Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have concerns about their kids being in college classes with adults? I.e Men preying on younger female students?

Would you still have this concern next fall when your child is in college? You sound like a helicopter parent putting a bubble around your child.

It’s a school not a club, if your daughter doesn’t know how to navigate interactions with other adults, she shouldn’t be going to college.

Does anyone have concerns about their kids being in college classes with adults? I.e Men preying on younger female students?

Anonymous wrote:But is the Early college, dual enrollment or other terms for the mcps-MC relationship worth a HS's time and experience, especially if they are in a class with older students who already are of college age? Community colleges are looking for students. They have found them in this county's high schools. And with high schools at over capacity, early college is a win-win. Correct?

Yes, you have correctly figured out the county's game and goal in this whole DE scheme.

Anonymous wrote:OP here- your replies have been insightful thank you for taking the time with your thoughtful replies. I would also like to know what your thoughts are for DE for students who are not taking AP classes. My daughter is of average brightness, but not particularly driven.

M'am, then you should not be considering dual enrollment (or AP/IB) for your child. DE courses are true college courses.

To succeed with college-level work, your child needs to be intrinsically driven, bright, motivated, organized and disciplined. It doesn't sound like your daughter fits that profile so she needs to stay in the high school environment. You can't want this more for her than she does.

My son is taking statistics both DE and AP version of the class. The one semester DE is moving faster and covers more material than the AP class which seems to be more geared towards teaching to the exam.

The DE class is online so that can save some time compared to getting to an in person class, but it requires the discipline to stick to do the work, which is about 150 total hours for the class. The grading is fairly easy since there are retakes, but the danger is not keeping up with the class schedule. One week late and you’re automatically docked 15%, later than that you get 0%.

For the OP question I think it’s a waste of time to chase some doubtful edge in college admissions, I’d follow the interest of the student and decide on other factors like fit for the student or convenience. From what I’ve seen reading the course descriptions the DE science classes like Physics and Chemistry are more rigorous than the AP counterparts. One can take DE and the AP exam at the end but that depends on finding available seats.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:from the info session I attended. it seems there is DE where u can take a bus to MC after part of the day at HS for a portion of your clasees. Then there is Early College where you leave HS building after 10th grade and physically attend MC. My son has 4 friends doing Early College. In this area alot of moms hold back their boys one year to give them an advantage (?) So most boys have their license for junior year. My son has an August bday and was not held back so it would have been logistically too difficult for us.

My son has a very late August birthday (his birthday was the first day of school) and he just completed his first semester. I was actually able to drive him to the campus because he scheduled his classes around my work schedule. He took the ride on bus home. I get that different families have different circumstances but I don’t think transportation should keep someone way from the program. They have a whole entire virtual program where you can complete all the classes virtually.

It is good to know the options. However after the pandemic virtual experience my kids want nothing to do with online learning. I know it is a good option for others. I probably would have preferred it.

Anonymous wrote:from the info session I attended. it seems there is DE where u can take a bus to MC after part of the day at HS for a portion of your clasees. Then there is Early College where you leave HS building after 10th grade and physically attend MC. My son has 4 friends doing Early College. In this area alot of moms hold back their boys one year to give them an advantage (?) So most boys have their license for junior year. My son has an August bday and was not held back so it would have been logistically too difficult for us.

My son has a very late August birthday (his birthday was the first day of school) and he just completed his first semester. I was actually able to drive him to the campus because he scheduled his classes around my work schedule. He took the ride on bus home. I get that different families have different circumstances but I don’t think transportation should keep someone way from the program. They have a whole entire virtual program where you can complete all the classes virtually.

But is the Early college, dual enrollment or other terms for the mcps-MC relationship worth a HS's time and experience, especially if they are in a class with older students who already are of college age? Community colleges are looking for students. They have found them in this county's high schools. And with high schools at over capacity, early college is a win-win. Correct?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Make sure to get the main high school requirements done your first two years (health, PE, tech, languages)

Everything can be completed at MC except PE, however most DE programs require you complete them before. Its good to get all those classes out of the way before you start MC classes

PE can be done at MC as well. There are PE classes at MC that fulfills the PE requirements.

from the info session I attended. it seems there is DE where u can take a bus to MC after part of the day at HS for a portion of your clasees. Then there is Early College where you leave HS building after 10th grade and physically attend MC. My son has 4 friends doing Early College. In this area alot of moms hold back their boys one year to give them an advantage (?) So most boys have their license for junior year. My son has an August bday and was not held back so it would have been logistically too difficult for us.

Anonymous wrote:My concern is the transportation. What I read said that students and their families are responsible for transportation, but my daughter won't be eligible to drive right away. I can't imagine how many bus transfers and extra times she'll need to get to campus. That's my biggest concern. I guess I need to check if her high school will also provide a school bus.

There are virtual classes. Buses don’t go to every high school, you need to request them. When your child is in the program, contact the Dual Enrollment specialist at your high school to see about requesting a bus.

My concern is the transportation. What I read said that students and their families are responsible for transportation, but my daughter won't be eligible to drive right away. I can't imagine how many bus transfers and extra times she'll need to get to campus. That's my biggest concern. I guess I need to check if her high school will also provide a school bus.

Anonymous wrote:Make sure to get the main high school requirements done your first two years (health, PE, tech, languages)

Everything can be completed at MC except PE, however most DE programs require you complete them before. Its good to get all those classes out of the way before you start MC classes

Anonymous wrote:Op here- one more question and this is to clarify that I read that the dual enrollment classes are generally only high school kids. Are there general college students in those classes as well?

Most of the student in classes will be normal adult college student however there are a few classes that only HS student can register for. These classes are very limited and usually apply to intro classes like English 101

Anonymous wrote:I think this program looks interesting, and my kid is interested in it --- but I can't imagine how it works with a HS schedule. Does he need to catch a public bus to get to MC campus, and manage to find a class that works with his other HS class schedule and also his sports practices? How do kids do this?

The colleges classes are taken in place of HS classes so no need to worry about high school classes (unless you want your child to keep taking HS classes). Your child could take a bus to get to the MC campus but MCPS is implementing school buses that will pick up your child from HS and to MC. You can still participate in sports as long as they don’t conflict with MC classes. There are a variety of different time and dates that classes are held. Some classes meet by zoom and others don’t meet at all, complete all the work by yourself. There are a lot of options. If transportation is an issue, I would recommend the Virtual Middle College. All the degrees can be completed virtually but you can still take in person class as you please.