How to Take Community College

Classes During High School

Why Take Community College Classes?

Some high school students take community college classes in addition to their high school courseload, either during the school year or over the summer. But most people don’t and it is not necessary to get into a top college, so you shouldn’t feel any pressure. We have found that people do it to: advance faster in a subject (like foreign language or math), take a class you couldn’t get into in high school (like Calculus), free up your high school schedule (e.g. by taking Health at a CC), explore a topic not offered at school (like HTML or Child Development), or bump up your GPA since the grade is weighted like an honors/AP class on your high school transcript.

Benefits of Community College Classes

Compared to taking classes outside of school at an Online High School or at a 4-year college, Community College offers a lot of benefits to high school students. Classes at City College of San Francisco (CCSF) are free and at other CCs they cost very little. There are options to take classes person, online live with the professor, or online asynchronous (not live) by watching videos. You can find many course subjects that may not be available at your high school, and if your counselor approves it then they can be added to your high school transcript and bump up your GPA. If the class is “UC-approved,” then on the University of California (UC) college application, your grade is also weighted like an honors/AP class!

Dual Enrollment through SFUSD

SFUSD has a great dual enrollment program that lets you easily sign up for CCSF summer or school-year classes after sophomore year of high school. For details, check out the website here. There is a list of CCSF classes are “pre-approved” by the district so the nice thing is that you DON’T need a high school counselor to approve it, only your parent/guardian. Some classes are popular though and not guaranteed, so they recommend that you list 3-4 classes on your registration form.
SFUSD Website on CCSF Dual Enrollment

Enrolling in a California Community College Class:

If you are enrolling in a class yourself (not through SFUSD), then follow these instructions:

  1. Get permission from your high school counselor, who may ask you to fill out a permission form like this Non-SFUSD Course Form.

  2. Open an "OpenCCC" account on the CCCApply website (choose a community college on the right side drop down menu, which will take you to the “Create an Account” page). This allows you to then apply to be a dual/concurrent enrollment student at any of the California community college.

  3. Follow the school’s instructions for registering as a dual/concurrent enrollment student. For example, the instructions for Skyline/CSM/Cañada Colleges are here and involve a docusign being emailed to your parent and high school counselor for electronic signatures.

  4. After the class is over, bring the official community college transcript to your counselor if you want it added to your high school transcript and included in your GPA. But if you don’t do this, on your college application you would still include it.

Things to Know Before You Sign Up:

  • VERY IMPORTANT: Since these classes are outside of SFUSD, be sure to get approval from your high school counselor before enrolling! Different high schools have their own rules regarding needing permission to take outside classes and may require you to fill out paperwork (typically this Non-SFUSD Course Form) and get it signed by your counselor. They may not let you take a community college class if the same class is offered at your high school. We recommend deciding which class you want to take at least a month prior to the end of school to ensure you have time to get approvals from your high school.

  • Before asking your counselor for permission to take the class, double check that it is a UC-approved class. The websites for the class usually notes if a class is approved by UC, CSU, or both.

  • You aren’t required to only use your city’s community college. At City College of San Francisco (CCSF), you need to have completed sophomore year of high school to become a dual enrollment student so freshman and sophomores take classes at other community colleges.

  • Popular community colleges for SF students are the Skyline College/College of San Mateo/Cañada College group, Foothill, and De Anza.

  • When you start a class, make sure you look at the class drop date and withdrawal date in case you change your mind. If you drop a class it won’t be on your record, but a “withdrawal” will show a “W” on your transcript which isn’t a big deal. Depending on the class, you might have the option to change your grade to Pass/Fail after the drop date.

  • Whether you choose to have your counselor add the completed class to your high school transcript or not, it will be on your official community college transcript. On college applications, you will need to add it as a “college attended” with the course name and grade.

  • If you plan to apply to the UCs (University of California) for college, check out their website on dual enrollment classes.