In high school and getting AA degree

[mamakelly]

There’s a great group on Facebook called CA Homeschool College Seekers. If you aren’t already a member, definitely join. You will be able to get more specific answers to CA colleges. 

[...................]

On 11/15/2018 at 11:49 AM, Beth in SW WA said:

Older dd received AA from CC & WA state diploma simultaneously. She enrolled at UW as a junior at age 18 but opted to double major, add a minor and study abroad. Looking down the road at master's programs currently as she's finishing up senior year. She's in no hurry to leave academia, it would appear. ?

Dd15 is full-time CC and working toward pre-Nursing AA. She will hopefully receive direct-admit to dream BSN program. If not, she'll apply as freshman to many nursing schools and see what happens. She's pursuing BSN and eventually DNP so she's in no hurry as well.

I'm only familiar with the way WA and OR handle CC credits. I do know that east coast schools were not impressed with CC credits a few years ago when older dd was applying. They told us they preferred IB and AP.

Hope that helps ?

 

Yes, out of ten schools, my son applied to three as a transfer (in the state system, they are aware he's applying to the rest as freshman and ok with it) and out of those three he's eyeing the one that offers the most flexibility to draw out the bachelor's - through either study abroad, taking a minor,or double majoring.  So he can take three years to finish instead of two. Two of them also guaranteed that he can stay in freshman housing and attend freshman orientation even though he has transfer status.  

Even with all of that, he's still leaning far away from those schools.  He wants to go in as a freshman, with all the other freshman, and have four years - not two, not three but four just like everyone else.  And in that four years, he might end up double majoring if they accept and transfer over his 60 credits (some private Us will, some won't. ...and yes elite east coast schools such as Columbia and Carnegie Mellon have already told us they won't accept his community college credits.)  

So I am just saying...for us, it's been good, and we are thankful for the community college but if I had a do-over I'd take a less aggressive approach, use the CC that is closer so the commute wouldn't be my 16 year old sitting in rush hour traffic an hour and a half every morning, and not pursue a Transfer as Junior or AA by age 17/18 but just a great experience taking great classes as needed/desired.  

 

 

[...................]

On 11/16/2018 at 12:09 PM, SeaConquest said:

Sacha is a few years away, but if he stays on his current trajectory, he will start DE at the CC in 7th grade (age 12/13). He would have to take the CHPSE to enroll at most of the CCs in our area, due to age restrictions. I haven't found a charter that will let him take the CHPSE at that age and still let him graduate when he is 18, so we will probably have to file a PSA starting when he DEs. He is a STEM kid, but it is really important IMHO for him to have a broad humanities background. So, we have been looking at him completing an AA in Humanities through Foothill College (he can do this online from San Diego), which has a very well-respected humanities program. He will likely take major science classes at the local UC vs the CC (since he has an interest in physics and genetics at present). Neither taking the CHPSE, nor receiving an AA/AS, would automatically exclude him from beginning college as a freshman when he is 18 (whether at a UC or at the selective privates to which I have inquired about it).

I prefer him to DE vs AP online because it is cheaper to DE in CA, and because ASSIST makes it very clear which courses will transfer for credit. Also, the thought of doing upper level science labs at home gives me the heebie jeebies. 

 

Just so you know, Online courses are EXTREMELY Hard to navigate without grades dropping!  It is very very hard to understand, stay connected, know your professor, get help in office hours, etc. etc, talk to professor during office hours, when doing online CC classes.  I really really would encourage you not to go this route.  It is not like doing self paced online courses, or online courses from an excellent homeschool provider.  The community college system is not truly set up for online courses, and the professors often send things through regular email when they're supposed to be uploading to Canvas.  If you're in San Diego taking community college classes at Foothill in Palo Alto, how will your son talk to the teacher during Office Hours?  Office hours are an extremely, extremely important part of college education. That is the time when you get help, tutoring, discuss issues that have come up to block your learning, or apprise teacher of learning challenges or anythign else.  Every single class my son has taken online through community college has had major problems and loopholes that weren't filled in, as well as frustrations just keeping up with something and someone you cannot see.  I would only, ever, use online classes if there is absolutely nothing else available.  It will bring his GPA down.  

[Kassia]

53 minutes ago, Calming Tea said:

 

Just so you know, Online courses are EXTREMELY Hard to navigate without grades dropping!  It is very very hard to understand, stay connected, know your professor, get help in office hours, etc. etc, talk to professor during office hours, when doing online CC classes.  I really really would encourage you not to go this route.  It is not like doing self paced online courses, or online courses from an excellent homeschool provider.  The community college system is not truly set up for online courses, and the professors often send things through regular email when they're supposed to be uploading to Canvas.  If you're in San Diego taking community college classes at Foothill in Palo Alto, how will your son talk to the teacher during Office Hours?  Office hours are an extremely, extremely important part of college education. That is the time when you get help, tutoring, discuss issues that have come up to block your learning, or apprise teacher of learning challenges or anythign else.  Every single class my son has taken online through community college has had major problems and loopholes that weren't filled in, as well as frustrations just keeping up with something and someone you cannot see.  I would only, ever, use online classes if there is absolutely nothing else available.  It will bring his GPA down.  

 

My dd has taken about half of her DE classes online and has had no problems except last summer when her instructor got seriously ill and disappeared for a while.  She prefers online classes because they are more time efficient for her and she can avoid the long drive to/from the CC - especially in the winter when the roads are bad.  The online classes have had no effect on her GPA.  

ETA:  Dd has not needed to use office hours for her online classes.  If she has a question she simply emails the instructor.

Edited November 19, 2018 by Kassia

[SeaConquest]

12 hours ago, Kassia said:

 

My dd has taken about half of her DE classes online and has had no problems except last summer when her instructor got seriously ill and disappeared for a while.  She prefers online classes because they are more time efficient for her and she can avoid the long drive to/from the CC - especially in the winter when the roads are bad.  The online classes have had no effect on her GPA.  

ETA:  Dd has not needed to use office hours for her online classes.  If she has a question she simply emails the instructor.

 

This has been my experience as well. I have taken several online classes at the CCs in CA over the past few years, and they have all been fine. But, I religiously used Rate My Professor to find courses. Also, I very seldom ever went to office hours when I was in school. I still had excellent grades and letters of recommendation for grad school. But, YMMV.

We are only looking at taking humanities GE classes through DE online. The math and science courses would likely be through DE in person at UCSD or SDSU.

Edited November 19, 2018 by SeaConquest

[chiguirre]

The online courses that Trinqueta has taken have office hours by Skype through the CC's own website. She used them for Comp but not for Film Appreciation which was honestly a very straightforward class that didn't need much explanation.

Our CC flooded during Harvey and the bulk of the sections had to be moved to online just to be able to offer them at all. Professors had to learn the ins and outs of online classes quickly and now they are quite good at handling the technology. Most professors still don't have physical office space because the campus is still rebuilding so even in person classes have online office hours via Skype. They've had to make it work in order to stay open so they learned on the fly. Even when the campus completely reopens in January, I'm sure this experience will have made the campus more tech savvy than others in the CC system.