Dual enrollment?

[sixglides]

Does this mean the child receives high school AND college credit?

 

My DD is taking a foreign language class this summer at the local university where she gets 5 college credits, equivalent of 1 semester, the 101 of the language.

 

Would this meet 1 year of high school foreign language requirement? (for state regulation & college entrance). If she took the 102 level next summer, would it give her the 2 years needed?

[livingmydream]

From what I understand, though we are not there yet. YES!

[Lori D.]

Does this mean the child receives high school AND college credit?

 

Yes.

 

 

Would this meet 1 year of high school foreign language requirement? (for state regulation & college entrance).

 

Yes.

 

 

If she took the 102 level next summer, would it give her the 2 years needed?

 

And, yes. :)

[sixglides]

I wish you could see our happy dance going on right now!!

[creekland]

Just note that not all 4 year colleges will accept dual enrollment credit. Some do, some don't, and many accept some credits, but not all. ;)

[4kids13971]

How can I find out which colleges offer dual enrollment? and how do I find out which colleges accept the credits?

[AngieW in Texas]

Community colleges generally have matriculation agreements with the state schools for that state (but you should verify this for your cc). Some private schools will accept the credits too, but many will only accept the college credits that go beyond what is required for high school.

 

If my middle dd goes to the same state school that my oldest is at, they will accept all of her credits from the cc.

 

If she goes to the private school that she is also considering, she will only get credits for the extra courses she takes. She'll have 3 years of science from home and 3 semesters from the cc (each one counting for a full year). They want to see 4 years of science, so they will accept 2 semesters of science from the cc. She will have 3 years of English at home and 1 year at the cc, so they wouldn't give any credit for that. She will have 3 years of history at home and 1 year of government at the cc, but they want to see 4 years, so they wouldn't give credit for that either.

 

Altogether, the private school would end up giving her 8 college credits for only one year of science and nothing else. The state school, however, would give her 12 college credits for science, 3 college credits for English (1st semester counts as elective because it's required only for students who don't place out of it), 3 college credits for psychology, 10 free elective credits for her 2 semesters of Spanish (not required for any degree aside from foreign language), 3 free elective credits for programming fundamentals (because it's a class that can be placed out of, but my dd couldn't place out of it yet), 6 credits for government, and 3 credits for logic (counts as a humanities course).

[creekland]

How can I find out which colleges offer dual enrollment? and how do I find out which colleges accept the credits?

 

Most community colleges and some 4 year schools offer dual enrollment. Sometimes there is a minimum age limit (ours is 16) and sometimes there isn't.

 

Pretty much all state schools will accept credits from their state community colleges, but it never hurts to check because there have been some reports on here where that hasn't happened or the student gets elective credits instead of specific course credits.

 

Private schools differ. In general (meaning not always), the more selective the college is for admissions, the pickier they are with accepting credits. Some accept none. Some have a number of credits limit. Some will accept credits outside of the desired major, but not within it. Some will accept all. The only way to truly know what a college will do is to ask them. You can't really generalize from one to another.

 

The reason given for not accepting credits is the general belief that cc courses are not as in depth as their courses (or that they can't count on the cc course being as in depth). When I have talked with students at a couple of schools who don't accept credit, this has been true in their experience. They told me at their level college it is expected that students come in with a cc level of knowledge, then their class spends about 2 weeks in a quick review before going deeper and/or on to other aspects. AP credits can work the same way (though we've seen more credit given for AP than cc with private colleges).

 

The bottom line is it never hurts to do dual enrollment as long as one is ready and gets decent grades. (I'd definitely not do it if a student is struggling.) If a student's goal is to save themselves time at college, pick a school where it works. If their goal is to attend a more selective school, having a basic college level class while in high school is almost a requirement to get accepted. It's NOT an actual requirement. Some students are likely to be accepted each year without them, but they also may be at a disadvantage with their foundation or they may have to start with remedial classes (for this school). An example would be College Algebra. Our high school gives college credit for this class from our local cc. State schools accept it as credit. Many more selective private schools consider it remedial and don't offer credit. They just expect a student to have the knowledge from it if they need math for their major.

[Gwen in VA]

We did dual enrollment for many classes in high school, but we were NOT trying to maximize college credit.

 

We did dual enrollment for --

 

1) a more rigorous high school education

2) a more rigorous transcript that helped my kids get into top colleges and receive oodles of merit aid.

 

The college my older two went to did not accept any CC credits. The college my ds2 is going to this fall accepts no transfer credits whatsoever.

 

But dual credit is useful for rigor and college acceptance purposes even if none of the credit transfers.

[sixglides]

If the credits are from a 4 year university, not community college, are they 'usually' accepted? Or same thing, check with the school.

 

My older son, pre-med, just finished first year at university. Several of his AP's didn't transfer to his major. BUT...he said the AP's helped him so much with work load, made it easier to get through, so much was review. Even if they don't transfer in the way they expected, it was a big benefit to him. One more side note, they credits transferred somehow (in a way I haven't tried to figure out) that will give him upper classmen status, which is good (he says) for priority registration for classes. He should be a 'senior' for all but his first 3 semesters in college.

[SkateLeft]

But dual credit is useful for rigor and college acceptance purposes even if none of the credit transfers.

 

:iagree:

 

This is exactly our thinking too! Plus, the dual enrollment experience has been invaluable to my dd, even if she doesn't receive transfer credit for anything she's completed. She's learned to manage her time, study for tests, deal with college bureaucracy, etc.

 

She has focused primarily on taking classes that are likely to meet general education requirements at the universities that she's interested in. As an engineering track kid, she's avoiding taking anything that she'd need or want to take at her four year university for her major. She's taken the chem sequence for health science majors, so she can take the chem sequence for engineering majors at her four year university. She knew her chem classes wouldn't transfer, but that's not why she took them.

 

As others have said, I think it's important to figure out how keen you are on getting transfer credit, and plan accordingly. If you really want to earn transfer credit, utilize the articulation agreements available.

[creekland]

If the credits are from a 4 year university, not community college, are they 'usually' accepted? Or same thing, check with the school.

 

 

 

Same thing - check with the school. I know a student from our school who took classes AT Penn St as a freshman, then transferred to another, higher level, college. His credits did NOT transfer. This wasn't even dual enrollment.

 

It will mainly depend upon the school you are going to and what they think about the school you are coming from (or if they make blanket decisions for all).

 

The more selective you go for colleges, the less likely they are to accept as much.

 

Like others, we did dual enrollment for reasons other than wanting credit. Oldest got to transfer his English credit. Middle won't get to transfer any. I'm ok with both. Educationally, oldest would have been better off NOT accepting his English credits as the class at his 4 year school was more rigorous (his opinion seeing both English 101 classes), but since he's not a big English fan, he's happy he got by with the easier class. :glare:

 

If a student is looking for college credit, also consider AP options. State schools accept those equally to cc and private schools are more likely to give credit for AP if one gets a 4 or 5 on the test in May (but again, not always).

[Kareni]

We did dual enrollment for many classes in high school, but we were NOT trying to maximize college credit.

 

We did dual enrollment for --

 

1) a more rigorous high school education

2) a more rigorous transcript that helped my kids get into top colleges and receive oodles of merit aid.

 

This was our rationale, too. It also gave my daughter the experience of other teachers with differing styles and expectations.

 

The college my older two went to did not accept any CC credits. ...

 

This was also true of my daughter's liberal art college.

 

But dual credit is useful for rigor and college acceptance purposes even if none of the credit transfers.

 

I concur.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Gwen in VA]

Originally Posted by sixglides

If the credits are from a 4 year university, not community college, are they 'usually' accepted? Or same thing, check with the school.

 

I second the comment, "It depends."

 

True story -- in the 1980's MIT did not accept two semesters of A's in Smith College's honors chemistry for any credit whatsoever! (And since MIT's chemistry was so much more challenging, MIT was wise not to!!!)

[Sunshine State Sue]

and how do I find out which colleges accept the credits?

To find out which colleges accept credits, go to their website and search for transfer credit. Here is the page for Georgia Tech. Click on transfer equivalencies, choose the school, and you can easily find out what will transfer and what will not. Georgia Tech makes it easy. It may not be as easy elsewhere. Here is what Emory University has to say:

Q: Will Emory University take all of my college course work if I am accepted?

A: We will review your official transcripts with the required accompanying descriptions of courses from your institution's course catalog only after you have been accepted. If the class description is similar to what we offer here at Emory, that course will count towards Emory graduation credit. We will award a maximum of 64 credit hours.

 

HTH!