Do colleges let teenagers 'audit' courses?

[episodic]

My son has had an intense desire to learn more about chemistry this year (9th grade) - would it be worthwhile to see if a community college would let him audit a freshman chem class?

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: episodic
My son has had an intense desire to learn more about chemistry this year (9th grade) - would it be worthwhile to see if a community college would let him audit a freshman chem class?

He can't wait 1 year for AP Chem?

 

[episodic]

They won't let him take that till 11th grade here. . .

 

[RapidSnail]

Originally posted by: episodic
My son has had an intense desire to learn more about chemistry this year (9th grade) - would it be worthwhile to see if a community college would let him audit a freshman chem class?

You could buy him a college level text book. Unless he has trouble teaching himself.

 

[Farang]

Won't the high school let him in a class?

 

[gorcorps]

Maybe, in my school it's all up to the professor to allow audits. If there's not enough room or he's against free education for w/e reason then he can say no.

 

[KevinCU]

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Chemistry/index.htm

 

[l0cke]

At my school, yes.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: KevinCU
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Chemistry/index.htm

I was about to mention online courses.

 

[tasmanian]

Running start?

 

[esun]

He can probably enroll in the chemistry class as a student (I did this throughout high school). If he wants to audit it, though, I'd ask the teacher, since it's ultimately his/her decision.

 

[AreaCode707]

Originally posted by: episodic
My son has had an intense desire to learn more about chemistry this year (9th grade) - would it be worthwhile to see if a community college would let him audit a freshman chem class?

Audit? Depending on the state you're in and the programs in place, he can take it. I did all my high school years in a California community college; took Algebra, Trig, Bio, etc at a high school level and did a slew of college level English, Astronomy, etc. classes. It beat the hell out of high school, that's for sure. I did in a quarter what they did in a year and got better grades, college credit and a transfer into a 4 year school.

 

[AreaCode707]

Originally posted by: tasmanian
Running start?

Washington program only, as far as I know. In CA last I was there you could get in if you had professor signatures, which could be kind of tricky because you had to wait til much of registration was over so you were competing for class seats. If you had a GED-equivalency or CHSPE (California High School Proficiency Exam) you could enroll with the rest of the students.

[Edit] I would recommend talking to the teacher of the class in advance of signing your son up. It would allow you to present some of your son's qualifications as well as guage the teacher's reaction to having a high schooler signed up. I had teachers that were awesome and thought I was brilliant and were more than happy to work with me, and I had teachers that were complete asses, made no secret of the fact they thought I didn't belong in a college class, and one teacher even gave me a low grade (C-) for work that was B+/A- for other students (we were working in teams for field astronomy work and each team hypothetically should have received the same grade for all students) because he hated having to teach a high schooler.

 

[Fenixgoon]

just as an aside - he may also want to check out materials science and engineering. chemistry is what got me into MSE 🙂

 

[zinfamous]

yes. Most colleges should allow as long as he meets whatever admissions standards they have.

Community college especially--all they really want is the cash for the course. Why should they care otherwise?