By Charlyne Nguyen
If students are looking for a way to catch up or get ahead on high school credits, they can consider taking dual enrollment classes during the summer at Golden West College to earn not only high school credit but college credit as well.
More than ever before, students will be offered a wider variety of classes to choose from. These include Precalculus, Introduction to Biology + Lab, Prep for General Chemistry + Lab, American Government, Introduction to Psychology, Spanish 1 & 2, Introduction to Theater and so many more.
“It will provide an incredible opportunity for [Fountain Valley High School] (FVHS) students. They will now be able to earn units for college during the school year and over summer,” said senior Michael Pohl, who took History of Rock music this spring. “This will allow them to have a jump start on completing their college degree. It will save money and time.”
These classes will not only help students meet graduation requirements, but they can also provide new opportunities for students to explore their interests.
“Students should think about their long-term plan,” FVHS College and Career specialist Irene Yu said. “If there are courses that he/she would like to take (for example choir, life management, virtual enterprise etc.) but otherwise would not be able to take the course because there’s no room in [their] schedule, taking a dual enrollment class can free up a period during the bell schedule.”
Most of the classes translate to 10 credits in high school, which is equivalent to one year of taking a regular high school class. The exception to this is health, with a student only earning five credits given how it’s usually a semester-long class. Also, for the dual enrollment American Government class, students should note that they’ll still need to take Economics their senior year in order to fulfill graduation requirements.
During a student’s senior year, US Government and Economics are both one semester-long courses that each have five credits, making them total up to be 10 credits.
Students should also note that some dual enrollment classes like the math and science classes have prerequisites. For example, in order to take Precalculus, it’s highly recommended that a student has finished taking Algebra 2/Trigonometry.
Another important thing to consider is the fact that these dual enrollment classes are college classes, so they’ll be different from the same classes taught in high school.
If students are wondering whether Advanced Placement (AP) classes or dual enrollment classes look better on transcripts, they should know that both types of courses have the potential to help students earn college credit.
However, the advantage of taking AP classes is that a student’s grade point average (GPA) will be weighted, which doesn’t apply with dual enrollment classes.
If the college a student is thinking of attending has a really high GPA requirement, perhaps taking a mixture of both would be beneficial.
“When a student fills out the college application, there are different sections to put AP courses and college classes,” Yu said.
Online learning isn’t for everyone either, so if students struggle with online classes, dual enrollment this summer might not be a good option since all the classes will be held online. Some classes will have live sessions via Zoom while others will require students to manage their work independently.
Registration for summer 2021 dual enrollment started May 12, and the summer semester begins June 14.
For more information on summer 2021 dual enrollment classes, students can check out the College and Career Center page on the Fountain Valley High School website here.
