Why Dual Enrollment Is Better Than AP for Accumulating College Credits in High School

So, you’re a junior or a senior high schooler, and you need to curate a transcript with challenging courses that will make you a competitive applicant for your dream university. Or a high-achieving freshman or sophomore who wants to finish college in less than four years. Or maybe you’re a parent of a middle-schooler or young high schooler who sees a lot of academic potential in your child but isn’t sure how to push him or her to take advantage of it. You’ve heard about AP courses, IB courses, Honors courses, and dual enrollment courses, and frankly, the number of options is overwhelming. Some schools offer a limited number of such courses, but with the increasing availability of online high school courses and the opportunities at online or local community and technical colleges, now more than ever students can rack up college credits while still in high school. But what’s the best, most efficient way to do this?

As the oldest of three children and the most invested in education, I naturally was the guinea pig. My school offered Honors courses and AP courses. I had started taking high school courses in middle school, so I had plenty of space for extra classes. When courses were offered as Honors, I took those. My school offered eight AP courses; I took all eight. Thankfully, I test well and managed to get 4’s and 5’s on all my AP exams (I’ll talk more about the scoring system in a bit). I survived. But let’s face it. AP courses are insanely stressful because whether or not you receive college credit for an entire year’s worth of studying, homework, and tests boils down to one brutally long standardized exam. Yes, I ended up with college credits that got me out of several Gen Ed courses and even got me into an accelerated chemistry course. But now, looking back, I could have saved myself a lot of stress, cramming, and worry by taking dual enrollment courses instead of AP courses.

On the other hand, my brother took a variety of classes at a local technical college. He was able to find the exact classes he would need later on for the mechanical engineering degree he wants to pursue as well as interesting electives to fulfill the Gen Ed requirements. He’s already gotten a fantastic recommendation letter from one of his professors. Think about how awesome this will make his college application look! And best of all, as long as he gets a C in the course, he’ll earn college credit. Boom. No single terrifying exam in May after cramming for an entire year. No wondering if he’ll fail to earn college credit even with all A’s and B’s in his classes. Nope. And his dual enrollment courses will be processed as transfer courses when he attends the university of his choice, which means that even if he gets a C in nasty Calculus II, it won’t affect his college GPA! And if you’re worried about a lower than desired grade affecting your high school GPA, remember that these courses, especially weed-out Gen Ed courses, are often more challenging. If you can hold your own in a college course during high school, even with a slight dip in your GPA, you’ve proven yourself to the colleges you apply to. A 3.7 high school GPA accompanied with a transcript showcasing dual enrollment courses is going to look more attractive to colleges than a 4.0 with only generic high school courses.

As an even more specific example of the benefits of dual enrollment, I took AP Calculus AB in high school. I received credit for Calculus I, which is 4 credits, and then had to take Calculus II my first semester of college. I attend college out of state, so my tuition is at approximately $1000 per credit hour. Two years later, my brother took Calculus I and Calculus II at our local technical college. In one year, and at a fraction of the cost, my brother completed what took me a year and a half.

Now let’s dig deeper into AP and dual enrollment courses to understand how they work and what pros and cons they offer.

AP Courses

AP Courses revolve around exams offered once a year in May. They offer a suggested curriculum for what students must study for the exam, although textbooks and test prep books will differ from school to school. While the grade in the class is what determines the student’s grade, the cumulative exam offered by College Board is what really matters if you’re looking for college credit. The exams are graded on a scale from 1 to 5, and the curve varies from year to year depending on how students collectively perform. Usually, a score of 3 or above is enough to secure college credits, though some schools only offer credit for higher scores or provide a tiered system where higher scores receive more college credits and count towards more courses.

In general AP courses only count for one or two college courses. That translates to two semesters’ worth of work for 3-6 college credits, and that depends entirely upon your score. If you receive 3 college credits for one AP exam, you’ve essentially spent two semesters earning one semester’s worth of college material. What’s worse is that no two colleges are alike in their acceptance policy for AP exam scores. For example, let’s say you took the AP English Language and Composition exam and scored a 4. At the University of Florida, you receive 6 college credits and automatically pass ENC1101 and ENC1102. But at UNC-Chapel Hill, you only receive 3 college credits which are counted towards an English elective. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to differences in acceptance of AP exam scores. You could get lucky, but it’s a risk, one that could cost you hundreds to thousands of dollars in tuition. If you end up at a different college than you originally thought you would, the difference in how your AP scores are processed could mess up your college plans big time, and you have no control over the situation if that happens. The best you can do is research your top schools to see what the best AP exams to take are for your particular situation, then study, study, study and pray that you get the score you need.

Dual Enrollment Courses

Dual enrollment allows high schoolers to enroll at a college and receives both high school and college credits for the classes they take. Instead of college credit contingent upon a single standardized test grade, college credit is awarded by class grade, just like in regular high school or college classes. This means that college credit depends upon all homework, papers, exams, and projects for the class, allowing for a much greater margin of error, especially for those who tend to test poorly on standardized exams but are able to maintain a good overall grade in their classes.

Some high schools offer bridged programs with a local college where students can take dual enrollment classes at their own high school. It is also common, however, for high schoolers to simply enroll in courses through their local community or technical college. Many of these colleges have programs and assistance for dual enrollment students on their websites, which are great resources for discovering classes that can fulfill requirements such as Gen Eds and prerequisites in college.

The main caveat with dual enrollment is to ensure that you take courses from a community or technical college that will be accepted by the university you want to attend. For example, some universities require transfer credits to come from colleges accredited in a specific region or organization. Dual enrollment classes are valuable because of the opportunity they provide for high schoolers to rack up college credit, but if your college of choice won’t accept transfer credits from the community or technical college you attended, this defeats the entire purpose of dual enrollment. This is an avoidable risk, however. Just make sure to search for transfer course requirements at your college of choice to see if they will accept your dual enrollment courses. To be extra safe, you can also reach out to an advisor at the college to confirm course equivalencies for specific community or technical colleges in your area or online.

In Summary…

I would highly suggest dual enrollment courses in favor of AP courses because of the decreased risk of not actually receiving the desired college credits, the greater variety of courses available, and the efficiency of single semester courses rather than academic year courses. Every student has different needs and strengths, so for some, AP courses may still be more attractive or more accessible, but I believe that for many students the pros of dual enrollment significantly outweigh those of AP courses.

If you liked this article, you may also enjoy Why Every High School Student Should Take AP Art History. (And of course, this would pertain to dual enrollment art history courses as well!) Alternatively, check out my profile to browse my stories in other genres and follow me on Facebook to get updates on new articles. Thanks for reading!