Pre-med has various complications that many high school students are not aware of:
I may be more cynical than the average bear, but in our (suburban, public, competitive, offers 20+ AP classes) high school, it seems like kids seek out duel enrollment mostly because they want the GPA and class rank boost that they get from DE classes.
Iâll be honest, I had never even heard of DE until this past spring, during the high school open house for D27. I had kind of been wondering how C24, with 4.2 weighted GPA (out of 5), was barely cracking the top 50% of their class, even taking the highest level academic classes they were allowed to. A few moms clued me in that DE classes offer the same GPA boost as APs, so there are kids who take as many classes as possible as DE rather than taking those same classes at the high school without a GPA boost.
Is it unfair? Eh. Maybe. I think itâs more about choices â some kids choose to prioritize having the highest GPA possible, and I canât fault them for taking advantage of a system that allows them to do it. We chose to encourage C24 to take the electives that most interested them, without really thinking about the honors/AP status of those classes. It would be weird for us now to complain that their GPA isnât sky-high.
My sonâs DE classes are through a private four year university his high school works with. UC Berkeley is accepting all of his credit.
My kid goes to a public school with diminishing AP classes (they have about 8-9 this year). Reading the tea leaves, we planned for my kid to try and earn an Associateâs in a STEM subject, concurrent with high school graduation. This is an attempt to show rigor in a school with limited subjects. Donât know how it will impact any val/sal calculations, but not sure my kid is in the running for that (since Iâm not sure how this is determined at our school, frankly).
Kid is taking generally basic courses in CA A-G requirements; most should transfer to a UC/CSU. Some have been harder than high school (the math and compsci courses), some perhaps less rigorous. Kid did take some AP tests so that there is a national standard confirming material mastery.
The OP seems to have a decent school for their kid. With 20 AOs offered, it seems like AOs will wonder why a kid would do DE when the AP selection on campus is robust. Perhaps a few DE courses for continued course rigor/subject interest/availability in the face of closed AP courses.
I donât think admissions offices give preference in admissions to AP over DE over IB. All may be the way to get the âmost rigorousâ check mark from the GC, a LOR from a teacher, or earn college credit for classes taken in hs.
I disagree. Some choose the DE route to get an AA degree while in hs. Some take AP tests without ever taking the class which, to me, doesnât show rigor at all.
Some take DE courses, but also try to take AP tests if they cover that material, in case they apply or matriculate to colleges that distrust their DE course content and rigor.
This is what my son did. Took DE classes and the AP tests.
My kid as well. I read on here a few years ago that Canadian schools recognize the national standard of AP test scores better than a more localized dual enrolment transcript.
This is true for UGA. They recalculate all GPAs and only give a boost to AP and IB classes. No extra points for honors or DE classes because theyâre not standardized and itâs too hard to judge the rigor.
Interesting. I wonder what other schools in the US do that.
My kid had to pursue DE classes and an Associates degree because: A) school was losing AP classes and B) my kid is in a sport where they travel so class attendance is impacted.
It was a way of pursuing rigor in an unusual schooling/athletic situation. So despite a lot of hard work, who knows how a school like UGA would evaluate such a studentâs transcript.
Especially since Math, English and Science classes are the bulk of the DE ones.
I did tell my kid, however, that if a school canât recognize your commitment to both educating yourself and your sacrifices as an athlete, then you werenât meant to be there.
Would private colleges look at the # of DE credits and think there is less money to be made by admitting this student? if this is true, then having a lot of #DE credits would be a disadvantage?
Private colleges that think this way sometimes impose significant restrictions on the use of college credit during high school (and also sometimes AP credit as well).
For public colleges, where most students are subsidized, the opposite incentive exists, so they are often generous with credit, although subject credit may be less generous at specific colleges or departments.
No private school either of my kids applied to counted DE for anything(AP and IB in some cases counts for advancement, not DE), so no, DE is not considered with that lens, to my knowledge.
Thatâs why I worry about these kids reaching for tops with 60 credits - Ivy, MIT, etc. If they want credit they need to ramp down their list. 2 or 2.5 years of revenue, unless a transfer, donât help them when they can get four years. The vast majority of publics mainly donât seem to have this concern.
Agree. It gets confusing when some private colleges like USC and Santa Clara (which take transfers like UCs) maintain extensive lists on which CC courses transfer.
Maybe it is just a california thing to compete with UCs.
One of my sonâs close friends is a freshman at USC. My son is a freshman at Berkeley. USC will take none of the dual credit. Berkeley is accepting 67 units from my son. If this other boy had gotten into UCLA or Berkeley heâd have gone, mainly due to the dual credit issue.
W&L accepted my older Sâ DE credits taken in VA through their Governorâs School Program, but they capped the number (from all sources) at 28. He probably had a good 80+ worth between DE, AP, and the local uni. He was so happy to skip all science classes. Heâs a math/money guy.
On the flip side, my younger S just did the governorâs school program and a few other APs. He didnât sit for any exams because he didnât want to, and the teachers had a poor track record with results. His large in-state public accepted all of his DEs - upper 50s worth i think. He didnât want to do honors college, because you have to take extra classes in subjects he wasnât interested in. And with his extra DE credits, he got to register ahead of them anyway. He got everything he wanted when he wanted with the teacher he wanted.
So USC (for first-year applicants) do not take DE credits, but they take the DE credits for transfers?
Possibly? Their policy is if the class counted toward graduation requirements on their high school transcript, they wonât take it.
Such policies seem like a way to limit incoming frosh credit (or often subject credit or advanced placement as well). It is not consistent when the college accepts AP or IB credit, since the AP or IB courses also are used for high school graduation requirements.