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Pros and Cons of Dual Enrollment

Demand for dual enrollment, also called concurrent enrollment, is growing in our high schools. In fact, one in five community college students are high school students. 2.5 million high school students took a college course in 2022-23, many of those were in California. It is not uncommon for students to earn an AA before they have even graduated high school. These college-level classes are marketed as being rigorous and as granting college credits while counting double for high school credit. What’s not to like?

What is it?

There is plenty to like, but, as with everything, it is important to know all the facts. Dual enrollment is defined as when high school students take college-level courses. This can look several different ways. A high school student might enroll in a college course on their own to explore classes and interests beyond what their high school offers. If the student wants high school credit, the high school might need to approve the class . This option is often used when a student has maxed-out available courses in a certain subject. In another scenario, a high school might have an agreement with a college to have a course taught on the high school campus. These courses follow the college curriculum and might be taught by the college’s faculty or by a high school teacher who has been trained in the curriculum and certified by the college. Another option is high school “articulation” when a community college reviews a high school’s Career Technical Education (CTE) curriculum and decides to grant college credit for the coursework.

Each of these iterations of dual enrollment come with their own considerations. Who is teaching it? Who pays for it? Is the college credit transferable? Is it better than taking an equivalent Advanced Placement class? The fact that there are so many questions and a lack of consistency leads many to be skeptical of the value of these courses.

Why Does it Matter?

The ability to offer college courses gives high schools the opportunity to offer practical career-oriented classes and/or more advanced classes that they might not have otherwise been able to. These, however, come at a price usually shouldered by the district but sometimes shared by the parents. Unfortunately, not all districts or the families they serve have room in their budgets for this expense. This creates an accessibility issue as dual enrollment options are typically more prevalent in wealthier districts.

A commonly asked question is how taking college courses factors into admissions. The answer can vary widely between institutions. There is consensus that these courses are more advanced than standard high school classes and choosing to take them demonstrates a student’s desire to go above and beyond the minimum requirements. It shows they have taken advantage of all opportunities available to them. But which is viewed as more rigorous when there is an equivalent AP course? The UCs do not have a preference among the various forms of advanced coursework, but that is not universal. Community college courses are generally considered easier than AP courses, and unlike the AP, the curriculum is not standardized. These facts can be a consideration when a transcript is being evaluated.

What about that elusive promise of college credit at the end of the course? The college credit awarded is often not transferable to the college or university where a student eventually enrolls. Credit is more widely granted for high AP test scores, but colleges have different policies about that as well, and it can depend on the course and the test result. In other words, not all AP courses or test results are treated equally. Additionally, students often elect to not take the AP test thus eliminating all possibility of getting credit.

For these reasons and more, at the end of the day if asked which class a student should take next year, I am most likely going to say, “It depends.”

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Which, If Any, APs?

With the start of a new school year and the last day to drop/add classes looming, I have been flooded with questions about the importance of certain Advanced Placement classes. We know that rigor in the curriculum and performance in core academic classes carry the most weight in admissions decisions. This is true for schools with and without holistic admissions approaches. Rigor is demonstrated by taking as many core academic classes as possible in the four years of high school and by taking advanced classes such as Honors, AP, IB and, dual-enrollment college classes.

Advanced Placement is the most popular of these advanced classes for several reasons. Unlike dual enrollment, the curriculum is set at a national level and can be reviewed and evaluated by colleges. They are also more prevalent in high school offerings than is the prestigious International Baccalaureate Program. However, when it comes to selecting AP classes, not all are created equal. Many on “both sides of the desk” feel that some APs are “softer.” Usually mentioned in this list are Human Geography, Statistics, Environmental Science, Studio Art, and Psychology. Sometimes mentioned are English Composition, Seminar, and Spanish Literature. This does not mean that a student shouldn’t choose to take any of those. It means that their relevance on a transcript is dependent on a student’s intended field of study in college. Calculus is preferable to Statistics for most STEM and Business majors at highly selective schools, but Stats is a solid choice for others. AP Biology is the right choice for a pre-med student but taking AP Environmental Science demonstrates a deep interest if the student intends to be an Ecologist. In addition to intended majors, one should consider their academic strengths when picking an AP class. Statistics, for instance, is usually easier for students who process language well; strong reading skills often help. Calculus BC is the same as AB but with an additional two or three topics. Pre-Calculus is the prerequisite for both, so the choice would likely depend on how fast you absorb new math concepts and if your school allows you to “skip” AB.

Another thing to keep in mind is that every college has its own list of AP tests and minimum scores for which they will give credit. It might be worth investigating the AP policies of schools on your list before you decide to add/drop an AP class. Additionally, many schools and especially the UCs like to see that students who took an AP class followed through and sat for the test. They see taking the tests as another demonstration of challenging oneself. AP test results are not typically considered in admissions decisions, at least not yet, so this is not risky.

Which AP to take can be a complex and individual decision. It should be made based on the student’s future interests. It should also be made with one’s strengths in mind and with awareness of the subsequent workload. The student who takes every AP available is probably sacrificing other important activities and maybe even their happiness. At the end of the day, your mental health is more important than a college application.

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Are SAT and ACT Drowning?

Boomer is my puppy Golden Retriever. When the weather warmed up, it was time to introduce him to the pool. It’s in his DNA to like the water, but he didn’t know that. In fact, he didn’t know that he inherently knew how to swim. His first attempts were awkward, to say the least. He excessively kicked and sputtered and generally looked as if he might drown.

As I watched Boomer one day flailing in the pool with a terrified look on his face, I couldn’t help but think about ACT and the College Board. They, too, appear to be flailing while trying desperately not to drown. ACT and the College Board added dates to their fall testing schedule in an attempt to accommodate the thousands of students who had had their test dates canceled in the spring and summer. Fall registration opened Monday at ACT, and by 3:00 Eastern time, they had tweeted, “We are in the process of soft-launching a new registration system, which is experiencing some performance issues due to unusually high demand. We are working diligently to improve the experience for all users.” Two hours later they took the registration page down. In July they had to apologize to the students who were not given advanced warning that their test centers were closed; those students discovered that when they showed up to take the test. This follows their decision to postpone the online testing they had promised until 2021. Also, ACT’s system is set up so that if your test is canceled, you still have to pay to register for a new date. They say your original money will be refunded in 3-5 business days. Does that sound like drowning to you? It does to me. It is not their fault, of course, that the pandemic is forcing last minute closures of testing centers, but decisions such as launching a new untried portal on a day that predictably would have an unprecedented number of users, reveal an industry in utter turmoil.

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