Next year I’m going to be a junior and I am not sure whether to go with AP or Dual Enrollment.
My classes are:
Regular Algebra II
Regular English III
Automotive III
AP Environmental Science
AP or Dual Enrollment US History
I’m not so good at writing essays and I hate reading books, but I love history and usually understand things pretty quickly. I’ve gotten all A’s so far and I am not sure which class to choose. I am not looking for a large amount of work as I have other things I have to do. So is AP or Dual Enrollment US History a better choice?
Honestly, with US History, you’re gonna be doing a lot of reading either way. I took DEUSH, and I would say that about 75% of the material tested on was not covered in class. Instead, we had to read the textbook outside of class lectures if we even dreamed of passing the very short, very specific tests. DE US History was my first and only B in a core class AND it was my first Dual Enrollment class. Dual Enrollment courses are true college courses, and in my experience, require a lot more self-motivation and initiative than “college-equivalent” or “college-level” AP/AICE/IB classes in order to be successful, although the material isn’t necessarily harder. There are also very few opportunities for extra credit and grade remediation. Even making up a test when you are absent can be an issue. For what it’s worth, though, APUSH is also a killer at my school.
Frankly, if you don’t want to do a lot of reading or essays, I would suggest you take Honors US History. Several of my friends did and they enjoyed the class and found it miles easier than AP/DE History, but keep in mind that this will likely be frowned upon by admissions officers, who like to see advanced US History classes.
APUSH is a real time suck in our school, seriously brought my over achieving DD to tears with the work load. DS took US History DE on line and it was so much easier and less busy work!
You are taking regular (not honors) Algebra 2, regular (not honors) English? I would take honors US History or AP US History. You may not be ready for the level of independence that college requires.
My daughter did dual enrollment history though hers was world civilization not US History. She had a text book and a primary sources book. In addition they also had homework based on additional handouts which were usually writing essays. She had to summarize 3 news articles a week related to specific countries, write several papers that were at least 5 pages and based on primary sources more so than the textbook and there were essay based midterm and finals that required analyzing primary sources with some shorter answers. Pacing, how to do footnotes/endnotes had no guidance from the professor beyond the syllabus. It seemed fast paced but that is to be expected for a one semester vs 1 year class. I think honors US History may be better than AP or dual enrollment for history.
If your HS offers AP US History, take it there since many DE courses may not transfer to other schools especially OOS colleges however, many colleges will give you credit for APUSH if you get a good score on the exam.
One issue that I haven’t seen mentioned in threads touching on this topic is the possible impact of DE classes on future law school admissions. Admissions, particularly at the top law schools, are determined by GPA and LSAT (with Harvard now also accepting the GRE in lieu of the LSAT). When it comes time to apply to law school many kids are completely blindsided to discover that those DE classes they took when they were 17, or that summer class they enrolled in when they were 15 have to be reported and calculated into their GPA for law school. At the top schools, admissions are so competitive that a .01 or .02 change in GPA can be the difference between acceptance with merit scholarship, acceptance with no merit aid, and rejection.