My second child now wants to apply to USAFA, currently a sophmore. She has an opportunity to transfer to a different high school that only offers honors courses with community college courses. If she stays where she is it would be AP classes. She is unsure what to do and how to be more competitive when it comes to her application. Any thoughts on this?
AP classes or Honors w/Community College Credits?
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Aztec Tiger
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I'm not the expert as others on here, but my experience and opinion is yes. Many, if not all, competitive applicants will have dual AP/honor college credits as a standard part of their application.
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This is how I would ask the question. Will the school to which I apply recognize courses from a community college? That may or may not apply to USAFA. I didn’t look. I’m too old to attend.
In my district, AP and IB outrank honors classes by a whole bunch. In fact, one school I know of designated all non-AP classes as honors classes, regardless of student abilities. If we are all gifted and talented, then none of us are gifted and talented.
In my district, AP and IB outrank honors classes by a whole bunch. In fact, one school I know of designated all non-AP classes as honors classes, regardless of student abilities. If we are all gifted and talented, then none of us are gifted and talented.
I personally would not consider changing schools for the chance that it may make you more competitive. For all you know it may not make your more competitive. FWIW, my son went to our local public HS. Only Honors and AP classes. He received LOAs and appointment offers to both USNA and USMA.
USAFA’s application process is lengthy and cumbersome. USAFA has a process to determine how they will weigh your GPA based on their understanding - provided by the schools counselors providing an overview of the school and types of classes the students have available to them. That is why USAFA will put in the students profile their calculated GPA; which may, or may not, be the same as what was reported.
I believe they do this in an effort to understand circumstances mentioned above - “all on level classes are classified as honors”.
again, I believe, they are trying to streamline, as best they can, the weight of the program and the rigor of the classes each candidate had available to them - as they know not all schools are created equal...
That said -
I think you have to pick the best school for you... and what your ultimate goal is... I agree that academics is only one part of the application review process however important. It is my understanding that USAFA won’t take other college credits anyway - you may be able to test out of taking a class, but you cannot bring a college class with you... at least how I understand it.
USAFA will do its evaluation of the whole person and determine if the rigor shown was actually rigor based on the available options to the student...
Please correct me where I may have misrepresented as this is how I understand it.
I believe they do this in an effort to understand circumstances mentioned above - “all on level classes are classified as honors”.
again, I believe, they are trying to streamline, as best they can, the weight of the program and the rigor of the classes each candidate had available to them - as they know not all schools are created equal...
That said -
I think you have to pick the best school for you... and what your ultimate goal is... I agree that academics is only one part of the application review process however important. It is my understanding that USAFA won’t take other college credits anyway - you may be able to test out of taking a class, but you cannot bring a college class with you... at least how I understand it.
USAFA will do its evaluation of the whole person and determine if the rigor shown was actually rigor based on the available options to the student...
Please correct me where I may have misrepresented as this is how I understand it.
In general
AP vs DE
If your HS provides what you need (e.g., AP Calc AB, AP Chem, AP Physics), I would not move just for CC classes.
AP vs DE
- AP tests are well known nationally and are uniform across the nation
- You can look on any college’s website and see what credit you will get for what scores on the AP tests
- AP Courses are given at your High School
- AP Credit is based on a test you take on one day
- AP courses generally are more spread out...e.g., AP Calc AB = Calc 1 is given over a year, not a semester.
- There are more of a variety of DE courses available at a CC
- DE courses will count as a college GPA…make sure to do well for future Med school/grad school purposes.
- DE Courses may be only available at the CC…how will you get there? How will they overlap with your HS schedule?
- Private and Out of State Colleges may or may not give you credit. They may not give credit for courses taken to fulfill HS requirements. You do not know what credit you can get ahead of time. Make sure to keep a copy of your syllabus to aid in determining credit.
- Public In-state schools will give you credit for DE courses. You may be able to get up to 2 years of credits.
- DE Credit is based on your grades over the semester (including final)
- DE Courses may be more condensed...e.g., Chem 101 is over one semester, not a year.
If your HS provides what you need (e.g., AP Calc AB, AP Chem, AP Physics), I would not move just for CC classes.
lipton_hot_tea
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She can also take AP exams without enrolling in the classes.