Is it really that impressive to colleges if high school students take college level courses? (not talking about AP).
For me, I wanted to set myself apart from the crowd, and took pre-calculus over a summer, allowing me to take AP Calc AB my sophomore year, AP Calc BC my junior year, and multivariable calculus at the nearby community college for my senior year.
Is it common to see high school students doing the same thing? Of course, I know Im not the only one doing a college math class, but Im trying to apply to elite universities in computer engineering, so the competition is obviously tough. Whats even worse is that I unfortunately slacked off too much in sophomore year and got a C in AP Calc AB, although I made up for it by getting an A in AP Calc BC in my junior year.
Is it “really that impressive”? No. It’s pretty common but it does show initiative.
Of course, this is purely anecdotal, but I went to a high school that didn’t offer AP or IB, and spent the last two years of high school dual enrolling at a local university. I’m headed to Stanford next month. I’ve been led to believe that dual enrollment is seen as roughly equivalent to other accelerated programs (APs, etc.) but not any MORE rigorous, necessarily. I think the way it is seen by the colleges you’re applying to will greatly depend on the resources and classes that were available to you at your high school.
I don’t think it is more impressive than rigorous classes in high school. As with everything it depends on the class. Rigor is important in college admissions whether it is at the high school or through dual enrollment.
Actual college courses may give you a taste of how college courses are run before you jump into college “for real”. I.e. you can see that they will require more self-motivation and time management, since there will be less supervision than in high school courses (including AP courses). Note: this may not necessarily apply to dual enrollment courses taught at high schools to only high school students.
College courses may be more or less rigorous than AP courses covering similar material. College courses may also be more or less advanced than AP courses. So content and rigor of the material depends on the specific course.
Be aware that if you eventually apply to professional schools like medical or law school, college courses taken while in high school and their grades will count toward GPA calculations for the purpose of those applications, even if transfer credit is not accepted, or transfer credit is treated as passed or not passed, by the undergraduate college you eventually attend after high school.
Your dual enrollment grades will follow you for the rest of your life. Whenever you apply for admission to a degree program, or for a job that requires all of your college-level transcripts, you will need to send official copies of the transcript from the college/university where you took the dual enrollment classes.