This year as a senior I had the option to Dual enroll at a local cc and take all my classes there. Do you think it would have been better to instead stay at my high school for a senior year? Would colleges look down on it?
Does it have to be either / or? Is it possible to take some DE classes and some regular high school classes? Colleges are looking for “the most challenging” course load offered by your school. If you are a senior and taking a half load and phoning it it you aren’t going to achieve that level of recommendation. If you’re staying in your high school and taking seven classes and 4 AP’s then you probable are, even without DE credit.
FWIW I believe to many seniors waste their last semester of high school when they could be getting a low cost jump start on college either with DE or AP classes.
My daughter did just dual enrollment junior and senior year. She got accepted into 8 colleges out of 8. and either got into or was invited to apply for honors at all of them. Back when she as in her sophomore we spoke to many different admissions people to confirm that there wouldn’t be any issues. Even top colleges said admissions wasn’t an issue. In terms of what classes that are accepted that is different and will be school dependent just like APs. If you have colleges your thinking of call and speak to an admissions officer.
My daughter is still able to participate in any extracurricular activities at her high school. She can go to the high school at times it fits her schedule to visit college reps, see guidance if needed (or on rare occasion required) etc. She can also take advantage of college reps visiting her school. My daughter asked her college English professor if she would look at her common app essay which she was more than happy to do etc. She also prefers the college schedule more than a traditional high school schedule - she hasn’t had class on Friday since January of her junior year etc.
Both of my kids were offered dual enrollment: S2014 participated, but D2018 decided against it. Both had no problems with college acceptances. S was accepted into 5/6 colleges; D, so far, 9/10 acceptances. She is waiting on UVA.
I do dual enrollment and I was accepted everywhere but MIT (waitlisted). Its worth it if you’re going to take classes that are interesting/related to your major/challenging/not offered at your high school. Its not gonna help you in college admissions if you just take the easiest stuff possible.
Start out by taking anything you might need for high school graduation such as English and whatever math class is next. If you need anything in terms of applying for college fill those in. After that take electives related to your future major. I disagree with not taking the easy stuff. Sometimes that is what you need to take more advanced classes and getting a solid foundation is important. However it depends a lot on what you are interested in and prerequisites.
From what I’ve seen, DE is generally seen as equivalent to AP/IB at colleges located in the same state in which a student was dual enrolled. If you want to go out of state, I wouldn’t recommend it, although I’d guess that DE classes are still viewed as somewhat rigorous by out-of-state colleges. If you definitely are staying in-state, it would be a wise option that could save a lot of money on college courses having to pass exams.
@r2v2018 I have to disagree with you about out of state schools. My daughter and other dual enrollment students we know had no issues getting into out of state public and private schools with all dual enrollment in either senior year or junior and senior year. Absolutely no out of state school either my daughter or I called, talked to at college fairs, met with admissions etc had any concerns about applying out of state with dual enrollment classes providing they were college level classes. Yes they don’t guarantee how credits will be used if at all but that is the same thing for AP/IB.
The one issue my daughter could have run into was she couldn’t get into a California school that requires art/music because it is not needed here.
Full DE on a college campus proves you CNA ahndle college coursework. So, if you do well, it helps. The only trick is to continue your ECs.
Things to think about:
- If you are on campus all the time, you won’t be around your friends as much.
- How will you get to CC?
- What colleges are you thinking about? Would they take the credits? Your State U will…but will private schools?
- How are the classes counted in your HS GPA? Will they also be part of a college GPA?
- It can save you a semester at college if you have enough credits
- What if you are not doing well? Can you withdraw from a class?