Not only am I starting the second semester of my senior year, but I am also starting a dual enrollment class at MJC. Experiencing what it’s like to be both a high school student and also a “college student” is exciting yet challenging.

I’m taking a Sociology 101 class, which is going to focus on social norms and also the function of human society. I’m taking this class because I want to pursue a career in Journalism, and Sociology will help give me a push in that direction. This also means that I will have one less class to worry about when I am a full-time college student in the fall.

I plan on going to MJC for two years, allowing me to get my gen-ed out of the way so that when I transfer to a university, I can focus on what I want to major/minor in.

Taking a college course in high school helps you learn advanced material and helps you gauge if you’re able to handle the rigor of college classes. Also, by taking a dual enrollment class, I get more credits on my high school transcript.

This class is a little over three months: from 1/9/23 to 4/29/23. This is nice because that way, it won’t get in the way of senior year activities or finals.

So far, the class seems easy. I don’t have to worry about logging in to any lectures or attending the class on campus, it’s all self-paced. In January, I have two assignments due every Sunday, which are discussions/ textbook related assignments and a quiz on the chapter we are covering that week.

I’m glad that I don’t have to worry a lot about my homework for this class, because being a high school student in AP classes, it would be stressful to juggle two big workloads.

As far as homework goes, this past week, I had to read the first chapter of the textbook, and then answer the question “What is Sociology?” in a one hundred word paragraph. For the quiz portion, it was twenty questions, worth forty points, no time limit, and three attempts.

Though this class seems easy so far, I can only imagine how much work I’m going to have to juggle with seven to eight other classes. Which is why I’m introducing myself to one class to ease my way in and get familiar with college classes before fully-committing in the fall. Many think that college will be similar to high school, it isn’t. The workload is much bigger and you will have much longer classes.

Having this class also helps me understand and get used to taking college classes. Since I don’t have to worry about turning anything in until Sunday, it means that I need to get more organized and spread my work out. I tend to procrastinate, so by taking this class, it’ll help me figure out how to prioritize multiple classes and get my work done early and not have to wait until the last minute.

According to my professor, we cover each module every three weeks, and we have five modules in total. It may not seem like a lot, but since this is roughly a three month class, and not a full school year, the workload is only going to get bigger and more stressful. I just hope that I’ll be able to stay on top of my high school work and also college work. But I know that this is going to help prepare me for my future at MJC, university, and graduate school.

Regardless, I’m grateful for the opportunity to take dual enrollment classes while I’m still in highschool.