I hope this okay to ask here, regarding son's first "college" class

[ktgrok]

My son is going to be doing dual enrollment at the local college in the fall. He's only a sophmore, so I don't want to overwhelm him. At the same time, I want to be sure that what classes he does take are recognized elsewhere if possible. This is a state college that used to be a community college. I may just have him take an elective like art or something, to ease into it. But at some point I think doing science classes there and economics would be a good idea. They have the regular Biology, and then a biology for non majors. Is it okay to take the biology for non majors if he has no plans to major in a science? Same with economics, there are the classes I remember, a macro class and a micro class, but there is also an "intro to economics" class for non business majors. Is it okay to take that? Will other colleges likely accept that?

 

I realize I need to look at specific schools to find out, but I can't check EVERY school, so was wondering what people's thoughts were. 

[regentrude]

It REALLY depends on the terminal college.

As a general rule, the higher the level of the terminal college, the pickier they are about what to accept (or whether to accept anything at all).

It also depends on the major. A bio for non majors should be fine; the major may not require any bio at all - but the student may end up wanting to fill his elective slots with something else that is more pertinent to the major.

 

None of these have entered the consideration for us. DD did DE classes which I either could not teach at that level at home (French) or which she was particularly interested in. Her college accepted none of her 30 credits from a 4 year public university.

 

 

[ktgrok]

I'm thinking that no matter where he goes to college, he will need at least once science course? So the idea is to fufill that need in his general ed studies while also meeting his highschool requirements. 

[clementine]

We looked at Transferology to see if colleges of our dd's choice would accept certain credits from her dual-credit college.  Some classes will transfer as a specific class, some will transfer as credits, but not be a replacement for a course, and some will not be accepted as credit for class or elective.  

 

It all depends on the colleges.  

[regentrude]

I'm thinking that no matter where he goes to college, he will need at least once science course? So the idea is to fufill that need in his general ed studies while also meeting his highschool requirements. 

 

Whether this is true would again depend on the school and the major, and, if it were the case, which science courses would be accepted to fulfill this requirement would also depend on the major.

[ktgrok]

thanks all! I'll check tranferology, and I also just checked UCF, which is the school we think is the most likely for him right now, and the biology classe I'm looking at would count but the economics one would not. . Thank you!

[katilac]

thanks all! I'll check tranferology, and I also just checked UCF, which is the school we think is the most likely for him right now, and the biology classe I'm looking at would count but the economics one would not. . Thank you!

 

UCF is on dd's list as well! It's 10 hours away, and they would have to rain money on her (we are OOS), but she will probably apply and see what happens. 

 

Are y'all in Florida? 

[katilac]

We looked at Transferology to see if colleges of our dd's choice would accept certain credits from her dual-credit college.  Some classes will transfer as a specific class, some will transfer as credits, but not be a replacement for a course, and some will not be accepted as credit for class or elective.  

 

It all depends on the colleges.  

 

Transferology would be brilliant if it included any of the schools we are interested in! 

 

:cries: 

[ktgrok]

UCF is on dd's list as well! It's 10 hours away, and they would have to rain money on her (we are OOS), but she will probably apply and see what happens. 

 

Are y'all in Florida? 

 

Yes, we're in the greater Orlando Metro area, about 30-40 minutes away. My sister lives only about 10 minutes away from the campus. 

[Sunshine State Sue]

I can't really answer your question.  I didn't pay too much attention because transferring credits was not my goal for DE.  Many more of ds's 69 CC credits would have transferred had he stayed in-state public or in-state private.  As it was, none of his science credits transferred, the only math that transferred was Calc 1, all of his English, Social Sciences, and Foreign Language transferred.  But, most went towards electives.

 

I wanted to share that we are advised by more experienced hs moms to start dc in either The College Experience or a class that is a strength.  I did both.
 

The College Experience:

This course is designed to strengthen skills essential to success in college, with further applications to post-college plans. Included are study and test-taking strategies; effective interpersonal skills; time management techniques; creative and critical thinking skills; college services and resources; educational policies, procedures, regulations and terminology; and library resources, research strategies, and information skills for online, blended, and traditional learning environments.

 

Good luck!

 

[katilac]

 

I wanted to share that we are advised by more experienced hs moms to start dc in either The College Experience or a class that is a strength.  I did both.

 

 

Oddly enough, DE students are not allowed to take The College Experience at dd's uni, lol. 

[Sunshine State Sue]

Oddly enough, DE students are not allowed to take The College Experience at dd's uni, lol. 

Now what kind of sense does that make?  :confused1:

[Gwen in VA]

Having had courses we expected not to transfer get accepted and having had courses we expected to transfer easily get rejected, my advice is to focus on your son. Whatj class would he like to take at the CC?

 

What class can he not do at home?

What class would he like to take with a prof in a class instead of by himself or at a coop or online?

 

And remember -- any class he takes at the CC is part of his PERMANENT record. Ten years from now if he applies to grad school or med school or whatever, the program will ask for transcripts from ALL of his college classes. So he should only take classes that he feels he will do reasonably well in. A C or a D on his permanent record may cause him discomfort even many years from now.

 

For a first class, I would go for whatever class he is most interested in that looks like a subject he can do really well in.

 

Focus on what class he would benefit most from RIGHT NOW -- and forget the transfer credit thing. Transfer credits sometimes happen, and sometimes they don't, but there are too many unknowns to sweat it right now. Choose the class that he will benefit from most at this point in his educational journey.

 

[ktgrok]

Good advice! So far, the crazy boy has mentioned Philosophy sounding interesting!  originally we thought networking (as in, information technology) but that is an online class and he prefers live classes. So we will see what he thinks. And yes, I've stressed to him that this grade will follow him forever. 

[Tsuga]

My son is going to be doing dual enrollment at the local college in the fall. He's only a sophmore, so I don't want to overwhelm him. At the same time, I want to be sure that what classes he does take are recognized elsewhere if possible. This is a state college that used to be a community college. I may just have him take an elective like art or something, to ease into it. But at some point I think doing science classes there and economics would be a good idea. They have the regular Biology, and then a biology for non majors. Is it okay to take the biology for non majors if he has no plans to major in a science? Same with economics, there are the classes I remember, a macro class and a micro class, but there is also an "intro to economics" class for non business majors. Is it okay to take that? Will other colleges likely accept that?

 

I realize I need to look at specific schools to find out, but I can't check EVERY school, so was wondering what people's thoughts were. 

 

You're in Florida. They have a very structured system. You need to ask the CC! You are paying them--it is their job to help you. They probably have the following or some equivalent:

 

• A list of requirements to get an AA transfer degree. That's a good start. They may not be courses, but some kind of tag system to indicate which set of courses fulfills a certain requirement.
• A special indication on courses that are eligible for within-state transfer. In our state, that code is an ampersand. If it has an ampersand, you can almost always transfer it. The list is short but the benefits are long. Ask them whether there is a set of such courses and how to identify them. In our state, the "non-majors" courses don't look as competitive when applying to a four-year. I would not advise taking the "for non-majors" courses if possible.
• An advisor to serve your son. Might be awesome, might not. It's worth a shot.
• If you aren't sure which college to ask, choose the flagship. They have the most luxury selecting students and will be most picky. Go with them. In our state, at least, that's your best bet. The other colleges are also selective, but not a**holes about rejecting your credits because they come from a CC. So they would rather transfer you in if you're great, than enjoy the snotty privilege of saying to you, "Oh, sorry, you didn't take the non-major bio? I SEE." (Which our flagship does. They drive me nuts.)

Good luck. Florida's CC system I hear is very organized which has its pros and cons. Try to use it to your advantage.

[mom2att]

He shouldn't have problems getting the credits to transfer if he's staying within the state system. They may not transfer as the credit for which they were earned, but they will at least transfer as an elective. All Florida state schools are set up to accept each other's credits in such a way.

 

My dd took 23 hours DE at our local state college (former community college). All of them transferred as credits when she started at UF. Her gpa did not transfer, which was unfortunate, but Florida considers DE transfer credit and does not count transfer credit in the UF gpa. Not sure about UCF's policy on that.

 

As far as what classes to take, I agree with the above poster to not start with something like philosophy because you never know what you're going to get content-wise. DD's first class was College Algebra and I feel that was a good start. She is a humanities major, so doesn't need advanced math, and by also taking Statistics DE she fulfilled her math requirement before her freshman year which she was very happy about.

 

She also took Spanish and several humanities courses DE--Psychology, Sociology, Economics. In hindsight I wish she had taken some science courses as well, because she needs a total of 4 science courses for her degree it would have been nice to get some of those out of the way.

 

She had a very positive DE experience and Florida's DE system is indeed well-managed, it seems. Especially considering it's free!

[prim*rose]

I'd heard that you should get the full associates degree if you're looking to transfer to a 4-yr after cc; that this is the only way to guarantee your credits would be accepted. Not sure how accurate this is, though.

[G5052]

And remember -- any class he takes at the CC is part of his PERMANENT record. Ten years from now if he applies to grad school or med school or whatever, the program will ask for transcripts from ALL of his college classes. So he should only take classes that he feels he will do reasonably well in. A C or a D on his permanent record may cause him discomfort even many years from now.

 

As a community college professor, I find that about half of my dual enrollment students fail the class.  Usually it's some combination of trouble with the pace, deadlines, or reading. Dual enrollment shouldn't be a "why not" proposition.  You need to think through the whole picture.  

 

I've had homeschooled students stand up in class and argue that learning shouldn't have deadlines and make every excuse from grandma visiting to the their prize goat being in labor for why their work was late or why they should get a make-up on a test.  You need to tell your student that when college comes, deadlines are deadlines.  You need to teach them classroom behavior too -- when to go to the professor privately, and how to ask questions.

 

For my own kids, we do IT and a language first.  That's gone very, very well.  I would be wary of anything in the humanities, especially philosophy, sociology, and psychology.  At the local CC, those are all "hot topic" classes with professors who are very aggressive with an agenda.

 

YMMV though!

[ktgrok]

Well, his strength IS in IT, but the classes in that field all seem to be taught as online classes, and he really wants something on campus. And they don't have his language choice at all, Latin. Those were my first two thoughts as well. Any other ideas as to a good first class?

[Pawz4me]

Youngest DS is in an early college high school program at our community college.  The freshmen are all started off with a sociology class and a health class.  I have no idea if it's because those are supposed to be relatively easy intros to college classes or if it's for scheduling reasons.  DS had no problem with either class.  He's finishing up his sophomore year now and in addition to sociology and health he's had (or is currently enrolled in) two English classes, two Spanish classes, PE and oral communications.

[ktgrok]

Also, our reason for doing dual enrollment is that he could use the classroom experience, and I am hoping that being on campus will give him some incentive as to his studies. And with the cost of college, yes, free classes are a big draw. My thought is that by junior and senior year he will be ready for more advanced classes, but for now I just want him to have a chance to take one class and get used to the system.

[G5052]

Other ideas I've heard locally include PE classes and speech classes.  Our CC used to have a "lifetime fitness" class that was a good one for dual enrollment because they did a diet diary and worked out a personal exercise plan.

[ktgrok]

We cant do dual enrollment for PE, oddly, in Florida. But speech is a good idea. 

[Melissa B]

What are his interests? My eldest took a Beginning Poetry class (something I never really taught at home) her first year and it has become a bit of a passion for her. She tries to squeeze a poetry class into each semester. She also loves the photography classes - they really aren't difficult so long as the student is interested enough to complete all of the projects. My next child is planning to start with a couple of theatre classes as that is her passion. I've heard they aren't hard either, so long as the student shows up all of the time and puts in the required effort up on the stage.

[G5052]

We cant do dual enrollment for PE, oddly, in Florida. But speech is a good idea. 

 

Even stranger, we can do "lifetime fitness" but not yoga or ballroom dancing.  Go figure.

[ktgrok]

His interest is in technology, and so we'd thougtha  networking or linux class but they are all online. 

[creekland]

Just seconding Public Speaking/Speech.  Besides being a good intro to college class, it's also a great class for everyday life, including college/job interviews if those are in his future.

[Jenny in Florida]

My son started with two general education-type courses that fulfilled requirements we had set for his high school diploma and were also likely to transfer, American Government and Freshman Composition. He then threw in one more course just because he was interested, Basic Stagecraft.

[Kareni]

My daughter took a variety of classes at the local community college in 11th and 12th grades while also taking classes at home and at a local resource center for homeschoolers.  We looked at these classes as a way of enriching her studies; we were not expecting them to transfer for credit at whatever four year college she attended.  My daughter's experience was similar to what regentrude mentioned above; none of her credits were accepted at her fairly selective liberal arts college.  But we were not disappointed as that had not been her goal in taking them.

 

 

Well, his strength IS in IT, but the classes in that field all seem to be taught as online classes, and he really wants something on campus. And they don't have his language choice at all, Latin. Those were my first two thoughts as well. Any other ideas as to a good first class?

 

Her first quarter, my daughter took College Algebra, a writing course, and Geology.

 

Second quarter, Trigonometry, a literature course, and Geology.

 

Third quarter, another literature course, another Geology course, and (I think) Archery. 

 

Her first and second quarters she took 13 and 12 hours at the community college and was thus considered a full time student.  However, since she was also taking two AP courses elsewhere, taking a lighter load in her third quarter worked well since it gave her more time for her upcoming AP exams.

 

In 12th grade, my daughter also took three quarters of writing and/or literature.  She did an AP Statistics course elsewhere for math, but she did take a quarter of Environmental Science as well as courses such as Art History and Drawing.  She also did a post-AP year of Latin and a year of Greek at the homescooling resource center.

 

 

I'll go on to add that you know your child best.  My daughter was fully capable of handling challenging community college classes while also taking additional challenging courses elsewhere. 

 

Other posters have made the comment that some professors will have an agenda.  My daughter's writing and literature classes contained content that would make many conservative homeschoolers uncomfortable.  I think that such content is unlikely to be found in math and foreign language classes and, if you're comfortable with evolutionary content, science classes.

 

Regards,

Kareni
 

[quark]

If he plays an instrument, a music course might be fun. We found that students who choose electives like music, photography, art etc. tend to really want to be in the class because they are doing something for interest vs because the course transfers or makes their transcripts look good, and hence, there was a lot more engagement and interest during the class.

 

If it's not a very demanding elective, then he could take 2 courses there -- one in-person elective class, and one online technology class (due to his interest).

[ktgrok]

My daughter took a variety of classes at the local community college in 11th and 12th grades while also taking classes at home and at a local resource center for homeschoolers.  We looked at these classes as a way of enriching her studies; we were not expecting them to transfer for credit at whatever four year college she attended.  My daughter's experience was similar to what regentrude mentioned above; none of her creditswere accepted at her fairly selective liberal arts college.  But we were not disappointed as that had not been her goal in taking them.

 

 

 

Her first quarter, my daughter took College Algebra, a writing course, and Geology.

 

Second quarter, Trigonometry, a literature course, and Geology.

 

Third quarter, another literature course, another Geology course, and (I think) Archery. 

 

Her first and second quarters she took 13 and 12 hours at the community college and was thus considered a full time student.  However, since she was also taking two AP courses elsewhere, taking a lighter load in her third quarter worked well since it gave her more time for her upcoming AP exams.

 

In 12th grade, my daughter also took three quarters of writing and/or literature.  She did an AP Statistics course elsewhere for math, but she did take a quarter of Environmental Science as well as courses such as Art History and Drawing.  She also did a post-AP year of Latin and a year of Greek at the homescooling resource center.

 

 

I'll go on to add that you know your child best.  My daughter was fully capable of handling challenging community college classes while also taking additional challenging courses elsewhere. 

 

Other posters have made the comment that some professors will have an agenda.  My daughter's writing and literature classes contained content that would make many conservative homeschoolers uncomfortable.  I think that such content is unlikely to be found in math and foreign language classes and, if you're comfortable with evolutionary content, science classes.

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

 

thanks for sharing! My son is quite bright and learns quickly, but has ADHD and Aspergers and is lacking in executive function skills. So although he can handle the content, I worry about him handling the deadlines and workload, hence wanting to ease in with one course. Then maybe 2 in the spring, etc. Thankfully, we are not conservative, nor young earth, so those concerns are not a worry. I do want him to take his science there in Sr. year if not before, only because I'll be running out of secular options anyway. 

[Luckymama]

My dd will be starting next year (10th grade) at the university with a course that is both a strength and a strong interest---Arabic. She will most likely add math (calculus progression), another strength, in 11th grade.

[Lawyer&Mom]

My first DE course as a sophomore was Physical Anthropology. Mostly because the advisor recommended the professor. (She was fantastic.). But it also satisfied a breadth requirement for undergrad, and it's an interesting subject that isn't too subjective but at the same time isn't very quantitative. I did the reading, memorized a lot of hominids and had a great experience.

[MariaT]

I think you are smart to choose a subject he would like, and in which he would be successful. How does your CC handle registering for future semesters? At our CC, before the DE student can register for the next semester, he/she has to get a recommendation/approval by the current instructor to continue with classes--every semester. Another CC near here requires DE students to go through the entire registration process every semester. So it makes sense to make sure your DS is going to be successful in each class, because continuing in DE may depend upon it..

 

My DS is a hard-core humanities student. He took Intro to Philosophy as his first DE class, and loved it. We looked at ratemyprofessor.com to make sure he had a good instructor.   It was HARD-- he spent a lot of time with Plato's Republic, the text, before the class started, reading and looking up terms he did not know so that he understood as much as he could before he walked into the classroom. The teacher was phenomenal: he incorporated Socratic circles, shared inquiry and other techniques to get everyone asking questions and discussing everything. He took the time to make sure students understood the material. We found out he has a reputation at the CC as one of their best teachers.

 

I was telling DS about this discussion, and he recommended Intro to Phil because he said it helps the student think about ideas on a higher level, and gives the student a framework for thinking and discussing larger, more complicated concepts. He said the discipline of thinking this way made his paper-writing easier and better. But I would add, make sure the teacher is outstanding! The comments on ratemyprofessor were very helpful, especially the ones that warned that the instructor would ramble on about their own opinions.

 

Also, none of his DE credits will transfer, but he was taking these classes for learning's sake.

 

This is an exciting time! He will get exposed to more and exciting ideas!

Good luck!

[Tsuga]

If your son has executive functioning issues, remember: He can withdraw with full refund up to a certain day. KNOW THAT DAY! Make sure you talk about the class and let him know that if he wants to wait another year or quarter, he can have it.

That way he can try the system and if he senses he's not there yet--it is college after all--he can leave without a ding on his GPA.

 

ETA... my phone's autocorrect only seems to work to auto-mess-up.

[ktgrok]

If your son has executive functioning issues, remember: He can withdraw with full refund up to a certain day. KNOW THAT DAY! Make sure you talk about the class and let him know that of he wants another year or quarter, he can have it.

 

That way he can try the system and if he senses he's not there yet--it is college after all--he can leave without a ding on his GPA.

 

VERY good point. VERY VERY good point.