The Impact of Dual Enrollment on College Application Choice and Admission Success

Dual enrollment is one of the fastest growing programs that support the high school-to-college transition. Yet, there is limited empirical evidence about its impact on either students’ college application choices or admission outcomes. Using a fuzzy regression discontinuity approach and data from two cohorts of ninth-grade students in one anonymous state, the authors of this paper found that taking dual enrollment credits increased the total number of colleges students applied to and the likelihood of applying to any moderately or highly selective in-state four-year institution. Attempting dual enrollment credits also increased the total number of in-state four-year colleges a student got admitted to and the probability of being admitted to a highly selective in-state four-year college. Heterogeneous analysis further indicates that the gains were primarily driven by Black students.