<p>Hi all,
I will be a high school sophomore next year, and am in advanced courses. Currently I am a freshman at a magnet school and am taking junior classes (Calc I, AP Eng Lit, AP Bio). Next year I am going to a virtual school (I've had experience with them). This virtual school will allow me to take advanced classes throughout the rest of high school. However, I want a physical environment and community, so I'm going to take a class at the local community college as a dual enrollment student. I know the credits will transfer and have the scores to qualify (PSAT 228). So, I have a few questions.</p>
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<li><p>What class should I take? I am taking a full, rigorous course load already. I want something fulfilling and useful but not too serious. I've talked to the dual enrollment counselor, and he recommended English 102, Psych, Sociology, or Political Science, but please give me recommendations! I don't know what I want to major in, by the way. My parents suggested law.</p></li>
<li><p>What's it like as a dual enrollment student? I want to meet people but won't be in societies or the like because of my age. Advice? I don't want to be that weird homeschooling idiot savant, and I already kinda have to miss out on a lot of high school experiences.</p></li>
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<li><p>Philosophy. </p></li>
<li><p>[Here](<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/1627595-pseo-advice.html]Here[/url]'s">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/1627595-pseo-advice.html)'s</a> a post I wrote about this a couple months ago. I was a full-time dual enrollment student at a university. Unless you’re four feet tall or something, no one will know you’re a high school student unless you tell them, and it’s not like they would mind anyway. Lots of high school students take classes at community colleges. It can be hard to make friends at a community college because a lot of people are just there to take classes and then go home. The social life isn’t usually the same as what you might find at a residential college. You might be allowed to join clubs, depending on what rules they have for dual-enrollment students. </p></li>
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<p>Sorry, but this will be a pretty long response!</p>
<p>I took it relatively easy my first semester as a dual-enrollment student, which was also during sophomore year. I took English II, Fundamentals of Life Science, General Sociology, General Psych, and Calc I. Those classes weren’t very challenging in my opinion—other than Calc, and English to an extent—but they allowed me to become acquainted with the community college environment. I started to load up on more difficult courses during my second semester.</p>
<p>I recommend taking the classes that your dual-enrollment counselor suggested, just to orient yourself. At community college you have the chance to take a wide variety of classes; you should choose some that you may be interested in. You might find something that just “clicks”. Law may be good, but again, it’s all up to you! I didn’t have a major in mind when I started dual-enrollment. I started to take microbiology classes and they grabbed my attention; I’m pretty sure that I’ll be majoring in microbiology when I go to university.</p>
<p>As a dual-enrollment student, you’re required to take on a lot of responsibility. The professors and other staff around the campus will treat you as an adult. In my case, there are a lot of high schoolers—people my age—around campus since they are in the same program as me. Do you know any other high school students who are going to dual-enroll as well? If so, perhaps you could take some classes together. I understand; talking to people older than you can get a bit awkward. Haha. But I’m sure you’ll be fine. </p>
<p>@theskittlebug the other posters reflect my S and D experience you sound like a perfect dual enrollment student. I’m sure more advanced academic peers, rigorous coursework, and quick pace will make you happy. </p>
<p>Socially I will cut to the chase, these are not your social peers! Although I am sure you won’t stand out due to age you are at a different developmental stage. Work hard to find and maintain friendships and relationships with people your own chronological age. Attitudes and behavior about things like drinking, sex, and drug use may not be healthy or appropriate, even at a CC. (parents rant finished)</p>
<p>About classes, what interests YOU ? (Not your parents or counselor) take this opportunity to explore things you are curious about. That said learning how to write at the collegiate level is a must. College writing is a great class. </p>
<p>I am a little concerned that you may find many of the intro level classes boring, ask for a syllabus and check it out before scheduling. Also consider the instructor rating sites like rate my professor. They can help you choose wisely. One caveat, beware the really high easiness ratings getting an A but learning very little is not a good trade</p>
<p>Another parent here giving my D’s experience:</p>
<p>She was a senior in hs when she attended a local college as a dual enrolled student. In our state, tuition is paid for if you take classes that are needed for hs graduation. So just the basics…english, history, math, science, those kinds of things. So she stuck with the basic Eng Comp, Gen Chem, and her math classes. She was only taking hs Spanish at her homeschool study center, and the rest at college.</p>
<p>She didn’t “dig in” to college life, just made a few friends through the classes she took. It wasn’t her expectation to “BE” a college student. She was just there to take classes. She was older and already had several sets of established friends, so it wasn’t on her radar to try to fit in with the college kids.</p>
<p>She looks older than she is, so she blended in just fine. Also, the college she attended had 9,000 students and a lot of them were commuters.</p>
<p>D got a 4.0 and entered “real” college with 22 hours of credits, and all of them transferred. She didn’t have to take AP exams at the end of the year, and that was a huge plus for us. It gave us as parents confidence she was more than ready to move away and do the whole college experience.</p>
<p>Dual enrollment was a great experience for us and we will do it again with S in a few years. Best of luck to you!</p>
<p>Yeah, you shouldn’t assume that the social life at a community college will be anything like the social life in high school. Colleges are often more diverse than high schools, and college students are more autonomous. There will be 18- to 24-year-olds in your classes, but there will also be older parents and retired people and probably other high school students. </p>
<p>In my experience, college classes aren’t the best place to make friends in college even if you’re a college student. I was a senior (so I didn’t look younger than everyone else) and a full-time student who took multiple classes in the same subject, but even then I didn’t make friends in my classes the way people do in high school. Everyone just goes in, sits down, takes notes while the professor lectures, and leaves. </p>
<p>It’s often easier to get credit for AP test results than it is to get credit for dual-enrollment classes. Some colleges won’t transfer dual-enrollment credits that were used to meet high school graduation requirements.</p>
<p>The dual-enrollment class will probably be sufficient for preparing for the AP exam.
Whether you should take the AP exam depends on whether the dual-enrollment class would transfer, which depends on the colleges you’re looking at. </p>
<p>To those commenting on the social aspect, I did kind of expect that. I just regret having to miss a big phase of my own personal growth for the sake of academia.</p>