How are selective colleges looking at DE classes?

[Anonymous]

My kid is considering taking an online DE class next semester through our community college. It’s their idea, in a subject they’re interested in (history). But it will be in addition to their regular classes, not in place of anything.

Wondering if anyone knows how selective colleges are currently looking at this - if it’s something that doesn’t matter too much, or does it stand out? So many top students at my kid’s school take DE classes nowadays…I’m worried the transcript will be weaker without it. Reach schools - Notre Dame, OOS UVA.

Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

No one knows…?

[Anonymous]

I think colleges have sort of an uneasy relationship with them because for some students it's the only way they can access advanced courses. For other students it's a way to get a college credit at an easier school than they want to be admitted at. I think if you have lots of AP/IB there is no need for DE. I think the only time in that case it's a help is if you're pursuing a STEM field and you need to go beyond AP Calc BC to take four years of math in HS. You can either do AP stats or take another math course DE. But many colleges want you to take their math sequence anyway.

But this is just my hunch from asking questions about it when visiting schools, reading interviews from AOs online etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think colleges have sort of an uneasy relationship with them because for some students it's the only way they can access advanced courses. For other students it's a way to get a college credit at an easier school than they want to be admitted at. I think if you have lots of AP/IB there is no need for DE. I think the only time in that case it's a help is if you're pursuing a STEM field and you need to go beyond AP Calc BC to take four years of math in HS. You can either do AP stats or take another math course DE. But many colleges want you to take their math sequence anyway.

But this is just my hunch from asking questions about it when visiting schools, reading interviews from AOs online etc.

Thank you! I was trying to find some insights from AO’s online, but I didn’t turn up much. Appreciate your thoughts!

[Anonymous]

TF is a DE class?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TF is a DE class?

??

[Anonymous]

Dual Enrollment = Class at Community College

If your kid wants to do it then fine. I would not base anything on college admissions which is getting more and more random.

[Anonymous]

There's a student at Princeton currently who had some acclaim recently for her oratorical performance in national / international events. She apparently had 36 IB / DE classes at the time of her graduation from HS. I guess IB programs label everything IB, including PE / Health and electives.

[Anonymous]

DE is generally regarded as a way to inflate HS grades. They aren’t as hard or rigorous as AP classes/curriculum but they get the bump in GPA. This is because they are still taught by HS teachers (as are the AP courses but the AP courses follow a curriculum and have the accountability and measure of an exam). This is how my kids who took AP courses explained it to me. The “gen Ed” track kids boost their GPAs this way but generally lacked rigor in their transcript.

There are exceptions, I suppose, for novelty classes. But most of the “advanced” courses the selective university will want students to take from them anyway and won’t be impressed by someone taking a substandard offering in HS.

[Anonymous]

My kid had a schedule conflict for a 4th year language class, and used CC class to show continued study. Also used CC math class when kid realized rigor had fallen too much—cruising through fall semester with little homework. So spring cc class was used to increase curriculum rigor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's a student at Princeton currently who had some acclaim recently for her oratorical performance in national / international events. She apparently had 36 IB / DE classes at the time of her graduation from HS. I guess IB programs label everything IB, including PE / Health and electives.

No, that's not typical of IB programs. She must have had a lot of DE classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DE is generally regarded as a way to inflate HS grades. They aren’t as hard or rigorous as AP classes/curriculum but they get the bump in GPA. This is because they are still taught by HS teachers (as are the AP courses but the AP courses follow a curriculum and have the accountability and measure of an exam). This is how my kids who took AP courses explained it to me. The “gen Ed” track kids boost their GPAs this way but generally lacked rigor in their transcript.

There are exceptions, I suppose, for novelty classes. But most of the “advanced” courses the selective university will want students to take from them anyway and won’t be impressed by someone taking a substandard offering in HS.

This clearly depends in the school district. All DCPS DE classes are actually taken at a participating college with enrolled college students. Yes, there are some offered by UDC, but most of the kids that I know taking DE are taking those classes at GW or Georgetown.

The kids literally get "accepted" by the college (there is a very brief application one fills out...nothing like the real application), get a student ID and then register for the college class through the college system. This process is no different than enrolled college students use to select their own classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DE is generally regarded as a way to inflate HS grades. They aren’t as hard or rigorous as AP classes/curriculum but they get the bump in GPA. This is because they are still taught by HS teachers (as are the AP courses but the AP courses follow a curriculum and have the accountability and measure of an exam). This is how my kids who took AP courses explained it to me. The “gen Ed” track kids boost their GPAs this way but generally lacked rigor in their transcript.

There are exceptions, I suppose, for novelty classes. But most of the “advanced” courses the selective university will want students to take from them anyway and won’t be impressed by someone taking a substandard offering in HS.

Ok, but as I said in my OP - this is an online class taken at a local community college. So it will be a regular professor and work will be done in my kid’s free time. There is no GPA bump to take a DE class at my kid’s school.

Many students do this at my kid’s school to differentiate themselves from classmates. It is not in place of any AP class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dual Enrollment = Class at Community College

If your kid wants to do it then fine. I would not base anything on college admissions which is getting more and more random.

Thankyou. Usually people refer to them as Dual Enrollment classes, not DE

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dual Enrollment = Class at Community College

If your kid wants to do it then fine. I would not base anything on college admissions which is getting more and more random.

Thankyou. Usually people refer to them as Dual Enrollment classes, not DE

ok