For sophomores entering their second semester, opportunities to boost future college applications, such as Dual Enrollment, are now available to sign up for. Dual enrollment is a way for high school students to take classes at college campuses and earn college credit while still taking high school classes. Unlike AP classes, dual enrollment classes are solely up to the college and do not require an end-of-year exam besides the class final exam. Additionally, dual enrollment classes are off-campus and can easily be taken online or in-person.

In order to be eligible to begin the process, a student and a parent must watch the dual enrollment Mandatory Information presentation and sign the Fayette County Contract and Advisement form by March 31. All links can be found on schoology under the MHS Counseling tab.

The presentation can be in-person or it can be virtual, but students and parents must watch it by March 31 because by then it will no longer be available for students to view.

After these steps, students must apply to a school-approved college, such as Clayton State or University of West Georgia for dual enrollment. This is easier to do immediately after signing the Fayette County contract, but must be done before April 14 to meet deadlines. After being accepted, students must upload their acceptance notices to schoology. The next step is to fill out the funding application, which can be found on GaFutures under the dual enrollment tab. This part requires a parent or guardian, and must be done in order to be able to do dual enrollment. Finally, signing for an appointment with your counselor should be done as soon as appointments to select classes open up. As soon as students get their schedules, those should also be uploaded to Schoology.

As far as deadlines and requirements, that’s it. However, dual enrollment itself is a vastly different experience than regular classes, or even AP classes. It requires students to be responsible and turn their assignments in on time, and it can be difficult at times, especially if dealing with procrastination. Creating schedules and reminders is a great way to combat this, as well as taking advantage of the resources offered to you by school counselors or your chosen college. The most important thing to remember is to not get overwhelmed. Dual enrollment is here to make the transition to college life easier; not to get students stuck along the way.