I have a brother who is a junior in high school, my parents just passed away in a car crash a while back. Currently, I am working on my bachelor's in philosophy.  My brother wants to start attending the local community college immediately and then become a transfer to UCLA.  He wants to maintain enrollment in the high school and college.  He has taken AP classes and the AP tests in European History and Computer Science.  This year he is planning to take AP English Composition and both AP Economics exams.  In addition, he is enrolled in Calculus class.  He wants to major in mathematics. Now money is no problem.  I belong to a middle class family which can afford another college student.  The problem is that I do not understand how to navigate the confusing community college program in California.  Please understand.  I did not have a high school education in America.  I was born and brought up in India.  My brother claims there is something called the bridge program that his high school will have a high chance of approving for him.  Please help me...  

If you can, make an appointment with his high school guidance counselor. In the US, at least where I went to school, one of their major responsibilities is to know colleges, and how to get in them. Also, they will set you and your brother straight in regards to scholarships he can apply for and if he will be eligible for this program.

 

Also, google brought me this link, hopefully it is useful.

http://www.ugresearchsci.ucla.edu/bridgessummer.htm

 

If you have any more questions I can try to help you out as best I can. I'm enrolled in college in Ohio and went to high school in Florida.

Thanks, but his counselor is not really a competent man.  I have been trying to do research on this subject on my own.  My brother too has been.  

If you give me some specific questions (PM me if you need too) I can do my best to help you.

Currently applying to various colleges, from California. I know of someone in my grade who is taking the same route as your brother (i.e. community college starting junior year, transfer to a state college). I'm not sure about whether this actually works, but our counselors claim that it's a valid path and that it works, and can save a good deal of money as well. I do know that you have to be self-motivated enough while in community college, because frankly they aren't very good, so your brother should try to take initiative and stuff. There might not be very many classes for your brother to take, so you might want to consider taking classes at other nearby colleges, e.g. from the UC system.

 

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EDIT: So I reread the OP and apparently your brother is doing both community college classes and high school classes. This is perfectly fine and a bunch of kids at our school do the exact same to try to eke out a few additional credits. Just make sure that your brother can keep up if his courseload is big because junior year is hard.

Edited December 9, 201312 yr by zenonia