As we start to pick classes for next year, many wonder how they should obtain their rigor classes while still furthering their high school career. One great option that Starr’s Mill provides is Dual Enrollment.

Dual Enrollment is an opportunity offered to grades 10-12 to take a few of their classes at a college near the school while still taking classes at Starr’s Mill.

Dual Enrollment allows for a student to mature outside of high school classrooms, as well as teaches them responsibility.

When in that college environment, it compels students to act as if they are in college and grants them a sense of freedom that is not allowed in high school.

If some of you are thinking about taking Advanced Placement classes, I would say to take Dual Enrollment instead because you learn the same thing. Some students even say that Dual Enrollment is easier homework-wise, and works better with your schedule because of the way the college schedule is set up.

Taking Dual Enrollment does not mean you have to hurry and decide a college major. It just means that you are working on required classes for both high school and college.

It also helps financially in the long run, because while doing Dual Enrollment you can earn college credit, which inevitably lowers the amount of money you need to spend on college over the time you are there.

So for those who are still deciding on it, why not take Dual Enrollment? Having both high school and some college experience will help immensely when you do finally start college.

Since technically you are taking college-level classes, it just means you’re one step ahead of others in the race to graduate.

Dual Enrollment is one of those novel ideas that the Board of Education will come up with to try and give the students more opportunities. Usually students will take some type of core class, like English or history, in the surroundings of a college environment, but I think you should wait to take those classes until you’re in your actual college.

A lot of times colleges will have a series of core classes that freshmen usually take to make sure they have a basic understanding of general topics.

Since many times it’s freshman taking these classes, they can start to make friends in a diverse class and meet more of the undergraduates that aren’t just in their major.

And if you go into college as undecided in your major, having a connection with many people all looking for different paths of life can help you decide.

Keeping in mind that about 75% of all students that attend college change their major at some point during their higher education, it would benefit them to have a broader network of people in many different fields to help them find a major that would suit them the best.

It also gives students the opportunity to find roommates for the next year that won’t be studying the same thing, so they can be exposed to another group of friends they might not have met otherwise.

Then, there’s the whole issue of if they can fit Dual Enrollment into their current schedule. You have to keep track of two different school system grades and announcement techniques, making it easier for you to miss something.

Even if scheduling isn’t an issue, you need to be selective about where you are going to dual enroll and what college you are going to after high school. While many schools will accept the credit hours you’ve earned, without some research you could find out that your dream school doesn’t accept those credits which does not help you at all.

Plus, if you’re going to a very competitive college, it might benefit to take a more rigorous AP course instead of an easier course at a community college.

And to take a Dual Enrollment class, you have to take off at least two class periods to allow for travel time which means high-achieving people going to a competitive school will have less diversity of courses on their transcript.

I would so much rather keep plugging away at high school for now and get all the college experiences I can get when I’m there.