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Teen Years (13-18)
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One great way to dress up the college application As the college admissions process has become increasingly more competitive, many teenagers look for creative ways to strengthen their high school resumes. Whether it’s doubling up on AP science classes, traveling to Guatemala to help build an irrigation system or playing on an elite soccer club, activities are carefully selected to help them stand out from the pack. One of the latest strategies in building a college application is taking college courses while still in high school. Many high-school students throughout the country – including those in Orange County – are taking advantage of programs that offer dual credits for high school and college. Coastline Community College, Irvine Valley College and Saddleback College all offer classes on-site at local high schools. These programs are designed so that college credit earned through the program can be transferred to the University of California, California State University and other 4-year institutions. “Motivated students benefit immensely from taking college courses while they’re in high school,” says Linda Carpenter, a veteran English teacher at Edison High School in Huntington Beach. Carpenter teaches community college classes after school through Coastline Community College’s Banking for College program and also offers educational trips abroad that earn college credit for high- school students. She points out that the classes provide students with general education credits for college and expose them to subjects they might want to study in more detail in college. Edison High School sophomore Shannon Carter enrolled in a humanities course in film studies and believes these classes are more satisfying than many others offered in high school. “Students were in the class because they wanted to learn the material, not because they were forced to be there,” she says. “Even though this does look good on college applications, the most important thing is that we learned how a college class might work and it provided us with knowledge about the film industry,” says Carter. High-school students in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District can get a head start on college by attending the Early College High School, the only high school of its kind in Orange County. Students enrolled at the Early College High School attend high-school courses in the morning and college classes in the afternoon, and in doing so, are able to receive both a high-school diploma and an Associate of Arts degree in 5 years. Supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Early College High School is designed to reduce the time and money it takes students to earn postsecondary degrees. According to Kathy Slawson, principal of the Early College High School, one of the major strengths of the school is that counseling is emphasized in the program, helping students to develop goals and interests in specific areas of study. Each student designs and produces a digital portfolio highlighting all their accomplishments for the year. “This is truly a high school redesigned from the bottom up,” says Slawson. “This is the perfect place for students who are very motivated – not only do they receive tremendous academic support and personalized attention, they are given real-life skills that they can take to 4-year universities and later apply to their careers.” There’s no doubt that these types of classes can strengthen a student’s college application. According to Marguerite Bonoush-Hammarth, director of the office of admissions at University of California, Irvine, high- school students who have taken college-level courses demonstrate that they challenged themselves academically, which enhances their profile. “When selecting students for admission, we pay special attention to those who have taken the most rigorous courses in high school, as well as enrichment programs outside of high school,” she says. “We look at everything the student sends us and review the application from cover to cover, and these college courses are just one way students can make their applications stronger.” Carol Daus is a regular contributor to OC Family Magazine. |
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