Getting an Early Start In College

Earning college credit…

There are different options for earning college credit available in the Logan City School District.

Concurrent Enrollment

Students can take concurrent enrollment courses offered at the high school, where credit is awarded from a University, and towards High School graduation.  For example students at Logan High can take English 1010, a class that fills a normal schedule spot while at the high school, and earn credit towards high school graduation, as well as earning college level credit towards a post-secondary degree.  These classes are called concurrent enrollment because a student is essentially enrolled in 2 settings at one time, the high school setting and the college setting.  Classes taken for concurrent enrollment normally mirror the college version in length, so if a class is one semester in college it is one semester in high school. 

Advantages to concurrent enrollment (CE) classes are; students are normally taking freshmen level college courses in much smaller classroom settings, students don’t have to take a singular final test that determines their earning credit or not, taking the class in high school is generally much cheaper, and students are exposed to college level material while still in high school. 

One disadvantage is that not all colleges will accept transfer credits from other institutions, for example a student may take a concurrent enrollment class from USU that will not transfer to BYU.  A second disadvantage is that if the student fails the course in high school, they will receive an F on their college transcript as well. Some institutions are also now requiring high school students to pay for admission to their university, and a per credit amount for taking the concurrent enrollment class.

In addition to the various University credits available, Logan High has also partnered with the Bridgerland Applied Technical College (BATC).  The partnership with the BATC allows students to take BATC classes beginning their Junior year of High School.  Classes can be taken from the BATC during high school hours, and in the summer break following their Junior and Senior years of high school.

Advanced placement (AP)

Advanced placement (AP) classes are offered through College Board, a nationwide organization aimed at providing opportunities for high school students preparing for college.  These courses are designed to both educate students in a specific topic, while also providing them an opportunity to earn college credit.  AP classes are generally year-long high school classes with a final exam that determines college credit. 

They differ from concurrent enrollment classes in that earning an A grade during the coursework section doesn’t translate to getting an A grade on a college transcript.  AP college credit comes from a final exam taken at the end of the year-long class, and the amount of credit awarded is decided based on the score from that exam.  College Board has a scoring system of 1-5 for the final exam, but it is the college/university that is being applied for that determines the actual amount of credit awarded based on that 1-5 score. 

Advantages with AP classes are: they go more in depth than concurrent enrollment classes (since they are year-long), there are not college fees associated with them (there is a fee to take the test but it is under $100 currently), AP classes look good on transcripts, AP classes are more rigorous which provides a better college preparation opportunity, AP classes can open the door to scholarships based solely on AP final exam scores, and AP classes are more widely accepted when transferring them as college credit. 

Some disadvantages are: the classes are year-long (students moving in the middle of the year may have complications), if a student has a bad test day and flunks the AP exam they don’t get college credit (they will still get high school credit based on their class grade) and different universities award credit on their own formulas.

An example of how an AP class might work is that a student could earn an A for the Fall semester, and a B for the Spring semester for their high school grades, and then take the AP exam in the Spring and get a 4.  The student would have an A and a B on their high school transcript, and the college would get the AP exam score showing the 4 on it. The college would then award credit or not based on that college’s system.