I’m a high school student currently taking both, and many people get them confused.
An AP course is an advanced placement course, which is provided by Collegeboard. AP courses are basically college level courses, but you get to take it during high school. It is very vigorous, allows you to have a >4.0 GPA, and also you have to take an AP Exam at the end of the year. Different exams have different dates of testing, and you can check it out at the collegeboard site. AP classes are able to replace many basic general education or elective classes, but they vary by school. Take for instance, AP European History, it is not accepted at Johns Hopkins, but it is at UC Irvine. Thus, if you want to go to Johns Hopkins, taking the AP European History test would be close to useless. Even if colleges don’t accept the AP scores (scores you get from the AP Exam, usually 4 and 5’s are accepted), you can still put it on your application in where you list the classes you took.
Based on the college you want to go to, I’d suggest the following:
Don’t take AP classes if you are planning on going to community college,
Take 1-2 AP classes if you want to go to schools that are not very high tier, usually accepting 3.4-3.5 GPA’s.
Take 4-5 AP classes if you plan on going to a somewhat competitive school, such as UCSD.
Take 7-9 AP classes if you plan on going to a really good school, close to but not in the Ivy Leagues, like Johns Hopkins
Take 10 AP classes if you wish on going to Ivy Leagues
I’ve concluded this from personal opinion and based on the amount of graduates I know that went to UPenn, Stanford, Harvard, Pomona College, etc.
On the other hand, dual enrollment classes are not very useful in general. Usually they last about a semester, with long classes but only once or twice a week. Similar to AP classes, they could give you early credits into college, but it’s only for specific colleges, and usually community colleges. Those credits may be transferable, but not all colleges will accept them. It’s not as important as AP classes, but it could still slightly help you on your college applications for entrance if you have it in your transcripts. Also, dual enrollment is not as uniformed throughout the US as AP classes, and are determined by the district or state, whereas AP courses are international.
Hope this helped!
