Senior Lily Judelsohn leaves school at 11 a.m., picks up lunch and drives to Montgomery College (MC) where she takes a Nutrition 101 class twice a week. She walks the college hallways surrounded by stressed college students trying to get to class. Despite the extra effort as she walks into class, she is grateful to be able to take a class that challenges her while letting her explore her passion.
Dual enrollment is an opportunity to take college courses at Montgomery College while still taking classes at high school. Being dual enrolled in MC is completely free of charge and gives students the opportunity to earn college credit. There are over 400 college courses available to students to choose from.
This program allows students to gain experience on what college is like and the type of assignments and work college classes give. It can help students transfer from high school to college more seamlessly. Judelsohn said, “There are a lot more options at MC that people could be interested in.”
More students are learning about the opportunities at MC so the number of students who are dually enrolled is increasing. Counselor Robert Kurtz said, “I think I have close to 30 kids taking some level of dual enrollment and I assume that is going to continue to increase.”
Senior Camila Alvarez is dually enrolled in a business class in MC. She has class three times a week from 8:45 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. Alvarez said there is not too much work with a test every other week and a big assignment every two to three weeks.
Students including Alvarez and Judelsohn enjoy this program because of the valuable experience it gives them. Dual Enrollment coordinator Sook-yi Yong said students enjoy this program because “they like the independence.”
Alvarez and Judelsohn would both recommend this program to students. Alvarez said she would recommend the program because you “get a preview of what college is going to be like.”
Yong and Kurtz would also recommend this dual enrollment program to students. Yong would recommend it to students because it is a different experience taking a college class and seeing how it is done in college. It is also a lot more responsibility and professors do not communicate with parents.
Classes are held at MC campuses and some classes are online; all classes are taught by MC instructors. Each college course is semester-long and meets once, twice or three times a week. Students will have a college transcript by the end of the term.
Interested students can register for this program by meeting with their counselor to place an MC course on their schedule, contacting your DEPA (Dual Enrolment Program Assistant) to start the application process, and completing the “Dual Enrollment” application on the MC website. Then, submit qualifying SAT or ACT scores (MC code 5440) or take the free assessment at MC, create an account on the MC Dual Enrollment website, claim MyMC account, and complete the New Student Online Academic Orientation. Next, complete the MCPS Dual Credit Refusal Form and return it to your DEPA. Once you have met the requirements MC staff will enroll you in the class.
