Dual Credit vs AP for Admissions

BPro
Mon, 09 Oct 2023 12:49:09 +0000

I agree Dual Credit is very inconsistent and often laughably easy when taught in the high school environment.

I spent years working as an academic professional in higher education for a large non-profit/association that provided me access to many admission counselors from many universities. I have 3 kids, 2 graduates of a highly ranked 6A school. Kiddo number 3 was a very unique case where she was ready for AP classes by the time she was 12yo but our large district’s policy wouldn’t allow AP access due to her age (so frustrating - another topic). Based on a great deal of advice and research we proceeded to enroll her as a DE student in university. I can tell you from personal experience, my older kid’s AP classes did not command as much respect as my youngest daughter’s DE. Don’t get me wrong… my older kids did very well and both were admitted to competitive schools with academic scholarships, but younger kiddo’s DE commanded A LOT more respect in admissions because they were high level from respected colleges/universities. On the other hand, middle kiddo took PLTW his senior year for DE through the 6A high school… meh… waste of time no one looked twice at it. That’s why I say it depends on the DE, where it was taken and at what level.

I think it’s also worth mentioning, once you pass the 4.0 marker, GPA and the nuances between 4.0-4.5-5.0 become less and less relevant. By that point the things beyond GPA such as rigor, focus, passion, etc, become far more attention getting than the numbers.