<p>My school offers almost no AP's and the ones that are offered have very lackluster teachers and almost no one passes the AP exams. However, my school does offer many dual credit courses that are considered to be the most rigorous courses. I realize that many of these courses will not transfer and I am okay with that. But will I be at a disadvantage for taking these dual credit classes rather than the more traditional AP classes? I am looking at schools like UVA, Duke, Emory, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, etc.</p>
<p>I’d recommend doing the dual credit courses and self-study a few aps if you have the time.</p>
<p>Are any of the dual credit courses similar to an AP test? For example, is there a Calc course offered that would resemble AP Calc AB or BC? If that is the case, you could take the dual credit course, learn what you can from it, and then buy a prep book and study whatever else wasn’t covered on your own. Then you could take the AP exam.</p>
<p>Colleges usually prefer AP over dual enrollment because it’s more standardized, but if the dual-enrollment classes are more challenging I’d recommend choosing them anyway. There’s no reason to self-study any AP tests unless you want college credit for something your school doesn’t offer. </p>
<p>If your school only offers a few AP classes, why can’t you take both AP and dual-enrollment classes?</p>
<p>I reccomend what rkepp12 said</p>
<p>@halcyonheather I probably should have specified more. My school offers AP Lang but no one passes the exam because the class doesn’t prepare you. The rest of the classes are online through a program called Virtual Virginia which also doesn’t prepare you for the exam. I am just hesitant to take these because I don’t think I could prepare myself well enough to get a 4 or 5 on the exam.</p>
<p>My school in South Carolina is similar. We offer 8 AP classes I believe, but very few pass the exam for most of them. I have taken 2 AP’s, but I will have taken about 10 Duel Credit Classes by the end of senior year. Colleges look at whether or not you take the most rigorous classes available to you. As long as you do one or the other or both, you should be fine. The more you take, the better (as long as it is not too much to the point that you are failing the class). I would recommend that if you choose the Duel Credit route, take more than just one class a year. That way, colleges would see that you are committed and are willing to commit your time into those more difficult classes. But then again, I am not a college admissions person, so I am not certain about anything. That is just what I decided to do, and hope that it will get me into the colleges of my choose (Stanford, UC Berkeley, GA Tech, Clemson).</p>
<p>My school offers a whole Dual Enrollment program with an Associate Degree Pathway. Given the choice of taking AP classes or Dual Enrollments, I chose to take five AP classes next year. But considering that that choice isn’t as open to you, I would work as hard as you can to what’s presented in front of you, and if possible, go beyond that. Dual Enrollment courses are amazing opportunities, but if you don’t feel like that’s enough, don’t feel uncomfortable about talking to a guidance counselor about online AP classes.</p>
<p>Also, I did hear from someone that colleges do pay attention to what options were available to you when it comes to looking at what classes you took. I don’t know how true that is, but it’s something to try to find out about.</p>
<p>“Also, I did hear from someone that colleges do pay attention to what options were available to you when it comes to looking at what classes you took. I don’t know how true that is, but it’s something to try to find out about.”</p>
<p>That is 100% true.</p>
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Well, duh. </p>