Taking courses early
Hey everyone, I’m a freshman in the Bay Area CA. I took AP Computer Science A through an outside provider (cost about $1,000) because I wanted to get ahead and I'm interested in CS/AI. Another reason I did it is because it would help me make a more defining story in my college applications, and have good resumes for summer programs .
When I told my school teacher about it, she didn’t like my decision at all. She called me foolish and said I wasted my money, and claimed that AP scores don't even matter for college admissions at UCs. She also said grades are the only thing that matter the actual high school GPA so I did a bad job by taking the course outside. Apparently according to her it has absolutely no impact on my college applications.
I’m feeling pretty discouraged now. I thought taking a rigorous course early would show initiative, but now I’m worried I’m actually making a mistake. I was also planning on completing courses like AP stats and AP cybersecurity next year so my junior year course load isn’t hell. I’m really confused on everything. I don’t know what summer courses and out of the school courses I should take because I’m afraid they don’t even count. Please help.