Lately, especially here at Starr’s Mill, there seems to be an expectation of taking Advanced Placement (AP) or Dual Enrollment (DE) in order to appeal to colleges. However, College Prep (CP) courses can be a useful source of security when taking other more advanced classes.

CP courses typically move at a slower pace, and explain things in a deeper way than AP and DE. Because of how these classes work, students who take them usually find themselves more relaxed in those classrooms, especially if they are taking them with AP and DE courses.

Due to the slower pace and deeper explanation, students also gain a foundation for knowledge they will be taught the following years. In more advanced courses, you move from thing to thing quicker in order to cover more ground, but this is not true for CP, so you actually understand the topics being taught.

These classes also provide more potential for a higher GPA as the slowed down curriculum makes achieving As more attainable. The higher GPA you get from these As makes you look more impressive to colleges. While they do look at how many AP and DE classes you take, they seem to prefer all As in CP over failing the more advanced courses.

Because CP courses have less homework at night, this allows students to build their extracurricular resume and discover who they are without the shadow of schoolwork looming over them. Students can give more attention to practices, rehearsals, and anything else they may need to get better at their chosen extracurriculars. 

There are also some special interest CP courses that better prepare you for what you want to study in college. For example, here at Starr’s Mill, we have journalism, military history, healthcare, and more. These classes are there for students who want to have a higher chance of studying what they want to study in college.

You also do not have to pay to take the exams that come with CP courses. Meanwhile, you have to pay to take AP exams that you might not even pass. On top of that, if you do not pass the AP exam, you do not get a college credit for the class. College credits are the basis of the appeal of AP courses, but they are not guaranteed, and that can be scary for people, especially if they have test anxiety already.

Even though colleges look at the more advanced classes, it is extremely wise to take CP courses in order to keep your GPA up and gain a better understanding of what you are being taught.

As someone who has taken all types of classes at Starr’s Mill, I would always recommend the challenging route. Playing it safe during high school can only hold you back from your true potential.

For many students, choosing to just stay in the ‘regular’ classes feels manageable and easier. The workload is lighter and expectations are not too high. While regular courses may offer a sense of comfort, they will only limit a student’s growth.

Throughout their high school career, a student should challenge themselves academically. Whether that is through taking an Advanced Placement (AP) course or a Dual Enrollment (DE) course, a student should try something new and tough.

In my own experience, I spent my freshman and sophomore years in ‘regular’ classes, as most of the grade does. I began to realize that I was not being pushed to my full potential, or I was not working to the extent that I was capable of. The pace was slower, and I often felt bored in class. I started to feel the sense that I was holding myself back.

That changed when I started adding AP and DE courses into my schedule. These classes challenged me in a way that truly benefitted my discipline and work ethic. To be truthful, I struggled at first and the adaptation from ‘regular’ courses to college level was different and surprising. That experience built up my confidence and resilience as a student.

More importantly, AP and DE classes help you to earn college credit while simultaneously working toward your high school diploma. With college being so expensive nowadays, to not attempt to earn college credit during high school is truly sickening. If students were to challenge themselves a little bit more, they might find themselves with much less student loan debt and one step closer to their college degree. When an opportunity like that presents itself, you just cannot pass it up.

With all that being said, I am not advising you to load your schedule up with only AP and DE courses. Taking ‘regular’ classes is not something that should be frowned upon, but taking a challenging course can lead you so much farther in life.

Do not put yourself in a box. As a student, you are capable of a lot more than you think. At least once in your high school career at Starr’s Mill, take the risk and choose the challenge course.

Dual enrollment (DE) is a system that permits high school students to take college courses while simultaneously earning high school and college credit. This allows students to engage with college level academic rigor, pursue a high school diploma, accelerate their college graduation, and lower stress.

DE grants students the opportunity to take these courses free of charge, significantly lowering economic burdens for students and their families. It saves money on future college credits, and reduces student loan debt later in the college career. This allows students to make the most of their college education by taking advantage of the accessibility and accumulating as many college credits as possible.

In addition, participating in DE helps students develop strong time management and workload balancing skills. Students balance high school responsibilities and college coursework at the same time building time management skills. That alone creates a level of independence that not only is learned at a young age, but can then be improved over time, and potentially perfected by the time that scholar is a full-time college student. 

DE provides exposure to higher academic rigor and challenges participants to embrace a new level of critical thinking. High school starts to feel easier as these students have now seen far more of what is expected of them and excel.

The individuals who participate in DE, often outperform their counterparts as they naturally exceed what high school requires of them. Therefore, they are constantly building on the fundamental skills taught in high school, while also refining those abilities to be tailored to collegiate standards. 

A great deal of students compare this program to Advanced Placement (AP) courses that, similar to DE, offer college level classes in high school that can earn students college credit and potentially boost GPA. 

However, AP courses focus on heavy content overload and put a lot of pressure on one exam that costs money, and the credit is not always guaranteed. A score below a 3 earns 0 credit, and many top schools do not accept a 3. As for DE, students can work at a flexible pace and earn credits simply by passing the class.

One of the biggest advantages is the efficiency of the credits. While in traditional schooling, students attend a course for an entire year to receive one credit, a single college semester in DE counts for that same full year credit, allowing students to finish the requirements faster. Meanwhile, AP forces students to wait until a high-stakes exam in May to prove proficiency. Just by passing the class, DE allows students to immediately advance to the next level and earn a credit within the same timespan while creating less stress. 

DE is beneficial financially, mentally, academically, and even personally. It saves money, develops skills, and is tailored to different types of learners. The accessibility it provides to students creates a sense of hope and motivation, and the notion that education is not as far out of reach as it might seem.

In the past few years, we have seen an increase in students opting to take Dual Enrollment (DE) rather than the classes offered on campus. While that may work for some students, it is few and far between. In many cases, it leaves students more stressed and less prepared than before.

My sophomore year, I took a DE U.S. history course over the summer with one of the partner schools. At first, I thought it would be a quick way to get ahead. In reality, it was one of the hardest academic experiences I have had. 

The coursework and pace of the course were intense as it was an 8-week course. Even when I showed up to my professor’s office hours, I got little help. Without the chance to ask questions or discuss the material in depth, it became more about memorization than understanding. It felt less like a learning opportunity and more like a race I could not keep up with. 

Later, when I took a DE government course, I realized how much of the content I would need to relearn because I never had the chance to fully absorb it in the first place. That gap was not a personal failure, it reflected the structural weakness of DE courses that sacrifice comprehension for speed and support for self-sufficiency before students are ready for it. 

DE promises rigor but often it replaces guidance with pressure and learning with checking boxes. My experience showed that when education becomes a sprint, depth and understanding are the first things to go.

DE is amazing in concept. It is pitched as a class equivalent to what you would take in high school but through a college, offering rigor, independence, and college credit. But in reality, it is a condensed and watered-down version of the class. 

Instead of getting small tests to build up understanding, the workload relies heavily on midterms and finals that make up a large part of the grade on material that students have not gotten a chance to really learn. 

When students take their classes off campus or online, they lose part of what makes high school special–the relationships built with teachers and classmates. The support from familiar teachers who know how you learn, the small classroom discussions, and the everyday interactions that build community all fade when your coursework happens through a screen.

Furthermore, there is also a growing concern about how DE programs impact teachers. By shifting more students into college classes, the demand for certain high school courses drops, directly affecting teaching positions and budgets. It is ironic that a program meant to advance education can sometimes take away from it at a local level.

DE may look great on paper, but it is not the right path for every student. The independence and challenge it promises often come at the cost of understanding, connection, and balance. Before diving in, students should think about what kind of learner they are and whether the fast track is truly worth it.

With a new school year around the corner, students at Starr’s Mill are tasked with picking out their schedule for next year’s classes. It is not surprising that picking out classes for the next school year is extremely difficult, since it will determine your school life for 10 months. If you are asking for my advice, Advanced Placement (AP) classes are the best decision for the majority of students.

The obvious appeal to AP classes is that students can earn college credit. While that is helpful, it is not all that they bring to the table. AP classes teach students a number of useful skills that can be used all throughout their lives. The main things that AP classes help teach students are independent study skills and time management skills. 

Since AP classes are structured to mirror college level classes, they successfully encourage students to take charge of their own learning. It should be said that AP teachers do teach, but they do so in a way that allows students a chance to find what best works for them when they study. 

When students are left in charge of their own learning, they get to explore what methods work for them. This allows students to build strong study habits. Not only does this set students up for success when going to college, but also helps them better plan their studying habits for other classes, even the ones that are not APs.

Successful study habits will then help lead students to develop strong time management skills. 

It seems that now more than ever, students are stuck with the problem of procrastinating. Procrastination is one of the main things that restricts a student’s academic development, along with grades and the ability to pick up source material. However, AP classes actively fight this issue by ensuring that students learn good time management skills. 

AP classes are done through the College Board program, meaning that when it comes to assignments they have strict timelines and due dates to follow. These timelines fuel students to work on their time management and actually get their work submitted on time. It is simple. Do the assignments on time and develop good time management skills or do poorly in the class. 

While these are both very important things to learn, they are small in comparison to my main reason for recommending APs. The most important thing that AP classes can teach is rigor and that college classes will be hard work. A lesson many college students wished to have learned earlier. 

APs help prepare students for college by making them do the hard classes and learn the hard lessons. AP classes give students a chance to grow and make mistakes while they still have the support of their teachers and friends. 

It is completely normal to struggle picking out classes for high school, especially for the first year. When picking classes that will challenge your abilities and overall make you a better student, APs are the way to go.

As students broaden their academic opportunities in high school to further their careers in college and beyond, different classes are presented, Advanced Placement (AP) courses being among those options. APs are available for students to participate in harder college level courses at a younger age while earning both high school and college credit, but with that comes a large cost.

Taking college level courses comes with heavier workloads. Besides the obvious of having more work to do, higher levels of stress and late-night study sessions tend to follow. Getting the right amount of sleep helps keep your body regulated. Once that is disrupted, your body cannot handle pressure situations priming your body for even little problems to cause lots of stress. The same is true in the other direction–high stress levels stimulate the body not letting it truly rest.

Something not a lot of people talk about is that taking APs cost money. It may not seem like it in the beginning but buying the prep books ($20-$35), the exam fee ($99), and any other tools that may be needed can all add up fast. Although this may not seem like a big deal to some, others may take this as a huge dent in their bank accounts when discussing whether or not to take an AP. 

Now to be honest, why do most people take APs? It is not because of the academic rigor or to learn the criteria. Most APs are taken out of the motivation to earn college credit, add to their GPA and use the harder classes to look good on college applications. While it is a smart idea to take a few harder classes in order to prove your ability to take hard classes, colleges would rather hear how you plan on improving the world with real-life experiences.  

Since APs are college courses the curriculums do not follow standard high school structures. There are almost no extra credit opportunities in APs leaving limited room for grade improvements. Along with all of the work that was previously discussed, missing even one day can feel like the end of the world. So much information is packed into one year, so the work never stops. 

The biggest and most prominent issue that comes with APs for any and all students is what happens at the end. After a year of learning and months of consistent late nights and early morning studies, exam day is coming around the corner. What if someone is a bad test taker? That is the risk many students in AP classes take. 

Even if you have been doing fine all year, if you are off on test day, your college credit (you need higher than a 3) could go down the drain. Getting college credit for an AP course is not guaranteed and if something goes wrong on the test it is gone, adding another layer of stress to the downsides of APs. 

While APs do offer rigor and may look good to some colleges, it is not worth the year-long stress, fear, and work. Take the regular class and shine or look into the many other options offered nowadays from work study to dual enrollment.