From what I understand, DE is basically if you were to take two sequential courses on a subject, (like Intro Psych and something else), while AP is just one course/semester stretched into one year (only Intro Psych). I’ve always struggled trying to figure out why AP is considered harder than DE, so I finally asked my counselor, and his answer was that the syllabus made for a faster pace than DE. To be honest, this confuses me. Does this mean that DE is actually one course stretched out into a year? But what if you take CC classes, that are actually taught as college level courses? Are they still considered less rigorous than AP, even if they are more than a ‘sample’ of what college is really like, which is what CollegeBoard claims AP does. If my counselor is right, real CC classes that are listed as DE are viewed as easier than they really are, and if I’m, right, DE is given a bad rep.
What do you guys think? There are very few (if at all) high schoolers taking courses at our CC right now, so I may be getting confused here.
AP courses are standardized. DE courses are not. I took a course at my CC, and it was extremely, extremely easy–easier than some of the regular classes I’ve taken at school. Colleges never know how difficult DE courses are, but AP courses are generally more standardized. DE courses tend to last a semester. They aren’t (and shouldn’t be) given a bad rep, but they’re not always considered as big of a thing as AP courses are.
Would taking a DE class instead of an AP course be looked down upon if you had no other choice (you could only take it online, but an AP option wasn’t available)? What if it were done through a notable program, like BYU Independent Study?
Dual enrollment refers to high school students taking classes from a local college or university for both high school and college credit. In most cases, you take the classes on a college campus and your classmates are college students. However, some high schools offer dual-enrollment classes on their own campuses. You still earn credit from the local college, but your classmates are high school students.
Most college classes last one semester, which is about four months. Most high school classes last all year unless your school has block scheduling (where you take four classes at a time, but switch classes halfway through the semester). Full-time college students take 4-6 classes each semester, whereas high school students take eight classes each year. It evens out, at least in theory.
It isn’t! Many colleges have dual-enrollment programs, including some prestigious universities (both public and private). Many students use dual-enrollment programs to take classes above the level of AP, such as multivariable calculus. When you’re comparing two equivalent classes (e.g., Calculus I and AP Calculus AB) that are both available to you, colleges would rather you take the AP class because AP is standardized and they’ll have a better idea of how rigorous the course was. Dual-enrollment courses are less predictable, but not necessarily less challenging.
Of course not, although I’d say that taking a class on a college campus (if possible) is better than taking an online class.
With DE you can take bountiful amounts of courses. When I was doing DE I did 17-20 credit hours (equivalent 12 APS). The schools don’t want you to know about DE because it looses money for the school. GT and Purdue even has a DE programs. AP classes cannot replace the college environment, where you feel you have more time and you need to figure it out how to use it more productively.
AP tests are much more rigorous, IN GENERAL, but that doesn’t mean that some DE courses are just as rigorous our even tougher. Studies show that the average person with a credit in a DE course does about as well as a person who is borderline 1/2 on an AP test (that’s not good). The real thing is that AP courses have that test and the teacher has no choice, but to teach it all, because that’s the measuring stick. DE has no quality control in general.
Top notch colleges will ding an applicant who opts for a DE course if they had the option of taking the AP course. Their decision on you admissions will not be influenced by your AP test score, but by the grade you got in the course. They see a kid with a 1 in an AP test, but an A in the course, the thought is, they took the most rigorous course possible and got A. They are smart enough to know that a situation like that probably means the curriculum wasn’t covered correctly in the course, and don’t blame that on the student.
However, if there is no competing AP course at a high school that a kid seems to be dodging, the colleges love to see DE courses on the application (assuming they are making good grades in the courses).