Upon selecting my classes for next year, I am still deciding whether or not I should take a dual enrollment course over an honors class. The reason for this is because I am worried that colleges will not favor a Dual Enrollment course as being just as rigorous or as significant as an AP course. Although many people claim that Dual Enrollment courses are viewed by colleges to be on the same scale of rigor as AP courses, I myself am still not very sure if these claims are true. At the end of the day, would an honors course be viewed more favorably as a more rigorous course than a DE course, or would the DE course be seen by colleges as more rigorous and favorable? I want to make sure I take the most rigorous classes possible in order to cause an upward trend on my transcript. Any help is appreciated.
P.S. I am taking AP CS Principles next year and have the option of taking honors programming, or one of several Dual Enrollment classes.
It totally depends on the class. For example, AP physics C would trump DE physics for non majors but DE linear algebra would be better than AP calc AB.
My D’s experience though was that AP courses were more easily awarded credit at college and the DE courses were more scrutinized. There was a rubric with AP courses and necessary scores but the DEs were individually decided upon by the advisor.
The advice we got in HS was if the school offered the AP course to take it and only look to DE to fill a gap for classes that wasn’t offered at school.
The general answer is that it depends on the specific courses, and the college that will be looking at them (for either admissions or credit).
AP CS principles is like an introductory CS course for those who have no prior CS-related background. It should include material on the relationship between CS and other things. See https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/pdf/ap-computer-science-principles-course-and-exam-description.pdf for a description. It (or a college course like https://cs10.org that it is modeled on) is probably a better introductory CS course for most purposes than a course primarily focused on programming, although some programming is included.
My son is in an early college program- the articulation agreement for state schools means he will be able to transfer 60 credits paid for by our county. The state’s flagship school will also give him two looks for admissions- once as a freshman and secondly as a transfer. For him it has been a good bargain, especially since he hates the regular high school environment.
The HUGE drawback? He is also looking at private colleges and schools outside our state. The portability of DE classes stops at our state line. APs are more easily accepted (though the scores can be impossibly high to do so).
In our experiences with applications so far, DE and AP classes are weighted the same. And any school we asked have told us- no preference.
“The portability of DE classes stops at our state line.”
We found that that the out of state schools we considered would accept all the credits earned, and not just as general transfer credits but for the actual classes needed (English, Chemistry, Physics, etc.). You might want to look at the transfer policies of the colleges you are considering. Ohio State recommends Transferology to view how courses transfer and apply toward a degree program, but that is a third party site, so always confirm with the actual college before making a decision.
I would expect AP and DE classes to be looked upon fairly equally, with both being more rigorous than honors classes. Some high schools will weigh AP and DE classes higher than honors, others will weigh them all the same.
The favored standard is four years in each of the five core classes in as high a level as you can do well in. I wouldn’t fuss over whether that means AP or DE if that’s the level you can manage successfully.
For an elective such as an introductory CS class, I don’t think either is going to heavily impact your admissions chances. So go with the one that fits in your schedule better or interests you more.
BTW, I had two admissions officers tell us that the trend is leaning towards more and more places accepting credits from other colleges and universities, especially in introductory classes. Portability still isn’t assured, but the trend is in students’ favor.
S’ school (private out of state) accepted NO DE classes. They would only accept AP classes in certain subjects and required 5s on the exam. However, his in state flagship would have accepted all of the DE and APs resulting in a yr knocked off. So it depends on what you are trying to accomplish. If the goal is to go straight to grad school, law school, etc. the credits might be quite helpful in terms of saving dollars in UG.