This has always been a huge question for me. I want to show as much rigor as possible on my school record, but I do not really know how to. My school offers minimal AP classes, and more keep getting eliminated due to the fact that nobody is passing, so I do not want to take the risk of taking the class to then fail the exam or get a grade I dont want, so my other option for an “intense schedule” would be Dual Enrollment. My specific issue currently is whether to take Government through dual enrollment and then take an ap economics class online (flvs because I live in Fl), or just do government and economics at school, which would take just one semester. The class itself is not the problem, it is a matter of knowing whether dual enrollment is actually worth my time. I am not really paying attention to college credit through dual enrollment honestly because I know a lot of colleges do not even accept it. But thank you for reading and I hope you have an answer to this!
I have been doing dual enrollment since my somphmore year and I have enjoyed my experience and got accepted where I have applied to, although yes I have ran into the issue of the credit not getting accepted which stinks. I will say I enjoyed my DE classes a lot and it is a change from staying in a high school all day. Current senior here.
@JadeRock Congrats on your acceptance! But did the university take into consideration the fact that you have done dual enrollment, or they just didnt seem to care? Because I want to show a “rigorous” schedule but idk if DE is the right way to do it.
I did dual enrollment for my junior and senior years of HS! I went to community college pretty much full-time and was hardly ever at my high school. I’ve talked to several college admissions people about it, and they all seem to think that it’s a GREAT way to demonstrate that you’re ready for college-level work. In all honesty, sometimes the classes are not harder than HS, but it varies from school to school. In the end, though, it’s proof you can succeed in a college environment, which is incredibly valuable to someone evaluating your application.
Regarding the transfer of credits - it’s hit or miss, but I was advised by my college counselor to always ask about transferable credits, even if a school says they don’t accept any DE credit. Sometimes they make exceptions (especially for English and math), and it’s worth the effort if you don’t have to retake the class!
If your HS can’t provide the rigor you want, DE will show that you took the extra step to get it and that will reflect well on you.
Colleges want students who embrace challenge and can handle it well. You’re showing them you’re that student. Go for it.
I agree with the above. I’m a current senior who takes all DE classes now and from the college admissions counselors I’ve talked to, DE is a great way at showing rigor. Not only does it show that you are ready for college-level work, but it shows that you have the initiative to go out and seek challenging classes that your school might not offer. Even some of the top schools accept DE credit, they have a lot of restrictions and stipulations, but they’ll accept it.
I’ve taken DE Government and I’m currently taking DE Macroeconomics and I can say that you’ll probably learn a lot more in a DE class than a high school class. The big difference in high school and college classes are that in college classes professors have a lot more flexibility with what they teach. They’ll often go more in-depth on the important stuff because they can just cut out the unimportant topics and that depth of knowledge really helps you understand the subject more.
They definitely noticed that it showed rigor, at least I think it did since my school doesn’t offer too many APs. I may call and ask about them specifically next week.