February 10, 2004
A: FROM MENTOR CHARLENE CASSIDY IN SC
Alicia, good for you for challenging yourself with AP and college prep classes. It is admirable that you want to take some general education classes while you are in high school. I think colleges will view both AP classes and college classes equally, both have merit. Different colleges have different requirements for how many and what transfer credits they will accept from other institutions. Sometimes it is difficult to find out what credits will transfer until you try to do it. If you have a couple of colleges you are interested in, it may not hurt to contact them and see what, if any, transfer credits they accept from the junior college you are planning on attending.

Regarding Junior college being easier than AP classes -- I wouldn't count on it. Remember -- you will get out of a course what you put into it. Regardless of the classes you take you will need to spend time preparing for lecture, doing homework and other assignments and preparing for examinations. College students will be a couple of years older than you and their instructors will expect them to have the maturity to be prepared and do assignments on time without much supervision and reminding. Since you are taking AP courses already, I'm sure that you have the maturity and skills to be successful taking college courses.

Perhaps you want to consider taking one AP courses a semester and one college course -- don't overload yourself. If you have an idea of what you want to major in, choose AP courses that will benefit you in that major -- or choose something that interests you. Also, if your high school does not have a program where you can take college courses during the school day, you will have to take evening classes 2 to 3 nights per week for a couple of hours -- this may impact your ability to keep up with your high school work.
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A: FROM GUEST MENTOR STEPHEN PULTZ, DIRECTOR OF ADMISSIONS AT THE UNI VERSITY OF SAN DIEGO IN CA
Colleges and universities differ in the way they handle college transfer
classes. Some may only accept classes from certain colleges, others may
have limits on the number and type of classes they accept. This can
sometimes be affected by the major you choose - for example some
business programs only accept upper level business and math classes
(classes that are only taught to juniors or seniors in college).

Most colleges do recognize AP courses and many will accept college
credit if you take the AP exam and score at least a 3 (although schools
will require a 4 to get credit). Since many general education programs
include English, math, a foreign language, history, or art, the AP's are
a great way to earn credit in these areas. In addition, most colleges
will look at students who take AP level classes as having challenged
themselves at a higher level than other students. That can help in the
admissions process.

Of course, you want to work with your counselor and teachers to make
sure you can handle the workload of an AP course. It isn't good to
challenge yourself to the point of not doing well.