Written by Anna Abgaryan
Living The College Life
One of the perks of being a full-time dual enrollment student is that you get to experience college life before actually going to college. This can be beneficial in the sense that during your freshmen year at college you will adjust to the environment quickly and won’t have as hard of a time fitting in.
What is DE?
DE stands for Dual Enrollment. Dual Enrollment offers various high schools the opportunity for their students to be able to take college courses and earn credits that go towards your college graduation!
Part-time v. Full-time DE
The main difference between part-time dual enrollment and full-time dual enrollment is the fact that enrolling in full-time DE allows you the opportunity to take only college courses.
With part-time DE, you can take up to 3 dual enrollment/FIU courses. However, with full-time, you only take 4 courses plus 1 lab that correlates with your science course. Under special circumstances, you can take more than 4 academic FIU courses. This means that while regular MAST students are taking a total of 6 courses, full-time DE students only take a total of 4 courses (plus one lab) per semester
Requirements for full-time Dual Enrollment:
To be a full-time dual enrollment student, there are a couple of criteria and requirements you must meet, which include:
A minimum unweighted GPA of 3.5
A minimum PERT score of 106, 103 and 114 in Reading, Writing and Mathematics respectively (This should be already complete if you were previously a part-time DE student)
A minimum SAT score of 1200 or a minimum ACT score of 25
Must take the ALEKS to be able to take college math courses. (The ALEKS also places you in a math class based on your score, so if you want to take a specific math course, make sure to score in the right range for the class).
However, even if you have checked off all the requirements, it is not guaranteed that you will be accepted into the full-time DE student program. During a certain time, the FIU admissions office will hold interviews with all the potential students seeking admission into the program. It is after this, that you will be notified whether or not you will be taking full-time dual enrollment the following year.
An Ideal Schedule of a Full-Time DE Student
Shai Lin, 17, is a senior at MAST@FIU who is part of the full-time dual enrollment program. Shai takes a total of 4 classes at FIU, which are: Microeconomics, Calculus, Intro to Religion, and Studies of World Religion.
On Mondays, Shai wakes up at 6:30 a.m. to go to her Microeconomics class from 8 a.m. till 9:15 a.m. That's her only class on Mondays, so afterward she goes home and does her math homework or studies for her Calculus quiz, goes to work, and heads to dance practice.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, she only has Calculus from 12:30 till 2:10 p.m and then goes home to do homework. Later on those days, she goes to work and dance practice afterward. On Wednesdays, Shai has her Intro to Religion class from 10-11:15 a.m. and Studies of World Religion from 12-1:15 p.m. She follows the same schedule as always after her classes. On Fridays, she doesn’t even have any class to go to! How cool is that?
Of course, it gets hectic during midterm and finals weeks but with all that aside, a full-time DE schedule allows you to maximize your extracurricular activities without having to worry about any complications with your school schedule. Simply said, full-time DE gives you the opportunity to make your class schedule flexible!