Dual-Enrollment Program: Yes or No?

[lwahl]

I'm not sure if this belongs in the high school forum or here, so I apologize in advance.

I don't know how many many of you are familiar with Running Start, but it is a program in Washington State that allows high school juniors and seniors to attend a local community college tuition-free.

At the time of graduation my senior year, I would have a high school diploma as well as an Associate's degree.

My main concern is how medical schools will view this type of thing. Will I be at a disadvantage for being young? Or will they applaud me for initiative? It's all very complicated.

Also, I know that an applicant is not allowed to put down high school ECs as part of the medical school application, so in my case, I would only have two years to get as much experience as possible. This seems like it would set me back as well.

The last concern pertains to pre-requisites. Would it be advantageous for me to take as many as I can at the CC? Or take as little as possible and wait until I transfer to UW?

That's all I have for right now.

Thank you.

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[galaxyx]

It's definitely not a negative if you do well. Remember that your grades will still count in your GPA calculation even though you took the classes in high school.
You could either take your pre-reqs at the community college, making sure to take upper division courses at the University level, or just wait until you get to the University to take them. If you wait to take your pre-reqs at a University AND graduate with a Bachelors in only two years, you do force yourself into a gap year because you're not going to be able to get all the pre-reqs, and mcat in one year.
I'd recommend using your "free" associates degree to do something different than the traditional science path and then taking the more traditional 3 or 4 year university path. You have this opportunity to learn about anything you want, for free. A friend of mine from Wash got his associates in welding and machining. Alternatively, you could do something medically related, but not hard science like nursing or EMS to give you a better opportunity for well paying part time medically related work when you're at the University level.
My point is, don't think of it as entering college early, think of it as an opportunity to get an extra skill set you wouldn't have had the opportunity to otherwise.

 

[CyberMaxx]

OP, my high school encouraged dual-enrollment and so most of my friends and I all participated. If you are confident you can do well in these courses, I think it is a great idea. Many of the classes I took satisfied my undergraduate schools gen-ed requirements, and therefore saved me a lot of time. Additionally, if you take a bunch of traditionally easy courses, this could provide a GPA boost which will help you in the future. However, don't take courses and then do poorly in them, because this will factor into your undergraduate GPA when you apply.

Here is my anecdotal story. A friend of mine took about the same number of DE courses as I did (~ 40 credits) and ended up with a 4.0 in them. They were mostly fluff courses, intro to sociology, intro to psych, intro to English, etc. but who cares what courses you take in high school. When she graduated her GPA was a 3.7x and those courses brought her up to a 3.8x. On the flip side, I didn't care about school or grades in high school and ended up with a 3.3-3.4 GPA with ~ 40 credits. So, although my GPA at my undergraduate school is 3.7x my AMCAS undergraduate GPA is 3.6x, a particularly meaningful difference.

In summary, if you approach dual enrollment the right way it can be great for you later on (boost GPA, free up time in undergraduate schedule, etc), just don't let them get the better of you because unlike the rest of high school they count.

 

[lwahl]

I appreciate the input.

galaxyx, I like the idea of acquiring education in order to gain access to medically related jobs.

cybermaxx12, I will surely consider that.

I have not yet decided what I want to do, but I will take it all one step at a time. That's all you can do.

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.

 

[Iampanic]

I appreciate the input.

galaxyx, I like the idea of acquiring education in order to gain access to medically related jobs.

cybermaxx12, I will surely consider that.

I have not yet decided what I want to do, but I will take it all one step at a time. That's all you can do.

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.

OP There is not an exact answer to your question. My own experience, I graduated with 60 college credits from high school mostly dual enrollment. I even took Organic I during high school. I got five interview this cycle and I went to four of them and was accepted to three. Some praised my effort during high school. I applied to a total of fourteen schools. Maybe some of them did not invite me for the same reason. Who knows? What I'm trying to tell you is that what is good for one school may not be good for another but as cybermaxx12 mentioned above the important thing here is to get good grades in any class that you take because they count the same as any class that you may take in the future.

 

[Lil Mick]

I started college courses pretty early, and it was kind of a toss-up with interviewers. Some were confused about when I started college full-time. Some viewed it as a sign of initiative. Some didn't like that I started so young. It really depends on the school (lower-ranked schools seemed to like it, high-ranked didn't in my case) and the interviewers chosen to interview you. I'd say do it if you want a challenge or need to save tuition money. Don't do it just to do it.

 

[Digitalangel]

definitely do it, i had the same thing at my school and i never regretted it, i had a year of college done by the time i finished high school and was able to leave hs early every day to get to my college classes which were typically tues/thurs, and id have half days every mon/wed/fri as a senior. it was amazing and worth taking advantage of as the first bunch of classes you need to complete in college are all pretty much easy classes used to fill requirements.

 

[lwahl]

Thank you to those who responded.

I've decided that I'm going to do it, but whether or not I limit the amount of pre-requisites taken is still being debated.