MCHS has partnered with Ivy Tech to provide dual credit courses. This means that there are many courses that you can take for high school credit and earn college credit at the same time. This is a great opportunity, but it has some risks.
First, if you take an MCHS class for college credit, the school district will pay for it, so it is free to you. However, if you get below a C, the school will not pay for the course, and you will have to pay Ivy Tech. This could cost from a few hundred to over a thousand dollars. Also, the grade you earn will go on your permanent college transcript. For the rest of your life, every college or employer that asks for your transcript will be able to see that grade. You need to make sure that you keep your grades up in dual credit courses.
The second issue is that not every university will accept Ivy Tech credits. Basically, a university like Purdue might believe that their chemistry class is more rigorous than Ivy Tech's, so they will make you take chemistry again at Purdue if you took it at Ivy Tech. However, to encourage students to take dual credit classes, the state of Indiana has created the Indiana College Core.
If you complete the College Core, every state university has to accept the credits. This includes all IU colleges, Purdue, IUPUI, USI, and Ball State. Private schools like Hanover, Butler, or Notre Dame can choose not to accept the College Core. Also, schools outside of Indiana do not have to accept the credits.
To complete the College Core and guarantee your credits transfer, you must complete 30 hours of college credit before you graduate, including at least one class from each of the categories. Also, there is a maximum of how many credits you can count from each category toward the 30 required. It is important to know that college credit is counted different than high school credit. Colleges count credit hours, and most courses earn 3-5 credit hours per semester.
Here is a list of the courses currently offered at MCHS that count toward the College Core.
Written Communication Credits (3 cr. max)
AP Language and Composition, Semester 1 = ENGL 111: English Composition (3 credit hours)
AP Language and Composition, Semester 2 =ENGL 215: Rhetoric and Argument (3 credit hours)
Speaking and Listening (6 cr. max)
Comm 101 = COMM 101: Fundamentals of Public Speaking (3 credit hours)
Quantitative Reasoning (12 cr. max)
Pre-Calculus = MATH 136: College Algebra (3 credit hours) and
= MATH 137: Trig with Analytic Geometry (3 credit hours)
AP Calculus AB = MATH 211: Calculus I (4 credit hours)
Scientific Ways of Knowing (12 cr. max)
Biology II = BIOL 101: Introductory Biology (3 credit hours)
Chemistry II = CHEM 101: Introductory Chemistry (3 credit hours)
AP Chemistry = CHEM 105: General Chemistry I (5 credit hours)
AP Physics = PHYS 101: Physics I (4 credit hours)
Physics II = SCIN 111: Physical Science (3 credit hours)
Social & Behavioral Ways of Knowing (12 cr max)
AP US History = HIST 101 and HIST 102: Survey of American History I&II (6 credit hours)
AP Government = POLS 101: Intro to American Govt. and Politics (3 credit hours)
Humanistic & Artistic Ways of Knowing (12 cr max)
AP Literature and Composition, Semester 1 = ENGL 206: Introduction to Literature (3 credit hours)
AP Literature and Composition, Semester 2 = ENGL 221: Intro to World Lit.After the Renaissance (3 credit hours)
Advanced Fine Arts = HUMA 118 Music Appreciation (3 credit hours)
Spanish III = SPAN 101 and SPAN 102: Spanish Level I & II (8 credit hours)
Spanish IV = SPAN 201 and SPAN 202: Spanish Level III & IV (8 credit hours)