High school is what you make it! Consider approaching high school as a launching pad to challenge yourself as a student and improve your competitiveness for college.
This can start early. If you’re doing amazing in regular classes, look into getting into honors courses. If you’re doing great in honors, look into advanced, college-level courses to take. Once you determine you’re ready for a more difficult curriculum, something to consider when making a decision is your future goals:
- Are you a student looking to gain as much college credit in high school to mitigate costs and lower your time in college after graduating high school?
- Are you a student aiming to gain scholarships such as Bright Futures?
- Are you a student who desires to demonstrate your ability to conquer difficult material regardless of the gain in college credit?
These are all questions you must ask yourself when choosing between the options.
Taking advanced level courses, such as the ones that will be discussed in this article, demonstrates a student’s ability to handle and excel in college level curriculum. This leads to a more competitive college application, and will show colleges that you are prepared for the rigor of college coursework. While all advanced coursework is beneficial to preparing for the next step in your academic journey, one advanced curriculum might be more helpful for you as a student. In this article, we will break down the differences, pros and cons of all of the major advanced curriculum options.
General benefits to pursuing advanced curriculum in high school:
- All of these programs improve chances for getting into competitive universities and programs. Universities want to ensure you will be able to handle the rigor of their programs. If you are applying to a science major but all your science courses were regular level or had poor grades, it will be questionable to be accepted.
- Prepares them for the difficulties of college
- Provides access to resources that are not offered in regular courses
- Be in class with other students who have similar academic goals and motivation
What We’ll Discuss In This Article
NOTICE: It is important to do research on your school and district. Each of these programs may not be offered in your school or district. We strongly recommend seeking advice from a guidance counselor at your school to make the most educated decision for your situation.
Dual Enrollment
Dual Enrollment is a program offered nationwide, that allows high school students to take and obtain college credit while in high school. Students will take college classes, usually at a local, affiliated community college.
Pros:
- Allows students to gain some college credit, up to their associates degree in high school. This can be financially beneficial after graduating high school because students can potentially graduate with their bachelors degree early in around 2 years at a 4 year university.
- Students can start Dual Enrollment their junior year of high school. This ensures students are more prepared for the responsibility of taking a college course and have also explored other advanced curriculum options like AP.
- This class is weighted on a 5.0 scale instead of 4.0. (Example: If you earn an ‘A’, you will get a 5.0 on your high school transcript.)
Cons:
- Can negatively affect your college GPA in high school. All dual enrollment classes are connected to your college GPA and will transfer over to whatever college(s) you attend after high school. If you perform poorly, then it will bring down your college GPA before you even begin college. (Example: If you earn a ‘C’ in a dual enrollment class so you will not be starting college with a 4.0 but a lower GPA.)
- Some professional schools later down the line may require you to retake the course at a 4 year university. (Example: many medical schools like core sciences to have been taken at a university.)
- Students will need their own transportation to go to and from classes if the course is not at the high school.
- Students will have less opportunity to change their major if they come into college with a significant amount of credits (Example: Coming into college as Freshman but the amount of credits classify you has a Junior)
- To consider but not necessarily a con: the disconnect that can form from not taking classes at your high school. Students will no longer be around their high school peers as much and may miss out on aspects of high school.
Advanced Placement Courses (AP)
Advanced Placement (AP) are courses offered nationwide. College credit is obtained after passing the class and the AP exam for that course.
Pros:
- You can pick and choose which courses you take at the AP level compared to AICE and IB programs where all of your courses are taken based on those curricula. This can help you do well in courses you may struggle in by taking it at the honors or regular level instead of college based.
- It will never negatively affect your college GPA. Unlike Duel Enrollment where every class taken will have some affect on your college GPA, whether positive or negative, AP courses will only add to college credit. Each AP exam passes with a 3 or above on the exam. (Example: If you pass an AP literature exam with a 3, you will earn 3 college credits). If you fail the AP exam, you will not have to worry about your college GPA decreasing, only that you didn’t earn any college credit at all.
Cons:
- You may do all that work and not earn the college credit. AP exams are difficult and completing the course, even with a good grade, does not guarantee you will obtain college credit.
- Some AP courses are not offered at all schools/counties. In addition, some schools do not have the funding to pay for the required AP exam at the end of the year and you will have to fund it yourself. (This is not at every school, contact your guidance counselor for more information)
Things to Consider About AP:
- Similar to Dual enrollment, some professional and graduate schools may not accept college credit earned in high school and would like to see that it was taken at the university level.
- Use my experience applying to medical school. English credit is something accepted however I did take an English course in college too.
- Do your research but also do what’s best for you. It’s possible you may change your mind and at worse you’ll have to retake a course. Many colleges and universities are good at keeping students in touch with academic advisors throughout their freshman year of college. They should be able to steer you well so you know early on if you’ll need to retake a course.
- Depending on your school policy, AP courses occasionally require a recommendation from their current teacher in the subject they want to take at the AP level (Example: I want to take AP English Language in 11th grade, my current English teacher in 10th grade must recommend me.)
Cambridge AICE
Cambridge AICE is a program that select students are enrolled within their school that has a specific curriculum. Upon graduating, students will graduate with their high school diploma and AICE diploma.
Not every district has an AICE program and if they do, the school may not be your neighborhood school.
Pros:
- Has great support and students often build a community with their fellow AICE students as they take most of their classes together throughout high school.
- If students graduate with an AICE Diploma, they will have access to 100% Bright Futures which pays for their college education.
Cons:
- You must be selected and enrolled in AICE by the 9th or 10th grade. The decision to choose AICE has to be made early on, usually in middle school. Once you miss the opportunity to be in the AICE program, it is very difficult to insert yourself in as this is a program that stretches the entire duration of high school.
International Baccalaureate Program (IB)
IB is a prestigious program similar to Cambridge AICE and has comparable pros and cons. Like the AICE program, every school and district does not always have a program and students may need to go outside of their neighborhood school to attend these programs.
Unlike AICE, IB students do not immediately receive the Bright Futures Scholarship upon graduation with the IB diploma.
Cons:
The IB program is notoriously academically rigorous, which prepares students for college, however it can be academically stressful and hinder students growth in their extracurriculars. If college is the goal, there are other ways to display your academic strength without limiting your growth in other areas. Pick an advanced curriculum that best fits you.
Things to Consider About IB:
If you are interested in IB, we advise you to discuss this with a guidance counselor as this is a very rigorous and intense curriculum.
