PSEO students who are interested in career and technical courses may take one career and technical college-level course (list of eligible courses for sophomores) taught by an RCTC faculty member on the RCTC campus as early as grade 10, during their first semester. To be eligible to do so, the high school sophomore must be enrolled in a public school, home school, or non-public school, have a minimum of a “proficient” score on the eighth grade Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) test for reading, and meet the assessment prerequisites set for the course. If the student did not take the eighth grade MCA, another reading assessment can be substituted if accepted by the enrolling postsecondary institution.
If a student completes the career and technical course with a C or higher, the student can take additional courses as long as he or she meets the assessment requirement for those courses.
Students who first enter PSEO programming through career and technical education can also begin to take PSEO general education courses in grades 11 and 12 by meeting the assessment prerequisites for the general education course they wish to enroll in, regardless of class rank, percentile on a nationally normed exam, or high school grade point average.