JC vs AP classes: What's best?

Graphic of both major websites used for education (the Puma Prensa / William Winkelman)

By William Winkelman, Website Editor

Students every year are faced with the decision between Santa Rosa Junior College courses and Advanced Placement classes, or in simpler terms, JC or AP classes. The differences between these classes can be very impactful on a student's academic career, and both should be taken into strong consideration.

AP classes

Most students at Maria Carrillo choose to enroll in AP courses over JC classes, and that's for good reason; AP classes provide a student with an advanced education in the given subject. In May, students take the AP exam associated with their course, where if you perform well, you can get college credit at most colleges (though some private schools don’t accept AP classes).

The greatest benefit of AP classes is that you can meet the teacher more often and, in turn, you will most likely learn the material better because AP are year round and in person and JC classes are mostly online, offcampus, or shorter. This is especially true if you plan to go into a job relating to the subject. For example, if you want to be an engineer, taking AP math and science courses can be very valuable for your education, as engineering heavily involves those subjects. For many though, the college credit is the main reason they take AP courses, as being able to skip units in college saves a lot of money. These savings can be huge as college classes can cost upwards of $1,500 for the same amount of credit as an AP class, which are less than a tenth of the price.

The benefits of taking AP classes are offset by many negatives as well. A huge factor is the cost, being $120 per test in 2025 to get the credits. When students try to take many AP classes, this cost can really stack up, as some students have $400-500 worth of fees to pay; this is still less than college courses, but not cheap by any means. There are ways for families that cannot afford these courses to get support, but even with it will still cost. Another factor is that the teacher you get will be limited, and oftentimes, there is only one teacher for the given course, so if you do not like their teaching style, you can't do anything about it. Also, if you don’t get a 4 or 5 on some tests, 5 being the highest score, you will not even get the credit you worked all year for, making the stress and high fee not pay off the way you want.

JC classes

These classes, also called dual enrollment, are taken off campus at the junior college or online, through Santa Rosa Junior College. Many benefits come out of these classes, including a manageable cost, college credits, and often, choice of teacher. Cost wise, each course will run you about $30 per semester, as costs for classes are waived for dual enrollment students and most of that comes out to insurance, which can be waived if needed. For credits, most operate on a similar grading system to MCHS, with some only doing pass/fail, though I highly suggest you do not take pass/fail classes, as they don't look good on your academic record. Completion of these classes will provide you guaranteed credits for the subject you are taking, with only some select colleges not accepting these credits, most being private ones. These classes also grant you the GPA boost that AP classes do, helping students get stronger grades by taking harder classes. Finally, there is often more than one teacher available for each class. For example, this year there were over four English C1000 teachers, allowing students to pick teachers that fit their styles of learning. I highly recommend you use RateMyProfessor.com to find how other students thought these professors were and to find the best class for you. Also, being able to take some classes asynchronously allows students to simply take the class fully online and eliminates the need to show up to the JC, giving more freedom in your schedule. This free time could be used for volunteering or to get more hours of work if you have other responsibilities.

There are some negatives to JC classes, though, one of the biggest being that, for most classes, you most likely will opt for asynchronous classes, and even if you don't, you will see your teacher at the JC less often than if you took the course at MCHS. This means you won't learn the subject as well as you have less time with it, though many students find JC classes more engaging, so this can be subjective. With the JC, most of the coursework is completely on you, such as getting to classes, setting a classwork schedule, and overall figuring your courses out. Not failing is for the individual to figure out and not your teacher's job or the schools. Some professors do email during office hours, though it's never as fast as being in person like at MCHS.

Differences

There are many differences between the two types of classes including one of the biggest ones being that in these classes “students feel like AP classes are more challenging,” says Kimberly Handel, Career and College Counselor with extensive knowledge of dual enrollment. From personal experience, I can confirm this claim as my JC classes have been much easier than my previous and current AP classes. Another difference is that, for JC classes, the teacher makes the curriculum instead of the College Board, a company in charge of creating and facilitating standardized education and testing. This causes a lot of variation for JC classes compared to very similar AP courses across the country. Due to variation you could end up loving the class and the teacher or end up with hours of mindless work a week.

Final Verdict

When it comes to deciding between what classes to take, consider both for different occasions. For a subject you want to go into for a future job and are very passionate about, I strongly recommend AP classes, as those will allow for a stronger knowledge in the subject. For subjects that are for your general education or you won’t really use for your future major, I recommend JC classes. Handel notes that the biggest tip to remember is to "talk to counselors and other students, never rush into it.” On top of that, once you start the class, the counselors at Carrillo have much less say or help in anything relating to it, so ask how each class will benefit you before enrolling.

From my own experience, I think it's a completely missed opportunity to not do some JC classes. Having free college credit is amazing for your future, and I enjoy getting to do classes online after school. Getting to leave at 2pm on some days is a really nice opportunity to do that work as well. Find a way to fit them into your schedule and take advantage of the opportunity you have as a Carrillo student.