C25 got schedule approval yesterday, and so (assuming these courses still all have seats available two weeks from today, when general registration opens) will be taking four classes, all dual enrollment:
Calculus III
German 201 (3rd semester of the sequence, the professor has said that’s the appropriate level)
Introductory physics (the lab will be taken spring semester)
The introductory linguistics course covering syntax/grammar
(The timing worked well for the kid, what with wanting to take a linguistics course and this coming fall being the first semester in several years that I’m not the only one teaching all of the intro-level linguistics courses at the local university. Both of us agree that C25 taking a course from me would be weird to say the least, even leaving aside all the extra paperwork to ensure I wasn’t being extra easy or harsh in my grading due to family ties.)
C25 also has expressed some interest in working at the university’s Writing Center as a peer consultant in the fall. The normal eligibility requirements for that position (good grades in the first-year writing sequence, overall GPA, a couple other things like that) will have been met by then, but we’re trying to figure out if DE students are eligible for any campus employment—it isn’t the sort of thing there are clear policies on here, or if there are they’ve been well hidden.
My D25 got all set up with dual enrollment today also. She’s taking a couple of courses this summer. She couldn’t fit all of her grad requirements in next year so she’s taking a gym class and a computer class. They’ll both be mostly online though and self paced so that’s nice.
How does dual enrollment work at your school? Are kids at the high school half days, and at the college campus the other half?
Our high school has teachers that are also adjunct professors so the “dual enrollment” classes (which aren’t actually called that) are taught at the high school. Our kids don’t get their schedule for next year until late August so we don’t know whether or not they got the classes they wanted until just before school starts.
S had in-school DSAT today and said it went well. His prep consisted of watching some TikTok videos over the weekend lol. Guess we will see how that strategy worked for him.
My kid’s high school is all dual enrollment—there’s classroom support space at a nearby high school, but all of the classes are regular college classes taken at the local university.
There are a few DE in the high school programs here, as well, for a few selected courses. The parameters for things like credentialing of instructors and such are in the process of being finalized—and so frankly, that side of it (speaking as college faculty in one of the departments involved) kind of feels like we’re building the airplane while we’re in flight.
At our school, the high school teachers teach the classes for dual enrollment unless it’s a class that the school doesn’t offer. In D25’s case she can’t fit the classes she needs for high school credit in during the school year so she’s opting to take them over the summer. The 2 she is taking are regular classes so by doing them this way they won’t effect her GPA ( would bring her GPA down since they have no weight). So she is able to take the AP classes she wants to next year for the weighted grade.
This is why I’m glad our school doesn’t rank. No need to be strategic in building your course list, just take what you want to take and is appropriate for you.
S25 is taking his first dual enrollment this fall. (a computer science course) I think it’s taught on site at his school, but I’m not 100% positive.
I just got off the phone with his college counselor at school. I had emailed her some questions, and she kindly called me today to discuss. She’s new and young, and I was impressed with her enthusiasm and knowledge. She said S25 is hovering the top in 10 students in the class right now (out of 175 students) and that it will be reflected in the letter she writes for him. I felt a lot better after talking with her, although I’m still hoping he can get his SAT up a bit in May.
He also needs to figure out one more teacher to ask for a letter of recommendation, since some schools require two teachers. He has the same teacher for precal/physics, who already wrote a letter for him for a summer program. So he’s a good choice. But I have no idea who he’ll ask for his second, as he’s not as engaged in his English or history courses. How are your kids deciding who to ask, particularly if they don’t have really close relationships with the other teachers?
Since weighting was mentioned, something about my kid’s school district that feels like evidence that the simulation we’re all living in was incompletely thought through: They weight AP and IB classes, but not DE classes.
Since my kid’s high school is an 11th+12th grade only, all DE school, this means that the (weighted) GPAs of a kid who goes there and gets all As can be lower than a kid who doesn’t go the all-DE route and has a UW GPA noticeably below 4.0.
Throw in the fact that different districts weight by different amounts anyway (is it an extra +½? +1? +½ for honors and +1 for AP? something else entirely), and it’s—in a more serious vein than my post’s opening—further evidence that comparing weighted GPAs is pretty much pointless, because they don’t measure the same thing from district to district, and sometimes, as in the case here, even within a single district.
I’m guessing your son is at private school? Our public school doesn’t have a college counselor (only guidance counselors, and they won’t talk to parents about college.)
I would look at the colleges where your son will apply and what their requirements are around letters of recc. For example, MIT required one stem & 1 humanities teacher. Some schools require the teacher to be from 11th or 12th grade. Is your son involved with any extracurricular where the advisor is also one of his academic teachers?
Yes, it’s a private school. I didn’t expect the counselor to call me, so I was grateful she took the time to reach out. I try not to reach out to the school about much these days, but in this case I appreciated the information she shared.
S25 is in band and shoots skeet, but the director/coach are not academic teachers. Good idea to take a look at the school requirements for letters. S25 has had the same teacher for his computer science sequence for the past 2+ years, so he would be a logical choice. However, this is the same teacher who told my son in a fit of exasperation, “You push so many buttons one day I fear you’ll push the nuclear button!” Thankfully he’s grown up a lot the last year so hopefully his squirreliness has been somewhat forgotten! (Or forgiven?)
Its a regional award. The Scholastic Arts and Writing competition starts with a regional round, in which Gold Keys, Silver Keys, and Honorable Mentions are awarded. Gold Keys move on to the national round. Its an old and prestigious competition. D22 won a National Gold Medal for a short story. It was a pretty big deal, considering the competition’s history.
“Did you know that the Awards have been around for more than 100 years? Our visionary alumni include Tschabalala Self, Stephen King, Kay WalkingStick, José Parlá, Amanda Gorman, Charles White, Joyce Carol Oates, and Andy Warhol .”
That’s a tough one! I agree a core teacher he’s had 2+ years seems the logical choice. When was this fit of exasperation?
Does your son have a gut feeling for which teacher “likes” him best? Teachers try to hide any sign of who they like/dislike but sometimes it’s clear despite their best efforts.
Definitely go with the science/math teacher who already wrote a recc!
That’s neat. I don’t think our school participates in this or even knows about it. Downfall of going to a small private high school (300 ish total kids 9th-12th).
Ours is only 450 or so. Still, it’s not affiliated with the school and she did it out of her own volition. D22 was encouraged by her creative writing teacher. One of her submissions was her Common App essay and it was pretty neat when that won an award too.
Just wanted to share that the two public high schools where we live have college counseling centers with counselors who are very well versed, and some have been readers for college applications. It’s an incredible resource and honestly I would have paid for it. It certainly felt like a paid resource. These schools have 3,000 kids each. I don’t think everyone takes advantage of it, but they made the college application process a breeze!