Do you want additional college credits all while in high school? Dual enrollment is the perfect option for you. 

You may be wondering what dual enrollment is. Dual enrollment is when Sophomores, Juniors, or Seniors take college courses at community colleges, or at the high school itself, all while still being high school.

Typically, many schools offer college credit classes like AICE and AP. 

However, if you would like more college credits on top of those AICE and AP classes, doing dual enrollment classes is a great option.

Doing dual enrollment comes with many benefits, along with many disadvantages. 

When taking dual enrollment classes, it gives you the opportunity to challenge yourself academically. You’re taking college-level classes that a lot of adults have taken or are taking now. You get to test your knowledge and figure out things that you probably never knew about yourself before, school-wise. 

Another benefit of taking dual enrollment classes is that you have the opportunity to gain your Associate in Arts (AA) Degree all while in high school. So, around the time you get your high school diploma, it will be around the same time you get your AA degree and that’s basically around 2 years of college done if the credits are transferred! 

Dual enrollment is also FREE! You are saving a ton of money because after high school if you plan on going to college, tuition can be very expensive. So why not take up the advantage while you can?

Doesn’t that sound amazing? 

Although those benefits do sound like music to the ears, dual enrollment is not always peaches and cream.

It can at times be stressful because college is not like high school where you get a decent amount of homework to do. The workload is definitely heavier and can be detrimental to your health if you procrastinate on it. 

Like many high school students do, they procrastinate. Sometimes they get away with it, but for college, if work is accumulated over time and you decide to do the work LAST minute, you will not be successful in the class. When the 11:59 deadline hits, and you are attempting to turn in all your assignments, the platform that is used to turn in assignments, Canva, might go slow and crash because of the overload of assignments that students choose to turn in at the last minute. (I’ve done this a couple of times, and it wasn’t the best feeling)

In addition to this, high school teachers are very lenient when it comes to late work. However, professors see you as adults and are stricter when it comes to you turning in your assignment on TIME.

Getting bad grades on dual enrollment courses can be a detriment to your high school GPA and go on your transcript permanently. If you believe that you will not be able to keep up with the workload of college courses, then dual enrollment is not really a good choice for you. 

As a high school dual enrollment student, myself, I really enjoy taking dual enrollment classes. It keeps me occupied at times, and it reminds me that all my hard work will pay off in the end.

You may be asking yourself how you can take dual enrollment classes. The first step is to talk to your counselor, and they should be able to help you with all the assistance you need to begin your college experience!