I have taken 4 total APs my Freshman and Sophomore years of high school (my school limited me to that many). I’m looking at how many to take Junior and Senior Year. My school offers 22 AP classes. I’ve heard that dual enrollment classes can help and hurt admissions chances. I’m not looking at taking all my classes at my local community college- just two or three in a year. In doing so, it gives me more time to study for the SAT, other AP classes at my high school, and college admissions. That being said, if it drastically hurts my admissions chances, would it be better to try to take 6-7 APs both years?
Depends on which courses.
Specifically, are the dual enrollment courses at a similar level as AP courses, at a lower level, or at a higher level*? Or are they in areas completely different from AP courses (e.g. philosophy, foreign language that there is no AP course)?
*Example in math: similar level would be calculus 1 and 2, lower level would be precalculus or calculus for business majors, higher level would be multivariable calculus, linear algebra, and differential equations.
In many cases, college courses cover in a semester what a similar AP course takes a year to cover. College courses also assume greater self-management of the work.
I took one Dual Enrollment last summer for Psychology because AP Psychology at my school required a prerequisite. I found that the Dual Enrollment Psychology was more reading and work per week, as it covered just 7 weeks, whereas AP Psych, which I’m taking now, is year long and takes considerably less work per week. I do find the AP Psych tests to be harder.
I made a 97 in DE Psychology and have a 92 in AP Psychology.
While several courses are similar (AP and DE Calculus, AP Lang and DE American Lit/ Eng 1101), there are some differences (my school doesn’t offer AP Comp Gov, but the DE classes do).
AP scores are more standardized for subject credit and placement in college, compared to college courses that usually need to be evaluated individually (although there can be articulation agreements between community colleges and same-state public universities to help transfer students match up courses). So it is not always clear whether the AP score or college course will be better in this respect, and it will depend on which college you eventually attend and transfer the credit to.
Obviously, for more advanced courses or subjects not offered as AP courses, you would need to take the college courses. College courses can also give you a better taste of what college courses will be like in terms of how you must manage your work.
Not sure why you took both college psychology and AP psychology, since AP psychology is supposed to cover similar material as a typical college introductory psychology course.
It depends on the DE institution, too. If you’re taking classes at your local CC, top schools may view that as easier than APs. But if you’re dual-enrolled at a top university, that’s viewed as more prestigious.
That said, 6-7 APs every year is a LOT. I would say that 5 is the equivalent of a full-load college schedule and the absolute maximum to reasonably attempt. Also, plenty of schools have rules about which APs they’ll grant credit for (and/or how that credit is granted) so don’t kill yourself, here. The goal is to be challenged but without spreading yourself too thin.
Some of the elite colleges/universities will take AP credits where they will not take DE.
That being said, our son only did DE and no AP and things worked out fine for him. But he does go to a state university in the same state where he took the DE credits (state of Florida makes it relatively seamless - can’t speak for other states).