Hello, I go to a school where the teachers don’t teach well. At my school almost nobody but my family has ever gotten a five on an AP test. However My school has dual enrollment with a top 100 university. Now almost nobody at my school has qualified for this so I have no one to ask. However If I took three to four college classes my junior year and did well how would they compare to ap courses?
Well to start college courses cost a couple hundred dollars each+books+transportation. If that isn’t an issue, then I’d say it depends on the college. Each professor has their own grading system and may or may not be good at teaching their curriculum. Personally I would stick with AP and just use outside study resources.
Are you a rising senior at a school that allows a partial schedule? If not, ask yourself if you’re prepared to take on a full schedule and a college course after class.
Could I take entry level classes at college and then take that class for ap? And I’m a freshman right now I just really want to make my resume the best.
I’m doing mostly DC this year and mostly AP next year. If your parents will pay the money go for it. I know for me one of my classes (3 Credit Hours) was $400, a $50 fee for technology/library services, and about $100 for books. However it will benefit you to get the college credit (keep in mind most universities have a limit on how many credits transfer). Especially if AP isn’t a good choice for you with your school.
Would colleges look more favorable at Dual enrollment or AP?
I guess AP if your school offers it. I think either is impressive though.
In terms of credit acceptability, AP scores are better recognized, but many are not as well accepted for credit or placement. College courses often have to be individually evaluated for transfer credit, and some private colleges do not accept college courses taken while in high school. However, college courses can give you the opportunity to take courses more advanced than college frosh or AP level.
Regardless of the credit acceptability, actual college courses will differ from high school (including AP) courses in some important ways, even if they cover the same material.
- College courses require more self-motivation and time management. Assignments and projects are less frequent but larger, in contrast to daily homework and progress tracking in high school.
- College courses often move at twice the speed of high school courses. AP courses like calculus AB, statistics, psychology, etc. often take a whole year to cover what a college course covers in a semester.
- College courses and their grades will become part of your college record. High school courses and grades will not, and AP credit accepted by colleges tends not to affect your college GPA. This may have implications (favorable or unfavorable) if you apply to some types of professional schools like law or medical school that calculate GPA over all college courses at all colleges attended.
In my area, dual enrollment is paid for by the state so the course and books are free to the student. If you are able to take college courses from a recognized university and you get good grades, that would make your application look good and the credits hopefully would transfer to your new college. There have been some posts on CC where students have bombed their dually enrolled classes, so you would want to plan to do well.
would it hurt my chances if I took this senior year???
For the reasons @ucbalumnus gives in post #7 (risk, pace, self-discipline, competition with college students, not high school students), admissions will look more favorably on college courses. In our district, the college is free, but not books. You should check with your GC (it will also be in your schools Handbook, or on the school district’s website). The term to search on is Dual Enrollment. Either way is fine- don’t worry about how it “looks”. Just do what you have to do/what is best for you.
In most States, the Dual Enrollment is done at Community Colleges and some 4-year Institutions. IMHO, Dual Enrollment would be my preference, since if you fail to get at least a 3 (some Universities require a 4 or 5) on the end of year AP Exam, you will have “lost” the equivalent credits. All one has to do is get a C or better to get transferable College credits through Dual Enrollment. Also, some Graduate Programs do not accept AP Courses as a Prerequisite for the advance degree. So, if Statistics class is a required course for a Masters Degree in Economics and the potential applicant did not do the Statistics Class in undergrad, a lot of schools will not accept the equivalent AP Credits irrespective of the score achieved on the AP exam.
Some individuals are under the impression that AP Courses are viewed more favorably that Dual Enrollment, but I tend to disagree. Most universities are familiar with Dual Enrollment now, than 10-years ago and there are a lot of students doing DE these days (over 52K in the State of Florida). You can complete as much as 60+ credits during High School and free of cost in most States. My question to the OP is how much is 60 credits or 2-years of College worth to you and your parents? I suggested to my daughter to do DE and she is very happy with her choice, have racked up close to 50 College credits and being able to complete College by the age of 20 and apply to graduate school. I estimated that she would have saved close to $40K in Tuition related expense.
It depends on the type of colleges you are interested. Top colleges generally will not grant any credit for college courses that appear on your high school transcript. State colleges and less competitive schools generally will accept the credits.
Top college admissions counselors really like AP classes-they mention them over and over. I have never read or heard an admissions counselor emphasize dual enrollment though.
The only thing to be careful of is if you do DE, you need to make sure the colleges you want to go to accept the credit. Some colleges put a cap on how many credits you can transfer there if you’re entering as a freshman. Then again, it will in most cases help you graduate a year or so earlier than planned.