Division of Undergraduate Studies

Penn State’s Dual Enrollment program offers high school students the opportunity to take college-level courses that supplement their high school curriculum. Dual-enrolled students under the age of 18 are advised in the Division of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) by advisers with the required Pennsylvania clearances and background checks. Dual-enrolled students who are 18 or older are also advised in DUS but are not required to be assigned to advisers with the clearances. Requirements and expectations for this program include the following:

1. Students will be assigned to a DUS adviser who has met clearance requirements in accordance with the Pennsylvania Child Protective Services Law.
2. Students will only have access to sections of courses taught by instructors with these same clearances.
3. To ensure dual-enrolled students do not inadvertently schedule an inappropriate course section, they must meet with their assigned DUS advisers to schedule courses each semester and must contact their advisers to make any subsequent schedule changes. To ensure a smooth process, all dual-enrolled student records will be placed in a hold status and will be opened during advising appointments only. Students may schedule meetings with their academic advisers by contacting the DUS receptionist at 814-865-7576.
4. Students may take up to 8 credits per semester, but DUS strongly recommends students take only one course in their first semester of enrollment in this program. English composition, mathematics, and chemistry courses are not permitted or appropriate without special permission and/or testing.
5. For second-semester enrollment, students wanting to take mathematics and/or chemistry courses will need to take the ALEKS placement exam. Information about the exam and how to take it are found at http://advising.psu.edu/aleks/index.html. If students are interested in math courses beyond MATH 140, they do not need ALEKS at all—their high school course work accomplishes the same.
6. DUS does not recommend students in the dual-enrollment program take online courses.
7. Courses taken in the dual-enrollment program will appear on the student’s Penn State transcript, and the student will have a GPA for all courses taken.
8. A grade of C or better in each course taken is required for students to continue in the program.  
9. Consideration and discussion should occur regarding the entrance-to-major policy that requires students to apply for most administratively controlled majors within the 40–59 cumulative-credit window (within 44–59 cumulative credits for Smeal majors). Dual enrollment could potentially place students beyond this window before all entrance-to-major courses can be scheduled.
10. Dual enrolled students must re-apply to Admissions if they break their continuous enrollment at Penn State and want to return as a dual enrolled student. For example, a student who takes a summer course and then waits until the following summer to take another course will have to re-apply because they did not have continuous enrollment every semester from the initial application.