Running Start (Dual Enrollment) vs Cambridge Diploma (British A-levels)

<p>Hi guys I'm going into my Junior year of high school and I'm in quite the predicament as I have to make the decision between Running Start (Washington's version of Dual Enrollment) and the Cambridge Diploma (very similar to IB but takes British A-Level Classes instead).
Obviously both are good programs when utilizing their purposes correctly.</p>

<p>For me Running Start means that I can start college early and learn what I want to learn rather than what an average high school is limited to. I would also get out of high school which isn't very fun for me (not that it's bad, it's just fairly boring and I don't really care about the high school experience whereas college seems really fun) I also would get an A.S upon graduating from high school.</p>

<p>The downside is that, from what I hear, out of state colleges don't really like Running Start that much and I'm probably planning on going to a big Ivy League school, Stanford, or MIT. (I'm a 4.0 student with all advanced classes)</p>

<p>On the other hand, I would go to my high school and get a Cambridge diploma which is better for upper tier colleges mostly due to the end of year Cambridge tests (from what I've read online) however I would have to stay in high school and probably get bored again.</p>

<p>I am probably planning to eventually get a Doctorate so perhaps doing Running Start into my state university for my undergrad and transferring to a big Uni after would be a good idea?</p>

<p>Just looking for opinions from someone that knows a bit more than I do, thanks :D</p>

<p>TL;DR Running Start because college is better and I could learn more of what I want for the next 2 years vs Cambridge program cause getting into a better University is more likely.</p>

<p>If the Running Start courses are actual college courses, they will give you a taste of what actual college courses are like, in terms of the self-motivation and time-management aspects, with less of the hand-holding and progress-monitoring that is present in high school courses (including AP courses).</p>

<p>For admissions, if you take a substantial number of college courses with content more advanced than what AP, IB, or A-level high school courses may cover, and do well in them, it would be hard to see how that would not be considered more favorable than AP, IB, or A-level high school courses.</p>

<p>As far as transfer credit and placement go, you can check each college’s web site to see what their policies are for each type of credit (college courses taken while in high school, AP, IB, A-level).</p>

<p>Thanks for the response, I’ve always thought that if you took classes smartly in Running Start and made them more advanced than their high school counterparts Unis would favor them. Perhaps I just got paranoid after reading online a few times that A-Levels/IB/AP have end of year tests that colleges seem to like a lot (it is a valid argument though)</p>

<p>I’m really leaning towards running start though so thanks :D</p>

<p>The likely reason why some colleges may like AP, IB, or A-level scores over similar-level college courses taken in high school is the standardization – they know what they are getting, rather than having to individually evaluate the college courses. Note that your in-state public universities have probably already done the evaluation, at least for courses at community colleges, so transferability of credit may be better with the college courses.</p>

<p>But if you have already completed that level of course work (whether in high school AP, IB, or A-level courses, or in college courses), then the obvious continuation is to take more advanced college courses.</p>