My son is a sophomore right now and is picking courses for next year. He has heard the English 3 AP is more analyzing and English DC is more writing. What courses does the DC one replace at A&M? I see English 103 and 104 and I only remember taking 104 at A&M. Do most students skip 103 because I think they did when I was a student.

His goal is going to A&M to major in engineering. He is leaning towards the AP class rather than DC because he would rather analyze than write. He will also be taking Calculus BC -AP, physics AP, computer science AP, us history AP, and a 2 hour engineering class where they design and build things.

Would you recommend AP or DC for English 3?

A&M doesn't offer ENGL 103, only 104. You can transfer 103 in, but you can't take it at A&M. Most (all?) engineering majors will accept either 103 or 104.

What each AP course and DC course covers will be specific to the high school where he takes it.

There is a suggested curriculum from the College Board for AP English Language, but as I said, each ISD (and usually, each high school) decides what the actual curriculum is.

The AP English Language course is designed to cover the skills required in traditional college composition classes: understanding and analyzing how rhetoric works in non-fiction prose, speeches, letters, newspaper and magazine articles, and advertisements; how to write in the various modes of rhetoric (narrative, comparison/contrast, definition, etc.); and how to write effective argument/persuasive essays. There will probably be some sort of research paper.

That said, in Texas, many AP English Language courses also include various amounts of American Literature (though the actual AP exam does not cover American Literature at all).

Dual Credit course curriculum is usually determined by the college granting the credit (usually a community college) and is then added to by the particular ISD and often each individual high school. DC courses are designed to give credit for the first two semesters of traditional college composition classes. There will probably be some sort of research paper.

In short, you need to look at the specific curriculum of each class as it is taught by the actual teachers at your son's school. Ask your student to go by and speak with those teachers to get an idea of what is actually covered.

Another thing to keep in mind about AP vs. dual credit is that AP offers a bit more flexibility. Your son decides whether to take the test. Dual credit will always be there.

https://web-as.tamu.edu/ecardimages/publications/testing/AP_052219.pdf shows what credit A&M offers for different scores on various AP tests.

Your son can also call an admissions counselor at 979-458-0950 to discuss what is best for his particular situation.

I teach AP World History and AP Psychology so nothing to add on the content side. That being said, your kid needs to talk to the kids that are a grade or two above them and see what they think of the AP v. DC offerings.
I'm in Frisco and we do our DC through Collin College and they send professors to our school or the kids can go to the Collin campus. It's a good setup and a lot of kids take advantage of it. Generally our kids find the DC to be easier and less stressful than the AP and none of the DC kids regret taking it.

I took both AP and DC English in high school, and passed the AP exam so I technically got the credit twice. It's a dumb setup but unless I wanted to either not take AP English my junior year (and take regular English) or not take DC my senior year (take either the next AP English or regular English) it was the best option. Taking regular English either year would've hurt my GPA as the classes aren't weighted the same, and taking AP again my senior year would've still been a waste, (since I already received credit through examination) and it was a harder course.

When you take DC in high school, you are receiving credit in a course to a specific college. If you know what college has partnered with your kid's high school, find out what the classes' course # is at that college and then check A&M's transfer equivalency.

Generally it seems like at most high schools that DC is easier than AP.

I just graduated high school last year and I took AP English 3 and that accepted as my English credit (Engineering Major). Look up tamu transfer course equivalency for the dual credit to see if it transfers. Also see if he needs it for his major (which I'm pretty sure all majors require one year of English) by looking up tamu course catalog

Our first born just finished his first year of college. He was one of the National AP Scholars in a high school with an extremely good AP program. He was and remains good friends with most of his AP teachers who each had a huge influence on his college and life choices.

Many thanks to all the awesome AP teachers! The kids that thrive on that opportunity in high school get an exceptional experience and continue that in college and hopefully through their lifetime.

And to the World History AP teacher, his only "B" ever was an 89 one semester sophomore year of high school in WAP that changed his life. That teacher invited him to join MUN. He chose MUN over 6A baseball. Shocking. They went on to win the big one in NYC his senior year and he still does MUN in college. Good choice.

The old cliche "it takes a village" is spot on. Great to have the AP teachers in that village.

Kudos to all the HS seniors that took AP classes that transfer in as college credit. What an absolute perfect opportunity with the potential and likely changes to college classes the fall, and beyond.

Another AP bonus... Kid just landed a tutoring gig for AP classes and SAT. Covid had thrown his plans off the rails since Spring Break. At least his backup plans will be in place in one month and the backup, backup tutoring gig will help fill in the gaps for the next month and beyond.

His cousin took a bunch of AP's, but didn't take the tests. That worked out great for her. There's no wrong way to do AP.