How does dual enrollment show up on the Common App?

Where do the colleges go on the application?

They go in the Education section, under Colleges & Universities. Common App’s applicant help says to use that section to list all colleges that have granted or will grant college credit, including dual enrollment courses and any college course taken independently of the high school where no high school credit is received.

Families miss this one because a course taught inside the high school building still belongs there. The credit sits on that college’s transcript with its own course number, so the college is listed even though your teen never set foot on its campus. List every institution, including one your teen took a single summer course from.

Which courses go in Courses & Grades?

Only the ones on the high school transcript. Common App’s guidance is that courses receiving high school credit, meaning the ones that appear on the high school transcript, are what belong in Courses & Grades, and that a college course listed there is entered under the name of the high school where the credit was received. A dual enrollment course that grants high school credit for the current year also belongs in the current or most recent year courses list.

If a course earns college credit only and never touches the high school transcript, it stays out of Courses & Grades and is reported in Colleges & Universities instead. Families get this backwards more than any other part of the form, so it is worth knowing which kind of course your teen has before the application opens. The dual credit versus dual enrollment guide sorts out which one a course is.

Does every college read the Courses & Grades section?

Not all of them do. Common App’s help center keeps a standing article on the question because not every member college uses Courses & Grades, and some collect self-reported coursework through a separate system instead. Your teen’s own college list decides whether the section appears at all.

That is worth checking early, because filling in three years of course titles, levels, and term grades from the transcript takes an evening, and doing it at 1 a.m. in October is how transcription errors happen.

Does your teen apply as a first-year or a transfer student?

A dual enrollment student applies as a first-year student. Michigan State says it in one line: a student who has earned dual enrollment credit while in high school “should apply as a first-year student,” and a student who has enrolled at one or more universities after graduating from high school “should apply as a transfer student.” Common App’s own transfer application describes itself as being for applicants transferring from another four-year institution or community college, or re-enrolling to continue a degree.

Credit count does not change this on its own, though a few universities set their own threshold, and a student who finished an associate degree in high school should confirm which pool they land in. Ask the admissions office directly rather than guessing from a credit total, because first-year and transfer pools have different admission rates and different scholarship money behind them.

Who sends the college transcript, and when?

The college’s registrar sends it, at your teen’s request, and usually after admission rather than with the application. Michigan State’s rule is the common shape: an official college transcript is not required for admission as a first-year applicant, but it is required to receive credit for the dual enrollment courses, and it must come directly from the institution attended. The University of Georgia says the same thing from the other side, asking students to have the registrar at the dual enrollment institution send an official transcript for all courses taken.

Request one transcript from every college on the list, not only the one with the most credits. One student lost a semester of credit because a single summer course sat at a second college nobody remembered to ask.

Read each university’s application requirements for the words dual enrollment, college transcript, and postsecondary coursework before submitting. A handful of programs ask for the unofficial college transcript to be uploaded with the application itself.

Does listing dual enrollment help the application?

It helps when the grades are strong and the courses are real. An admissions reader sees a college transcript next to the high school one, which is a more direct piece of evidence about college work than a course label is. It hurts when the grades are weak, for the same reason, and neither the Common App nor the university lets a student leave a college off the list.

The admissions guide goes further into how readers weigh it. The short version is that dual enrollment is evidence, and evidence cuts both ways.

FAQ

Do dual enrollment classes show up on the Common App? Yes. The college appears in the Colleges & Universities part of the Education section, and the course itself appears in Courses & Grades if it earns high school credit and sits on the high school transcript.

Does dual enrollment make your teen a transfer applicant? No. Credit earned before high school graduation leaves a student a first-year applicant. Michigan State, for example, directs dual enrollment students to the first-year application and reserves the transfer application for students who enrolled after graduating.

Do you have to list a college your teen took one class from? Yes. Common App asks for every college that has granted or will grant credit, and a university will find the omission when transcripts arrive. List the college even if the class was taught in the high school building.

When does the college transcript need to be sent? Usually after admission, and always by the college’s registrar directly to the university. It is what triggers the credit award, so a student who skips it can be admitted and still start with no credit.

What if your teen’s course earns college credit but no high school credit? Then it is reported in Colleges & Universities and left out of Courses & Grades. Ask the high school counselor which graduation requirement, if any, each course satisfies before the application season starts.

Sources

• Common App applicant support, “Where should I list a course that offers both college and high school credit?” · the Colleges & Universities instruction
• Common App applicant support, “How do I report a college course I took during high school in Courses & Grades?” · high school credit as the test, and entering the course under the high school’s name
• Common App applicant support, “Do all members of The Common Application use Courses & Grades in their admissions process?” · not every member college uses the section
• Common App, Application guide for transfer students · who the transfer application is for
• Michigan State University, Advanced credits for first-year applicants · first-year versus transfer, and the official transcript requirement for credit
• University of Georgia Admissions, College Credit Earned in High School · the registrar-to-registrar transcript request