Is Returning to High School the Best Choice for This College Student?

[Domn]

Hello everyone, I know that I've been asking a lot of questions lately and I am very thankful for the advice given to me thus far on this board. I am currently in running start right now and have been taking a full time college load for the last year at my community college but looking back at it, I am getting tired of being in running start and feel that I would be happier if I went back to high school. So far I have a cummalative college GPA of 3.25. I scored horribly in Pre-Calculus 1 with a D+ or a 1.5. I indepedently studied all winter quarter and was able to test out of Pre-Calculus 1, surpass Pre-Calculus 2 and I am currently taking Calculus 1. I received a 68% on my first Calculus 1 exam due to girl issues but I came back and scored a 95% on my second test. I have a quiz average of 84% in the class.

I think that coming back to high school would be the best decision for me, because I miss the High School experience. I hope to go into some sort of science that revolves around math or engineering. Anything that has to do with studying the cosmos or sending people there (Aeronautic Engineering). I made some terrible choices of classes and have yet to take a single physics class. I've talked to the physics instructor at our school but in the past, he declined helping me with calculus based physics and explained that he didn't know much about it. Due to this, I do not wish to take the physics class he must teach. I talked to my Virtual High School counselor at my school and asked her about getting signed up for AP Physics. She said that there was two, B and C. I knew a bit about both tests and I registered to take AP Physics C, knowing that the class would help prepare me more so than B. I also asked her if I could take an astronomy course and asked her to sign me up for the most advanced one as possible. I figured that any astronomy course in high school would be easy, but I'm probably going to get my but handed to me due to that thought pattern. Along with this, I will also be taking Calculus AB. Considering I'm already in Calculus 1, I am going to ask the instructor to help me study for the BC exam. I will also be taking Current World Problems, a English class of some sort, and I will be taking Spanish online through the college (I need 2 years, but universities count 1 year of college language as equal.).

I'm sorry for this long post, but I was just wondering:
1. Do you think that I will be able to do well in AP Physics C? I am very motivated.
2. Do you guys think that a High School Astronomy course is a waste of time?
3. What are your guys' opinions on my plans for next year?

P.S This is the explanation of my astronomy course.
Course Title: Astronomy Section PC: Stars and the Cosmos
Discipline: Science - General
Grade Level: 11, 12
Level: Honors
Offering: Repeated Semester
Prerequisites: Physics recommended but not required
Description: This course is an introduction to stellar astronomy. We will study how stars work, what different life cycles stars can have, and how we measure and infer many things about stars from our tiny planet. Then we will extend this knowledge to star clusters and to galaxies, and to understanding how the cosmos is organized and where it is going.

Students will be evaluated on weekly contribution to discussions, reading assignments, homework, some activities and observations, weekly quizzes, a midterm and a final. Quizzes and homework can be resubmitted, and the midterm and final are open book, though they are timed.

Learning Objectives:
Students will:
1. know what distinguishes stars from other celestial objects, and can describe a model for how they function;
2. know process of star formation and possible life cycles for stars, and what determines which path a star will take;
3. be able to discuss and defend the Big Bang theory, understanding why it is the currently accepted theory;
4. become comfortable finding bright constellations, observing colors and brightness' of stars, and distinguishing stars from planets in the heavens; and
5. develop independent study techniques, both individual and group building skills so they can learn independently from an instructor.

 

[thegreenlaser]

I'm a little confused. Just to clarify, is your plan to spend an extra year in high school to catch up your math/science so that you can do a degree in something math/science related?

 

[Domn]

I'm a high junior right now in college. I want to spend my senior year in high school.

 

[Mororvia]

I'm not sure of the differences between AP Physics B, C and whatever else. Are you confident in your calculus abilities?

The astronomy course could be interesting. Can't tell if it would be a waste of time.

You might be overthinking how much you're missing the 'high school experience'. How much are you going to get out of being there for 1 year? Being a new kid in the school can be tough. It might be more hassle than what its worth. You're already enrolled in college courses, I don't really understand the reasoning for not wanting to continue. Is it lack of friends your age?

I would really think about what your reasons are for wanting to go back to high school and see if you can't get what you want some other way such as clubs or sports or something else.

 

[thegreenlaser]

^In addition to that, my experience has been that university courses catch you up much faster than re-taking high school courses would. High school courses actually tend to be a pretty inefficient way of learning science, since they go so slowly to make sure that the people who would rather squirt lemon juice in their eyes than sit in a physics lecture can keep up. The only exception would be a distance education work-at-your-own-pace type course, but in that case you may as well just go off to college anyway.

I can't speak for everywhere, but my school does a very a good job of catching people up. For example, you can actually get a physics degree at my school without having taken high school calculus or physics, and you don't lose any time at all; you just have to take some slightly more intensive courses in first semester. Those courses really aren't that bad either. My girlfriend took the 'catch up' version of calculus and she had no trouble with it, even though she doesn't like math very much. I honestly think it speaks to how little you end up learning in a regular high school science course compared to a university course.

Check out the schools you're interested in. If you have the prerequisites to get in, I would just go to college. You'll likely catch up much faster that way. If you do need some courses to get in, I would recommend finding work-at-your-own pace courses. I was actually able to finish a couple high-school courses (calculus and physics) in under two months that way without doing more than about an hour of homework a night. Like Mororvia said, you should be able to find other ways to fill the stuff you miss from high-school. We all have to do that. Going back, to me, is just the least efficient way to catch up what you need.