I'm STILL confused about AP vs. DE (in Virginia)

[Anonymous]

One advantage to DE over AP is getting the credit at a VA public college or university. VA public colleges and universities do not give credit for simply taking an AP course. You need to get a minimum score on the exam in order for the college to give you credit for the course. If you get an A in the AP course, but only get a 2 on the exam, you won't get any credit transferred to the college. With the DE course, you need a minimum grade (I believe its typically a C) but there is no corresponding end of the year DE exam. For students who are looking at the mid tier and lower tier VA state colleges, DE is probably a really great option to earn college credit while in high school, thereby reducing the cost of college. For admission to UVA and W&M and any out of state top public college or private college, the AP course vs the DE option will probably be the better option.

[Anonymous]

Our high school counselor said VT and JMU like DE but UVA doesn't. My recent grad took DE and AP classes, but he'll only get credit for DE --you just send the transcript from NoVa, there is no exam. He didn't send his AP math scores since he planned to take the classes (Calc and Statistics) again.

[Anonymous]

At our non DMV high school there are regular, honors and AP classes. If you take an AP class you have the option to do Dual Enrollment. So, my kid took APUSH freshman year. He chose DE. We paid $99 per credit x 6. He now has a transcript from the community college with 6 credit hours and an A.

His older sister started high school in the DMV. Took 3 AP classes in the regular way. But for her 2 in 10th grade she was horribly sick the day of testing and tested poorly despite having the top grade in the classes. For 11th and 12th she chose the DE option and entered college with 33 credit hours. This made it possible for her to earn 2 BS in non related fields.

A lot depends on how your high school is structured.

[Anonymous]

My kid took AP in all but one history (and Calc 3). Still got into UVA. Agree that it can be hard to decide with everyone singing the praises of DE.

[Anonymous]

My kids got the same GPA bump for their DE classes but they did not get any credit for them (at UVA).

[Anonymous]

Only reason Admissions likes AP is the standardized test, DE doesn't give that to them.

AP is not as rigorous as college Calc. Imagine doing Calc at Caltech and saying it's the same as your HS. The kids are stressed out about it since the school make sure they are overwhelmed.

DE for anything past Calc BC is at GMU not NOVA and GMU is rigorous;

my math tests(one class) at GMU was from MIT, the prof was new and didn't bother changing the: School Name, the department, or course number. If you work, you can do well on the tests. The difference between GMU and MIT rigor isn't as stark as you'd imagine. The harshness comes from the grading as MIT kids are constantly weeded out while GMU kids are not competing against each other. A GMU kid making an A on the test would likely make an A at MIT, a C student at GMU may get a D at MIT.

My point is AP is for: Admissions makes their life easier and you can't generalize all DE classes inferior towards AP. And you can do your DE classes anywhere really - NOVA makes it easier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Top tier colleges don't give credit for DE.

Top tier schools also don’t give credit for AP.

This. Very hard to get a lot of AP credits at top schools (not saying impossible).

Also I think what you take depends on the kids goals and schools. DE transfers well at VA schools, for example. A kid I know had almost a semester under his belt due to DE.

As for rigor, honestly, I’m just sick of hearing about it. AP is hard. DE is hard. It’s a spectrum of what is harder for each person. This idea you have to take all college AP classes in HS is something we’ve largely opted out of. It’s so idiotic.

In line with what this poster said, by the end of sophomore year when class registration was starting for junior year, we had to finally let it sink in that our child was going to be applying to state schools in VA and not VT/UVA/W&M. We encouraged them to take DE classes instead of AP since the DE had a good chance of being accepted for credit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Top tier colleges don't give credit for DE.

Top tier schools also don’t give credit for AP.

True but you can usually use the AP score to skip intro classes and start in a higher level. Mine are at ivies and some AP credit was granted but mostly it was used to start in a higher level of math , foreign language, etc. DE at both is completely useless, but there are some placement tests that are useful for math .
OP take AP as much as possible. DE is not nearly as rigorous in Virginia and top schools will not judge it the same, including the three top in state options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Top tier colleges don't give credit for DE.

Top tier schools also don’t give credit for AP.

This. Very hard to get a lot of AP credits at top schools (not saying impossible).

Also I think what you take depends on the kids goals and schools. DE transfers well at VA schools, for example. A kid I know had almost a semester under his belt due to DE.

As for rigor, honestly, I’m just sick of hearing about it. AP is hard. DE is hard. It’s a spectrum of what is harder for each person. This idea you have to take all college AP classes in HS is something we’ve largely opted out of. It’s so idiotic.

In line with what this poster said, by the end of sophomore year when class registration was starting for junior year, we had to finally let it sink in that our child was going to be applying to state schools in VA and not VT/UVA/W&M. We encouraged them to take DE classes instead of AP since the DE had a good chance of being accepted for credit.

Yes, if not aiming for those 3 and higher-level national universities, DE makes sense

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why would you take DE English? Just do AP. It’s the standard accepted choice that will keep your options open.

It would make sense for a kid that has taken both AP English classes (English language and English lit) before senior year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Top tier colleges don't give credit for DE.

This is 100% true. My kid got royally screwed by this.

[Anonymous]

It really depends on what your student's goals are. My oldest took a lot of DE classes because she knew she was going in-state in VA and wanted to get as many general education requirements done in HS as possible, especially in her weaker subjects. DE also eliminates the stress of having to take a high-stakes test covering an entire year of material.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Top tier colleges don't give credit for DE.

This is 100% true. My kid got royally screwed by this.

Depends what you call top. UVA and all VA state schools accept 100% of the passport classes. Several top 25 accept DE courses.

[Anonymous]

It depends on what your DCs goal is. Dual enrollment gives college credit for completing the course, the college your DC attends may or may not accept the transferred credit. AP may give credit if DC scores well on the AP exam, the college your DC attends may or may not accept AP credits.

If starting college with credits, lowering the cost of a degree, and/or shortening the time in college is the goal DE is probably the best way to go-- and focus college search on places that will accept the credits.

If showing rigor on a HS transcript, being in a cohort of high achieving HS students, and getting INTO a top college is the main goal, AP is probably the way to go.