extended step-family in Belgium). They were also good for getting ds used to working to an inflexible deadline - professors really don't change due dates because students get sick, etc, unlike me (grin!). Finally, being in a classroom setting with a variety of people helped ds gain some independence and confidence. I think that outside work may have helped him get a summer internship as well.

 

Again, Blessings,

April

[Janet in WA]

Both of our sons participated in our state's dual enrollment program. One son took cc classes during his last two years of high school, and the other took cc classes during just his last year of high school. It was definitely a valuable experience for them (on many levels). No regrets at all.

[Mary in GA]

We don't have a community college, but ds took dual enrollment classes and his freshman yr at a small university before transferring to a large, very competitive university. Definitely made a difference. I think he would've died a quick academic death and immediately lost his HOPE scholarship without prior college class experience!

 

Mary

[Carmen_and_Company]

Taz did 3 semesters of PSEO ( Post Secondary Education Option) during 11th & 12th grade. I think the experience assisted Taz with dealing with instructors/professors, in-class note taking, dealing with deadlines, studying, joining study groups, mid-terms, finals, and having an outside entity grading his work.