Speaking as someone in the process of graduating college fifteen years late, this is what I wish I knew twenty years ago. Send this to every teenager you know.
I graduated college in four years with two bachelors and a masters. Some additions:
AP Tests:
You don't need to take the AP course to take the test at all. This is NOT a requirement. If your high school doesn't offer the test you may need to take it at another school, though. Also unfortunate is that if it is the same as when I did this, your school probably gets test fees waived for students who took the course and thus you may need to pay for the test. https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/faqs/can-i-register-ap-exam-if-my-school-doesnt-offer-ap-courses-or-administer-ap-exams
Proficiency Tests:
The college I went to offered "Proficiency Tests" for many courses (mostly freshman targeted) which were effectively final exams for courses that you could take, and if you satisfied with some grade you got credit for the course. If you are good at studying on your own, this will probably be significantly less work than taking the course and it is an especially effective for courses that you are not interested in.
Taking More Classes:
I literally planned my entire course load for all four years way before I got on campus (with built in flexibility for when courses were full or if I wanted to leave a couple of wildcards in for fun or whatever). This is important because if you're planning something like what I was doing, it's important not to have all your hard classes in the same semester and then burn out.
There are also some paths not mentioned here. Using myself as an example: I didn't go to high school at all and went straight to university, without getting a GED. This was enabled by the Early Entrance Program that I went to, but in California there is also the straightforward path of enrolling in a community college which is part of the Transfer Admission Guarantee program. This gets you guaranteed admission to one of 6 UCs (all except Berkeley, UCLA, and UCSD) after the completion of a certain number of eligible units while maintaining a minimum GPA (details might vary slightly by UC, but I think a 3.5 average is the highest required at any of them). Happily, many of the participating community colleges don't have age or high school equivalency requirements.
It did take me 6 years to graduate, mostly for reasons contingent to my particular circumstances (many people attending the same program graduated successfully in 4 years). I do think it was better than the default alternative of first going to high school and then university "the normal way". Very few of the people I know who accelerated or omitted significant chunks of their later education, for similar reasons to mine (expecting it to be low or negative value), consider it a mistake.
Highlighting the point in the Q&A: If you are having fun in HS or College, you don't need to leave. Put that extra energy that could be going towards graduating early into a side project (learn plumbing, coding, carpentry, auto maintenance, socializing, networking, youtubeing, dating, writing, or anything else that will have long term value regardless of what your career happens to be).
I'm a big fan of "take community College courses, and have them count for HS credits and towards your associates/bachelors" if your HS allows it.
FWIW: I dropped out of high school a year early via the GED route. I am very glad I did, and recommend it. At the time this was not really an option that was discussed above-ground by e.g. guidance counselors: instead the assumption was that you'd either graduate from high school or "be a drop-out" with all sorts of bad connotations.
I enrolled in a community college and began taking my lower-division undergrad courses there (and some electives that I was curious about). This was far less expensive than taking the equivalent courses at a university, and by and large the lower-division courses I took at community college were of higher quality than those I later took at university (smaller class sizes, professors seemed to care more).
OTOH, my friends who stayed behind for their high school senior year described it as being a much better year than others: more collegiality, a better social scene in general. So if your high school social life means a lot to you, you ought to add that into the calculations.
Skipping 8th grade is also a good option. And taking college courses during high school also good. I did both and finished BS 3 years early.
Good morning (for me),
I am a 16 year old secondary school student currently located in the UK, aiming for a Doctoral degree. I am gratified by the approach you are currently taking by stating the opportunities outside the orthodox education system and usual educational pathway's for students, that in future progress must allow students to take the opportunity of early employment or multiple categorical degrees.
After moving here from the Netherlands, it was difficult to understand the eminently significance of the educational appropriation compared to where I have come from. Of course it is difficult for me to fully grasp the entire message stated; it being a whole new type of education unrelated to the UK, however there are some degrees you might want to hear that closely follow the ideology behind your post in the UK's education system.
This was an interesting insight into the American education system, and available opportunities beyond the scape of usual education pathway's. I would love to hear more!
For my own students (I'm getting certified to teach high school business courses) I recommend Sophia learning (https://www.sophia.org/) to get a head start on gen ed college courses.
I finished high school (with a community college class in my senior year) shortly before my sixteenth birthday and went to a local college on a full scholarship. I spent five years in college (I hated school, but loved jstor), I graduated and got my dream job in 2009.
The path to doing it is different for everyone, and local factors (school system) will be critical.
Professionally, I recently had the pleasure of being assigned to a team with two others who had also started college at sixteen. It was fun, and it felt nice to work with two other members of this weird club. We compared notes and concluded that our experiences were a bit odd, though overall good, and that we are happy with where we ended up
The 'but what about social stuff' concern is overblown, every teenager has to figure a lot out, and I don't think there was a world where I wasn't awkward, grade skipping or not.
A few years ago I saw that the longitudinal studies on grade skippers are out, kids who can skip generally reach 'average success in their chosen field' kids who could have, but do not, have a lower chance of finishing high school at all, and usually have worse outcomes on all measures, including social. This matches my own story, and my experience with others.
If you can skip ahead, you should.
Students that pursue a bachelors degree in the U.S. traditionally spend four years in high school (graduating at ~18) and four years in university (~22). They often hold part-time jobs and internships, but only start accumulating “real” experience after finishing their education.
This means trading eight years of your life — years where you have minimal debt so far, the most freedom from life obligations you’ll have until retirement, and the near-peak of your youth and health — to a system in exchange for two pieces of paper. In the process, many make very few original and/or valuable contributions.[1] Those diplomas are important keys to accessing traditional middle-class life, but note the opportunity cost here, and how much time is fed to the educational system.
It’s worth carefully thinking through both high school and university to make sure you're spending your time in a way that is both meaningful in the moment, and valuable long-term. A shockingly large number of default paths handed to students fall short on both measures.
Many students will make this trade because it’s the default path, or because the adults in their life successfully push them on to it. Others will look at the trade-off with open eyes and decide the eight years of investment makes sense to them; more power to these people who choose this path.
But for those who want another option, it is possible to capture most of the upside while mitigating the costly time sink.
Note: I write this guide generally aimed at the student striving to be middle class or upper middle class, with the educational expectations that entails. Other socioeconomic classes are more likely to be handed life-scripts that already route around the educational system. I’m sure many of my suggestions are me typical-minding the reader, so consult with people whose opinions you trust before implementing.
The fastest way to finish high school is not to finish high school. The easiest way to do that is to get a GED, which is a test you can take to prove you know the equivalent of a high school graduate. Check specific local laws to figure out how to do this; in a lot of places, you have to be at least 16 years old before leaving high school.
A GED is not as prestigious as a diploma, so make sure you know what your plan is if you take this route. You’ll likely be able to start taking classes in a local community college or trade school right away with a GED, though it can be worth calling an admission counselor for whatever program you’re interested in to chat about your chances of getting accepted.
The ideal option would be to do something bold and interesting with your time immediately after getting a GED. The only person I semi-personally know who took this path started his own (decently successful!) photography company while still a student, then dropped out at 16, got his GED, and worked on his own company full-time. Best case scenario, you work on something exciting that pans out exactly as hoped; worst case scenario, this is an excellent story to tell to admissions counselors/employers in the future, and shows that you have ingenuity and an entrepreneurial spirit.
While dropping out can work if planned correctly, note that this is by far the riskiest path. I don’t recommend taking it unless you have a solid plan in place for after — and this includes actually doing the work to prove to yourself you’ll make good use of the extra time by starting something before you drop out.
Also, if your parents have strong middle-to-upper-middle class plans for you, this is the path they are least likely to let you take. You need great evidence that it will work for your particular case, or you need to choose a less risky path.
Instead of dropping out, there are many ways to take an accelerated track to getting a high school diploma. This is generally slower but a lot safer, since you get the same high school diploma as a regular student, just faster.
Most high schools hand out booklets at the beginning of the year or when you transfer to them. These generally have the course catalog, but most importantly it should list the graduation requirements. This will often include something like four credits of English, two of science, etc.
If you want to graduate early, your goal is to get those credits at least one full course-cycle (usually a year or semester) before you would otherwise graduate.
A lot of high schools, especially nicer high schools, offer summer classes that will give you credits in less time than they would otherwise take. Some schools let you take classes that start before/after the school day, or let you count evening classes at a local community college toward your degree. My personal favorite is online classes; if your county/state offers certified online classes, you can overload your schedule and take way more credits than you’re supposed to.[2]
If you don’t plan on applying to a selective college right out of high school, take the easiest classes that fulfill your credit requirements.
If you do want to apply to a selective college, this becomes much harder. You’re playing a balancing game where you’re maximizing not only credits earned, but also perceived rigor, college credits earned (à la AP), and the highest grade you can reliably maintain. Godspeed.
This is a pretty safe option even if you don’t know what you want to do after high school. Additionally, I can attest that it’s much easier to get parents on board.
If you’re trying to convince adults to let you do this, my strategy is 1) talk to your high school admissions counselor and get them to approve of your plan (this is the most important!), then 2) call the admissions counselor for any program you want to do after college to check that you’ll meet their criteria (possibly overkill but good for convincing parents), then 3) show your parents the finished plan that already has the approval of multiple authoritative adults. Your mileage may vary.
I’m kind of cheating putting this under the high school section, but if you can’t get a high school diploma early, you can instead get a “head start” on college, and finish the combined high school/university years in less time this way. Note that this section is of less use if you have no use for a college degree, or can’t handle heavier academic rigor.
The two typical ways to start earning college credit while in high school are through tests, or by spending some of your time taking classes at a local community college.
If you are looking to use your associate's degree / college courses / exams to get through a bachelor's degree faster, make sure whatever program you’re applying to accepts these credits before you invest time in them.
I imagine a lot more students have at least considered a fast track through university, at least partially because you should now be an adult fully in charge of your own educational path. The fast-tracking solution here boils down to either “take more credits” or else "don't go".
Shockingly, as with high school, the fastest way to get out of university it to just not go. This is how the majority of Americans solve the problem, and there are still plenty of alternatives to a bachelor's.
Additionally, some paths that seem locked behind university can actually be accessed by any successful autodidact.[3]
This is the most obvious solution. Your school should have a specific number of credits needed to graduate, and probably a specific list of classes required for your major. These can usually be found online.
There’s likely an easyish path that you’re expected to default to, but almost any university will allow you schedule flexibility. If you can get enough classes ahead of schedule and finish all of your requirements >=1 semester before your expected graduation, your school will likely let you graduate early.
The biggest annoyance here is just scheduling; often you’ll find that multiple classes you want happen at the same time, or classes aren’t offered every semester and you can’t take it when you want. The solution is either an aggressively color-coded spreadsheet compiling all the relevant class info and times you can find, or (easier) talking to an academic counselor for help.
I’m realizing how often I recommend talking to a counselor, but this is literally their job, and there’s no point in taking the hard path of routing around them if you can just get their help.
Also worth noting is that taking more credits can be more expensive. Although you’ll often save money overall by graduating earlier, check your school’s overage charge policy.
See the “Getting Started With College” section above for how a high school student can start getting college credits. If the university you attend accepts these credits, those are classes you don’t need to take to get your bachelors.
If you’re already in university, ask a counselor; in some schools you can still test out of classes even while a current student (ex. with CLEP). Alternatively, when you can’t take classes at your college (for example, over summer break if your college has no summer programs), check if classes at the community college closest to you can count toward your degree or look for accepted and accredited online courses.
Bringing credits in has the advantage of moving you toward your degree even when you can’t be at your university, and also often costs a lot less money. Just do your due diligence to make sure those credits actually make it to your transcript.
Q: What if I do all the work but am still not allowed to graduate early?
A: Check with your school that they’ll let you graduate if you can get the credits early! Email/call/visit the administration to talk to someone if you’re not sure.
If it’s family that won’t let you graduate early, one solution is to build the whole plan for how it will work out and only present it once you’ve obviously thought it through. If you’re a minor and really can’t convince your guardian(s), just take the most advanced courses you’re allowed and can logistically handle.
Q: Won’t this make the social part of high school/university a lot harder?
A: Graduating before your friends can make it harder to stay close with them while they’re still a step “behind” you. Your ability to make friends at your next step has much more to do with how mature you act than your chronological age (and if you’ve made it this far in the guide, you’re probably not going to be the least-mature person there).
If you’re going to university extra young, keep in mind that in the U.S. you may not be able to (legally) drink when your friends can, which may change your ability to e.g. go bar-hopping senior year.
Q: But aren't high school/university are supposed to be some of the best years?
A: If you’re having a great time, don’t graduate early. This is aimed at people who want to exit the educational system.
Also, people who are driven enough to get out of school early have lots of options for making adult life fun and fulfilling. There are other cool people and projects to work with, and the world is actually pretty big.
Q: But then you’ll be too young as a new graduate and fall behind in your career.
A: I’m not sure why this is a concern someone mentioned, because in my experience it’s simply false. You have more time to get work experience, try things out, and get into a professional track that suits you. Graduating early gives you year(s) to work or experiment before your age group even really starts in the workforce.
Q: What if I don’t get accepted to [specific program] because I graduated early?
A: If you’re worried, talk to [program]’s admissions counselors before graduating. Or if you get rejected, use that extra time to do something awesome and fulfilling and re-apply. Or question whether [program] is right for you, or if there are equally good alternate paths.
I’m a strong believer in early graduation, at least for anyone who is as disenchanted with being a student as I was. For the ambitious, this means the freedom to fully pursue meaningful projects outside of school; for the practical, this means less money spent on college and a faster track to earning years; and for the undecided, this means more time out in the "real world" to actually figure out what you want to do.
I don’t know if any such students will be on this site, but I’m putting it out there just in case.
This is my first post, so constructive criticism is very welcome. I hope some of this was helpful, and would be happy to answer any questions :-)
Some students are ambitious enough to make meaningful life progress anywhere, even (somehow) during high school, though this is uncommon. Graduating early would still give ambitious students more time to fully pursue those interests.
Shout out to Florida here — if you’re a Florida student, FLVS was awesome for racking up credits faster than intended and I highly recommend it.
For example, it's fully possible to self-teach computer science, then create projects or solve problems proving that you know what you're doing, and end up in the same career path as someone who spent time on a CS degree. The degree is just a lot easier for most people.