Dual Enrollment Classes at a college...

zpmqxonw
Fri, 27 Oct 2006 13:14:58 +0000

I wrote a really long post about my experiences with dual-enrollment, a couple months ago. I posted it below…



Okay, this is probably going to be a long post… Just a warning

I’m a senior in Washington state’s dual enrollment program (Running Start). I’ve had a wonderful experience and am extremely thankful for the opportunity to take these challenging classes.

From what I’ve found, its very important to spend a lot of time investigating which community college you’re planning to attend. It may not make any difference to colleges, but it will definitely affect your experience there greatly. Case in point, I attended a great community college junior year. It was tiny, new, high-tech, and had excellent teachers. The individualized attention there was unbelievable. Most classes had 10-15 people and the professors were extremely engaging during lecture and supportive not only during class, but also outside of it. Emails were almost always responded to in an hour, office hours were plentiful, and professors were truly focused on teaching. I loved my time there. Now, I have “outgrown” the tiny community college and take classes at a different one. Classes are a little bigger, teachers are a bit busier, students don’t work together as much. Its still a lot better than my previous experience in high school, but I’ve now realized how lucky I was to attend the tiny one first.

Second, choose your courses wisely! I can not stress this enough. The truth is you’re not going to find too many slackers in Calculus or Calc-Based Physics On the other hand, Art 101 or College Success may have some less-motivated students. Also take time to choose your professors if you can. Go somewhere like ratemyprofessors.com and scrutinize the ratings. Usually, I try to find professors with a very low easiness rating and very high helpfulness rating. A good professor can make even your least favorite subject come alive!

Also, be aware that you may “outgrow” the community college. This quarter, I’ll be finishing up the Calculus, Chemistry, and Physics sequences at my community college. I think I probably would have also ran out of math/science AP courses at my high school anyway though, so I’m not entirely sure it was a result of the dual-enrollment. For next semester (winter and spring quarter), I plan to take some classes at the university as a non-matriculated student. However, I do not think the school district will pay for these classes like they paid for the Running Start ones. Its probably going to cost me 3,000-4,000 dollars for the semester, but I believe its worth it. You may want to check with your high school counselor to see if you can work out some sort of agreement.

As for what colleges think
I really have no idea. I’ve heard so many different opinions on this board ranging all the way from “You have a crazy rigourous courseload” to “Community college classes are horrible.” Right now, the only thing I know for sure is that this was the right choice for me. These courses I’ve taken have been so much more rigourous and engaging than any AP class I ever took at my high school. I did not enjoy my AP courses one bit. I hated the teaching to the test, the constant “Oh, that’s not important because its not on the AP test.” We spent a whole year taking practice exams and watching movies! No lectures, no tests, no real learning for the sake of learning. I suppose those AP classes might have left a sour taste in my mouth, but I still am extremely satisfied with my decision.

For applying to colleges, I believe you will be okay as long as you do not drop out of high school. Most colleges are aware that students exhaust their curriculum and may choose to take courses at nearby colleges. I am unsure as to whether earning an associate’s degree would change the “status” of an applicant. Personally, I’ve chosen not to earn the associate’s degree. I will be approximately 2 classes short of the degree, but would rather spend my time in higher math and science classes.

Lastly, I believe one of the main benefits of Running Start is the speed at which the material is covered. The college I attend is on a quarter system and those 11-12 weeks sure go by fast! As a result of the fast-pace, I’ll be able to sink my teeth into college junior and senior level math and physics classes at the university next semester (multivariable calc, linear algebra, multivariable, discrete structures, real analysis, etc…). To a math and science girl like me, this is extremely exciting. My high school simply didn’t offer these classes and Running Start helped me to get to these classes while I’m in high school.

Good luck with your decision!



And yes, I did just quote myself… lol.