My high school offers a few types of college-level classes: duel enrollment classes that are taught on the high school campus by high school teachers using a curriculum nearly identical to a local community college, duel enrollment classes that are physically at the community college, and AP classes. Do top-20 schools prefer to see a certain type of college class/do they see duel enrollment as having the same rigor as AP classes? Which type of class would benefit me the most regarding admissions?
There is a slightly better question to ask and that is what is your desired outcome? If you are trying to get some college credit, knock off some prerequisites, or just get accepted to T20 schools, the answer will be very different.
Of the 3 choices you present, Dual Enrollment taught at your high school by a HS teacher is the least impressive overall. If it is administered by public instate community college, it is very likely that private schools and out of state publics will not give any credit. Compare that with Dual Enrollment taught on a college campus which may translate to some consideration regarding placement and may/may not give college credit. AP credit is dependent on test score and policies at colleges for granting credit or placement.
A good rule of thumb is the more selective the college, the more restrictive the credit/placement policies. Since you asked purely about rigor, that is a question for your guidance counselor because that is something they note on their form that accompanies your application. They will have criteria about what constitutes the most demanding courseload offered by your school.
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Among dual enrollment courses, some colleges do favor those taken at the college (or disfavor those taken as “college in the high school”).
In terms of rigor comparison, compare what the courses actually are. Dual enrollment courses may cover material that is lower level, similar level, or higher level compared to AP courses. Where the same or same level material is covered, that is where the choice may be significant.
In-state public universities in some states may have extensive articulation agreements with community colleges, but many out-of-state and private universities may not. If there is an articulation agreement, you can see which of the dual enrollment or AP score is seen as better for courses covering the same material. If there is no articulation agreement, you may have to guess based on what the university gives for the AP score.
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I am trying very hard to resist making any kind of joke about how the first two types of classes listed may have been a benefit to two generations of Hamiltons. But I failed, and there it is. Sorry! (Check your spelling 
)
In all seriousness you should choose based on the topic rather than the format. If for some reason the same exact class is offered in multiple DE or AP formats, then you’d need to check with your guidance counselor for additional details about the intention of these offerings.
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At my kids’ school it’s literally the same class. It’s AP whatever, but you can also enroll in the class as dual credit through an accredited college they affiliate with. I don’t see how it would be more or less prestigious considering it’s the same class. The teachers have to be approved by the college, must have graduate degrees, etc…
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In California, there may be some situations where a community college course is given subject credit at a UC, but an AP score for the same subject may not be. For example, some UCs or divisions at UCs do not allow AP scores to fulfill some general education requirements, but do allow transferred college courses to fulfill those general education requirements.
Of course, another aspect is that taking college credit for the course means that it will be part of your college record if you later apply to transfer to a different college or to graduate or professional school.
Yes, this is all true. My kid will have the college transcript to submit, but also the AP test score for the same class.
I teach at at community college, and I would say … “it depends”. It depends on the college and it really depends on the class you’re taking.
Kids from the local high school that take intro level classes at the community college, sometimes as part of getting their associate’s degree during high school, are by-in-large taking classes that are easier than the most rigorous high school classes. For instance, Bio 101 at my community college is much easier than AP Bio. It’s meant for an entirely different student.
However, kids that take DE classes because they are at a higher level than offered at the high school are in a very distinct category of rigor. In my experience, that is most often students who took AP Calc BC in sophomore or junior year and need higher math than their high school offers. I think this is because math tends to move in very linear pathways, so you can max out at high school.
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My son’s counselor advised him that DE and AP were considered equally rigorous. At his school, both are weighted equally, with one full point added to the GPA. For a variety of reasons including limited AP course availability, he chose to pursue full time dual enrollment as a junior and a senior. However, as he’s gone through the admissions process this year, we’ve found that many selective schools have a distinct preference for AP over dual enrollment. For example, the University of Georgia specifically asks how many AP or IB courses a student has taken in high school and recalculates the high school GPA accordingly (with increased weighting only for AP or IB courses). Dual enrollment weighting is removed when calculating UGA GPA.
I also heard a couple of AOs state in webinars that they prefer that a student exhaust all of the Ap/IB offerings at their high school prior to enrolling in DE. For example, if a student has already completed Calculus BC, the College would look favorably upon a decision to take Multivariable Calculus (or higher math) through dual enrollment. Conversely, they are not necessarily impressed with students who pass up their high school’s AP or IB offerings to take the same course through DE. So, for example, if a school offers AP Biology, the college would not be impressed with a student who passes up AP Bio to take college dual enrollment bio instead. However, if the student has completed AP Bio and chooses to take higher level bio, e.g., genetics or cell biology, that would reflect favorably in terms of rigor.
With all that said, the caveat here is that students only receive AP credit for scores of 4 or 5 at most colleges (3 at some schools). OTOH, most state universities will accept DE credit for those same courses as long as the student earns a “C” or higher. Most selective private colleges do not accept DE credit and many significantly limit the number of AP credits that can be awarded also.
The best thing to do is to check the specific policies of the school you are interested in. If you have access to AP courses and are a good test taker, AP is likely a good choice either way. If you’re not a great test taker, you may do better with DE, especially if you’re interested in a school that will accept a lot of transfer credits.
To summarize: in terms of rigor, my impression is that most selective colleges favor AP over dual enrollment unless the DE courses are at a higher level than is offered via AP. For earning course credit, DE may be a safer bet, especially at state colleges and universities.
My son was accepted EA at UGA, though he wasn’t offered Honors (despite a 4.7 weighted GPA (4.0 unweighted), which UGA recalculated as 4.05 due to minimal AP/IB courses). I think had he chosen AP rather than DE, he probably would have gotten offered Honors college.
We are still waiting to hear from several more colleges, but so far, he has been offered admissions to 4 other EA colleges, including two 50 LAC.
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My take on this is that dual enrollment allows you to be introduced to a college setting. No more are the days of having a numerical average, teachers being lenient on lateness; everything is college level and the way college teaches it is how dual enrollment courses are. Colleges favor AP because it’s a nationally known intro-college program and have their own way of seeing what AP scores will receive credit or not. With dual enrollment it depends on the class, college, and syllabus.
AP courses are also weighted with a 1.1 curve ( could be different for other schools, but I’m based in NYC) and that weight would increase your GPA and ranking.
With admissions and increasing chance, take courses general education courses. Your typical Science, math, social studies, English. Courses like Biology, physics, calculus would help a lot especially when your HS doesn’t offer those courses.
One more thing, for dual enrollment you get credit on a passing average. It’s not like AP where it all depends on one exam to determine your faith. If your school doesn’t offer particular APs you are interested in, but there are DE courses for them, they would be your best bet in getting introduced to the topic you enjoy.
A DE program that I recommend, is called Outlier.org. They offer DE courses for $400 per course, in a remote setting and they have a college agreement with Uni of Pittsburgh. I’ve taken Calculus with them and I do say it’s very interesting on how they view mathematics in real world situations.
It depends. Of course there are exceptions, but most community college classes are far less rigorous than high school AP classes (at least if the AP class is following the curriculum, and preparing you for the exam). In many high schools, the AP classes are also dual enrollment classes for anything ranging from the local community college to the flagship state U. Some high school students are able to take college classes at any nearby college (we were lucky enough to have six all within easy drive of our house, ranging from community college to prestigious LACs). But the answer to all of this is that you should take the most rigorous classes available to you at your high school. If you have the option of taking a college class or two or three at a college at low cost during high school, do so, again seeking out the most rigorous that you can manage.
Since you mention T20, my advise would be to take AP classes first and do well on AP tests. Once you have exhausted APs for a particular subject, it is fine to take DE courses, ideally at a 4 year college but CC if necessary. So, if your school only goes up to Calc BC, take Calc 3 as DE. But do not take Calc 1 and 2 at CC if your school has the option of Calc BC.
Now if you want to go to a state school with articulation agreement in place with a CC, take as many DE courses as can be transferred. Great way to save money.
In his book “Who Get In And Why,” author Jeffrey Selingo says that colleges generally give more weight to APs than DE classes for the reason that many have said here, that the rigor of a DE course can vary a lot but AP does not. YMMV, of course, especially if the DE class is at a 4-year institution and not a community college.
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Interesting… in contrast, California public universities recalculate giving honors +1 points for transferable (to the universities) college courses taken while in high school, along with AP courses and selected high school honors courses.
The rigor of AP courses can vary also… that is often revealed by AP scores across high schools. For example, if High School X has A students in AP calculus AB mostly getting 1-2 scores on the AP test, while High School Y has A students in AP calculus AB mostly getting 4-5 scores on the AP test, that suggests that High School Y teaches AP calculus AB to a higher standard.
I’ve looked it up in the book and will concede that my recollection of what he said may be overly broad. However, it’s still in there. Chapter 3, 4th paragraph: “Like other selective colleges, Emory considers Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate (IB) courses the most rigorous in a high school curriculum because they are assessed by national organizations. (Dual-enrollment courses offered by local colleges to high school students are seen by some admissions offices as less rigorous because they lack such oversight.)”
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