Commentary: High school students should consider community college coursework

As a professional college admissions consultant who also volunteers extensively, I strongly recommend that ambitious high school students look into community college as a way to gain an admissions advantage.

If we look carefully, we can see that there are many resources that can ensure an admissions advantage to even top colleges and are gratifying in their own right.

Now that summer is arriving, many high school students feel almost forced into activities that support college admissions. It is normal to feel compelled to take prep courses for the SAT, ACT or other standardized tests.

Likewise, there is tremendous pressure to do something noteworthy to put on their resume, such as exotic community service programs abroad or volunteer internships with prestigious local organizations. Gone are the days where summer meant fun at the beach, and lifeguarding for the city of Newport Beach became the most prestigious, fun and well-paid way to enjoy the summer.

When the school year comes back around, students will also be taking courses that are augmented in any way to help the student and the school gain face. Honors, Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) classes become the standard courses of performance, whereas normal courses are seen as a sign of lack of ambition.

So much time, energy and often finances are spent on trying to perform well and look good in the eyes of peers and potential judges, such as admissions officers, with not enough time to be spent on following passion projects, exploring, yielding to adventure or simply experimenting in the trial-and-error process that often serves as the standard for true development and lasting results.

For ambitious students 15 and over, I strongly recommend looking into local community colleges as a way to boost a college application, and, more importantly, as a way to yield true academic and vocational development that will be useful in the lifespan.

While I have taught honors, AP and IB students, I can readily see the fallibility of each system. Honors classes are taught by high school teachers with high school students, as opposed to being in an actual college class with actual college peers.

AP courses are taught by a high school teacher and centers around a single standardized test; I have yet to see a university course taught based on this standard. International Baccalaureate is a curriculum designed to model the rigorous Swiss coursework designed to train diplomats, rather than a universal coursework for ambitious students.

Community college courses offer the best way to directly get college instruction without unnecessary formalities.

Education consultant Joseph Klunder grew up in Newport Beach.