Dual Enrollment vs AP

Applying to College
1

I dropped out of the IB program (I’m a junior) as unfortunately, my mom was diagnosed with cancer this past month so I am spending more time at home with her and less time with school work and IB requirements.

Next year, I have the option of doing Dual Enrollment or AP for more flexibility. My top school choices are Georgia Tech and University of Miami. I’m also going to apply for Georgia and Florida.
I currently have a 4.07 GPA from last year, but after this year, I will have above a 4.35 GPA at the end of my junior year (currently on track for all As). The only thing I am worried about is if dual enrollment would impact admissions or even scholarships (especially at UM).

Dual enrollment has the same weight at my school, so really my “school” GPA would be way higher than if I took just AP classes. My class rank would be very high.

I’m currently in IB Bio HL, IB French HL, IB Spanish HL, APUSH, AP Lang, IB Math Studies SL and the IB TOK class. I dropped out of IB due to my mom, but I can’t change classes in the middle of the year. I also had schedule conflicts with French and Spanish for next year and honestly I was really disappointed with how my school handles IB. They are only 27 (now) juniors in the DP program out of 900 juniors (yes, our school is huge). Many people dropped out simply because our enrollment numbers are so low that people have many conflicts with courses that are only offered during one period of the day. I’m probably one of the only people in the program to actually have A’s at this point as it seems no one can really handle the work load (and IB Spanish is very hard for non-natives, and it’s still a challenge for me).

My plan if I were to stay at school next year would be IB Bio HL, AP Lit, AP Macro/Micro, AP Calc AB, and AP French/Spanish. I would have two empty periods at the end of the day, so I could go home early and help my mom more.

In Georgia, the state pays for dual enrollment, so many of my AP/IB teachers suggested doing dual enrollment as it saves a year of college. All of them accept my IB Bio teacher told me they suggest dual enrollment. I’m not sure if it’s just because they all know the situation my family is in right now.

If I were to leave school and go do dual enrollment at the university 10 mins from my house, I would do five classes a semester, so a total of 10. I think my counselor decided Micro, Macro, English 1102, Calculus I, Bio + Bio Lab, Spanish, French, Computer Science I, and one more (haven’t decided). I am also doing dual enrollment during the summer, no matter if I do AP or Dual Enrollment. I’m already accepted and I can register for summer classes. Dual enrollment gives me a lot more flexibility with my schedule to work with my mom, but my mom doesn’t want me to do dual if it’s going to mess up my chances at college.

I’m really conflicted right now and I just don’t want to set up myself for failure. I took the ACT last year and got a 27, but my friend has been helping me out as I had a ton of trouble with the English section (not my first language) and so far, my practice tests are 31-33. I’m taking it next week again and will aim to boost my score and take it again in June/July.

So what would you do?

2

If the college courses available to you are transferable to the colleges you would like to eventually attend, they should be considered rigorous options.

Be aware that actual college courses (though not necessarily dual enrollment courses taught on the high school campus) do require students to be more self-motivated and have better time management, as there is less progress monitoring and supervision. Also, some college courses cover material twice as fast as high school AP courses (e.g. a high school AP course may take a year to cover the material in a semester-long college course).

3

If your school offers an AP and DE of the same class, then take the AP version. Some colleges wont except d.e. credits anyways. I’d say just stick to AP when possible.

4

Hello,
I am so sorry to hear about your mother’s situation. This is very unfortunate. I can tell how motivated you are by reading your post - you have already done so much!
I am just writing this post based on my personal experience. It may or may not apply to your situation and/or the college you will be applying. I am more familiar with the northeast region and have seen Dual Enrollment cases with UConn ECE and Quincy College.
Personally, I would prefer AP more than dual enrollment. While it is not guaranteed that all colleges accept AP Credit, it is more useful than Dual Enrollment, generally speaking. AP courses are seen as educational excellence and is known for its rigorous curriculum. I would say that AP looks better for colleges and have higher chance of getting college credit. Dual Enrollment itself is great. You can get college credit in high school. However, the only concern is that some schools may not take Dual Enrollment Credit from a certain college. Also, ideally (may not work the same way in your case) Dual Enrollment exempt you from the course while AP exempt you from the credit. If you are going to be a humanity major, and you take Dual Enrollment Calculus 1, you are exempted from Calculus 1 in your freshman year. But if you need to take Calculus 2 in Spring, you might forget Calculus 1 and struggle a bit in class. But if you are going to be a STEM major, it helps you to have a step forward in your academic track.
Therefore, I personally would do AP. But please refer to all of your colleges on your list and your ideal situation. This is just from my experience. Hope it helps.
Best,
-A.