If my school doesn't offer many options for AP classes and extracurriculars, what are some things I can do on my own?Answered
I am a rising sophomore with a GPA of 3.85. I go to a small-town school that doesn't have a lot of higher-level classes or extracurriculars. What ways can I study ahead, get some credits, or do some courses?
Also, what are some extracurriculars that I can do by myself?
Any ways that I could help improve my opportunities for college would be appreciated.
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3 answers
If you're interested in taking online courses, some good online resources are khan academy, edX and MIT's opencourseware which are all free. If there are any colleges/community colleges relatively close to you, I'm sure you could also take classes there, especially over the summer. I'm sure you could also find online college courses to take as well that are paid, though I'm not sure how credits might transfer.
Some extracurriculars you can do by yourself are learning to play and instrument or draw if you're an artistic person. If you like to write, you could start a blog and submit essays to competitions and whatnot. If you're into cs, you can learn to code and code apps and all sorts of things. Olympiads are also something you can study by yourself for and there are a lot of different stem olympiads you can do, you would just have to find a way to take the test, either through your school or some other organization.
Hope this was helpful!
Here are 3 practical solutions to take APs or college level courses to improve your course rigor.
1. Enroll in an eDx.org AP course. There are close to 20 AP courses put on by legitimate colleges. Here are a couple examples.
https://www.edx.org/course/ap-english-literature-composition-part-1-stories-2
UC Berkeley has a 3 part - 21 week AP English lit online course which is free.
Univ. of British Columbia has a 6 part AP Psychology course which is about 15-20 weeks as well
https://www.edx.org/course/ap-psychology-course-0-introduction
2. If you have budget, you can enroll in an online HS and take some AP classes but the cost varies immensely from site to site. Pricing can be from $400 to $3000 per AP course.
University of California Scout is the most reasonable about $400 a course.
https://www.ucscout.org/plans/
3. Take a legitimate online college course either at your local community college or through a MOOC like Outlier.org. These will run you about $400-$500 a course and if you get an passing grade you will earn college credits.
If you seek outside coursework that is rigorous, legitimate and earn college credit that will look impressive.
I would not waste too much time with short certificate programs because that like dabbling and not very impressive. For example, if you sign up for a 2 week program on Coursera or eDx.org that's not the same thing as taking a full semester AP class that has test at the end to measure your success at mastering the material.
Good luck
You could do dual-enrollment at a community college instead of AP (or take them online like others have said).
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Thank you for the extracurricular suggestions!