Springbrook’s dual enrollment program allows students to speed up the college process by taking college-level courses for high school and college credit, saving students time and money. Students who participate in dual enrollment can take select courses at Springbrook or on campus at Montgomery College.

Students who take classes at Montgomery College will be younger than most of their classmates, and while students are not necessarily given access to the entire collection of courses available at MC, the dual enrollment program does help widen the number of course options available to Springbrook students.

Elshalom Gebremichael, one of the 26 Springbrook students taking dual enrollment classes, said the classes aren’t stressful for her since she quickly learned to manage her time and professors are very willing to help her with whatever she needs. She said chose it because she wanted to challenge herself while preparing for college.

Seniors and juniors must have, respectively, a 2.5 or 2.75 GPA and meet the minimum passing scores on the SAT, ACT, or the ACCUPLACER. All requirements are listed on the Montgomery County Public Schools website. While not all students are eligible under these strict requirements, they help ensure that students who enroll in the program are adequately prepared. Additionally, while the dual-enrollment program isn’t free, the courses cost less in this program than they do per-credit at a four year university.

AP and IB classes also allow students to receive college credit, but students need to pass a final exam and colleges and universities differ in what scores they give college credit for. Although not all colleges accept credits from dual-enrollment, it is easy to obtain credits in this program. This is because with dual enrollment, all students need to do to receive credit is pass the class.

Gebremichael said she prefers dual enrollment to AP because it offers “direct college experience as opposed to a mock course like AP.” Dual enrollment provides students with the chance to interact with real world college campuses, professors, technology, and course-work, whereas AP and IB courses have been adapted for high school classrooms.

Students interested in dual enrollment can contact Teresa Dixon-Settles at [email protected].