Every fall, dozens of City High students sit alongside the undergraduates in seminars and lectures at the University of Iowa. These students are enrolled in the Post-Secondary Enrollment Option Program (PSEO). Through PSEO, City High students are allowed to take for free any class that is not offered at City High as long as they have fulfilled the prerequisites.
Kaden Huntley ‘25 attends ASTR:1070: Stars, Galaxies, and the Universe, a first-year lecture course in which over 100 undergraduates are enrolled. Huntley has been fascinated by outer space since he was in elementary school and has, over time, accrued a wide array of knowledge on the subject. Taking a college course is adding a new dimension to his study of astronomy.
“This is for sure helping me prepare for college. The fact that I’m able to sit down–not just college-level education [like an AP class], but an actual college class–it shows me how things work and it relieves me a little, because I’m going to get to know the intricacies of it without just having to dive into it straight headfirst in my first year of college,” Huntley said.
Huntley also attends an optional lab once a week. He appreciates having access to more resources.
“The University has more funding, and so there’s a lot more things you can play around with, like the observatories, for example, on the roof of Van Allen Hall. We’ve been able to go in there and look at [the cosmos]. And there are a lot more things that professors will use for diagrams or visual learning: they’ll bring out something to represent the distance between the Earth and the moon, for instance. And so it makes it a lot easier to get a visual example of how things work, as opposed to at City High, where unfortunately teachers don’t always have the resources for that,” Huntley said.
City High Guidance Counselor Mary Peterson has guided many students through the process of enrolling in the PSEO program. According to Peterson, approximately 2% of City High students are enrolled in a wide variety of PSEO classes.
“I’ve had students take a wide variety of subjects–museum studies, Arabic, and philosophy,” Peterson said. “[PSEO] lets you experience a college campus while you still have the support of your high school teachers if you need help.”
Some professors say that high school students adapt smoothly to their classes. Dr. Anny-Dominique Curtius, Professor of Francophone Studies, has taught at the University of Iowa for 20 years and has had four PSEO students so far during her time.
“By and large, the experience for me has been absolutely wonderful,” Curtius said.
Curtius’s classes generally involve a significant amount of discussion and collaboration between students.
“I believe that [taking a class like this] is the beginning of future collaboration, in the workplace, in your studies, in your life, so it is really an [amazing] experience. It’s challenging, but it’s a beautiful challenge,” Curtius said. “I can’t think of a more wonderful experience that a high school student could have than this one.”
Curtius’s classes typically include a mix of undergraduate, Masters, and PhD students. She believes that the addition of a high school student adds a lot to the intellectual dimension of the class.
“The curiosity, and the absence of intimidation–getting rid of intimidation–is something that is fundamental, I would say,” Curtius said.
Taking college courses as a high schooler is not without its difficulties. When Huntley took his seat in the Van Allen Lecture Hall on the first day of class, he had trouble getting connected to the University wifi.
“The school chromebooks don’t work on the University wifi,” Huntley said. “I found that out the hard way.”
Huntley adapted by bringing his own personal device.
Sahleh Al-Herz ‘25 is a City student taking two classes at the University of Iowa, MATH: 2850: Calculus 3 and MATH: 2700: Linear Algebra. Al-Herz, a member of the “double-accelerated math track,” took Advanced Placement (AP) Calculus BC, City’s most difficult math option, during his junior year.
“Calc[ulus] BC really prepared me for these classes, so if somebody has done Calc[ulus] BC already and they’re double-accelerated, I’d highly recommend [they] do PSEO,” Al-Herz said.
As a junior, Al-Herz loaded his schedule with seven APs, an unusually high number of challenging courses. Although APs are considered college-level courses, his experience at the University has been different.
“All high school classes are loose on late work. But it makes me a lot more motivated to get homework done [in college classes] when I know I can’t submit it late. So I think that helps me a lot,” Al-Herz said.
Al-Herz recommended a point of entry for students unsure of which PSEO courses they might qualify for.
“It seems like it’s something only reserved for the top students, but there actually is a way that most students could get into the PSEO program. I’d never realized that I could’ve taken–I didn’t know how valuable it would have been–to take computer science. See, we have one AP computer science class at [City] that has no prerequisites, AP Computer Science A, and you can take it as a 9th grader or even self-study it, like I did, if you already know programming. As soon as you do that, you could take PSEO classes,” Al-Herz said.
The process of applying to the program is straightforward. Upon submitting the required paperwork students will be assigned to a University advisor who will guide them through the process of selecting and registering for courses.
