Hi everyone, I’m in a bit of a crisis and would love the advice of experienced college officials or college planners if possible. I have the option to take a dual enrollment period on top of the 5 AP’s I will be taking. I know it looks better to do an AP course, but I do not think I can handle 6 AP classes on top of volunteering, clubs, and extracurriculars. The classes I am taking in total are: AP Calc AB, AP Chemistry, AP US History, AP Art History, AP 2D Design, Spanish 4. This (sophomore) year I have taken AP Studio Art, AP Biology, and AP World History, and I have dual enrolled twice before and will be dual enrolling English Composition 1 this summer. I go to an extremely competitive school with many Ivy league and well-known college acceptances yearly and am striving for a well-known college like UC Berkley or Duke as well, and maybe even an Ivy. I am 6th in my class and have a 4.0 GPA. So, should I take the dual enrollment period? It would be so nice to have a relief from AP rigor. Will it be detrimental to not take a 6th AP? I really don’t think I can handle studying for that many exams, preparing for 3 already has me at wits end. Thank you so much!
Is English Comp 1 at a CC? What type of students usually take that course? Like is it the basic english class at a CC? That would not look very impressive at all.
What do you think you will major in in college? Art? STEM? Humanities? Maybe take a lesser class in an area where you are not going to major in.
I don’t think AP > DC. They both have their strengths, but DC is more college structured and offers guaranteed credit for passing.
I think you’ll be fine without the 6th course. It looks like you’re on track for 15+ APs?
To correct the post above, not all DC/DE courses will transfer. It will be up to the college to decide. I’m a DE student and I can say that regular CC English will not be impressive and will probably be on par with your regular English class. I’d suggest doing DE calculus if you’re good at math as you’d cover all of Calc AB and BC in one year/two semesters. U.S. History may be an online class and one you’d be able to handle over the summer.
Otherwise you have to ask where your interest lie.
If I had room in my schedule, classes I’d take would be animation, 3d modelling, Engineering, Mixed Martial Arts, Shotokan Karate, astronomy, and much much more.
There are plenty of interesting courses. The local CC has art studies for specific time periods. There are psychology, philosophy, sign language, forensics, and anthropology classes. If I took every class I had an interest in, I’d be in school forever.
On the other hand you have enough APs. What about getting a job?
I agree with the post above. As a DE student, not all DE classes are the same. Classes like English Comp I & II are like basic high school English classes. Even classes like College Algebra are only Algebra II/Pre-Calc stuff with a little extra. Personally, I like DE courses better because in classes, especially those like Government and Macroeconomics, professors have more control over what they teach and they can go deeper on certain topics. The class discussions in those classes are great. However, my situation is different because my school doesn’t offer APs (My old school did, but I didn’t like the AP format). That being said, if you don’t think you can handle another AP, don’t take it. That’s additional, unnecessary stress that could make you do worse in your other classes.
In terms of colleges, I HIGHLY doubt that you not taking 1 extra AP class would be severely detrimental to your application. You have a 4.0, in the top 10 of your class, and seem to be very involved in your school and community. With great essays and great LoRs, you’ll have a competitive application.
DUAL ENROLL! AP is such a scam. My biggest regret is going to university in with just a few credits while there are other people that come in with their AA (associate degrees) and you’ll end up registering for crappy college classes since the people with more credits have first dibs on registering.
Moral of the story: Dual Enrollment saves you money, time, you’ll be ahead of the pack in college. AP is meh.