Are my classes okay for early graduation?

Applying to College
1

Classes I’ve taken in the past include:

AP Calculus AB (4)
-Geometry 1-2
-Algebra 1-2
-Algebra 3-4
-Precalculus AB
AP Computer Science A (3)
AP Psychology (4)
AP World History (4)
AP U.S. Government and Politics (5)
Honors Freshman English

Classes I’m taking right now include –

Honors Biology (Pre-req)
Calculus BC
Honors Sophomore English
AP Chemistry
Team Sports (Pre-req)
Spanish 1-2 (Pre-req)

Classes I’ll be taking next year, my junior year, include –

AP Statistics
AP U.S. History
AP English Language
AP English Literature
AP Macroeconomics
AP Microeconomics
Honors Spanish, Sophomore year.

My GPA is abysmal, at 3.2. At the end of this year, my sophomore year, it should go up to 3.4.
My PSAT scores are 178 and 208. How I got two scores back when I took one exam, I don’t know. I assumed I got the lower score.

I live in Arizona. I want to go to Barrett, the Honors College at ASU. Am I on the right path? Am I doing everything right? What other information should I post here?

2

You should really look into that PSAT mixup. That’s just not right.

3

I’ve sent an e-mail to the College Board a little while back. I didn’t get anything back yet.

Since I took it when I was a sophomore, I don’t think that it’s important, because it doesn’t affect my National Merit qualifications. If something like this happens again, then I’ll have to take more action on it.

4

bump

5

For Barrett, their admissions site states that a typical admit has a 3.8 unweighted gpa and a 1300 two-part SAT. Although, you may seem to compensate a little with your excellent course rigor. Why do you want to graduate early? Staying in high school through your senior year would allow your junior year grades to (hopefully) bring your gpa up, which would really help to broaden your horizon a little in terms of possibilities.

6

You better spend another year to improve your GPA.

7

Staying an additional year will also allow you to test for National Merit which you should have a shot at. Make sure you study for it! It’s worth a full tuition scholarship at some schools.

That’s a very challenging class schedule for a freshman. Nice job there.

8

If I stay a year, I run out of English and math classes. I can take a bunch of science or history classes, and honestly I’m kind of leaning towards something like that.

Next year, I’m also. Taking a first year accounting course at a nearby community college. I’ll have just about all requirements and prerequisites ready for me to leave.

The only reason I’d stay is if I could raise my GPA substantially. But even then, I cant afford to go out of state.

If I stay, I feel like my senior year would just be boring. I wouldn’t have much to do.

I guess I could take environmental, physics 1 and 2, biology, comparative government, or a few others for senior year. But none of those would be relevant to what I’d want to do, which is go into a dual major for accounting and statistics.

I feel like some of the people here would be a better judge than I am of what I should be doing. Maybe I should take a year to raise my GPA.

9

You can probably get into barret. I got accepted to asu’s honors college for engineering despite never applying for it… And looking at your course load/gpa and mine, I think you shouldn’t have a problem. I took a less aps than you, but had a higher gpa. They said I was one of their top applicants, and wanted to pay for my plane ticket to visit. But still, you should have no problem. I am no expert though.

10

You’re allowed to dual-enroll as a senior… you could take all your classes at the community college… for free! And skip a bunch of 1st year classes at ASU. It’s MUCH better to graduate from college early than from high school, because HS is free and college costs money. By graduating “normally” with college credit, you’d apply as a freshman, then get your status upgraded to sophomore once you’d register, and thus save tens of thousands of dollars. :slight_smile: In addition, you’d have more time to raise your GPA, which you really, really need if you want to get into Barrett.
Don’t take AP English language AND AP English Lit junior year. Take Ap language junior year, then college-level English classes senior year. Add Calculus 3 and college statistics (the calculus-based one - there will likely be two different classes, one algebra-based, one calculus-based), and one other class of your choice at the community college, and you’re good for a great senior year that allows you to accelerate college :slight_smile:

11

Hello,

You know, I really didn’t look into it until I read /u/MYOS1634’s post. He provides a lot of information that I saw as crucial and important to my decisions. Thanks!

I did a little bit of research between my last post and this one, and I’ve learned a few things –

*I have to take two English classes to satisfy graduation requirements. I do not need to take a history class, any electives, any math classes, etc. But I do need an art credit, and two credits for English.

*My Calc AB and BC credits, if I get a 5 on my BC exam, will transfer over completely. I’ll start College in Calc 3.

*My community college generally doesn’t have more than 2-year programs. A lot of dual enrollment classes at my school, done through a different community college than the one I’m doing my accounting course in, will not count for the university I want to attend, ASU.

*AP Language is a class I wan to take for sure. It’s a good class. It teaches important skills. And I feel like I need to learn and apply those skills later. Regardless of my decisions, I’m going to take that class next year.

*AP Literature is a bit iffy for me. The college credit for AP Lang and Lit both count for the same course at ASU.

*Calc 3 is not offered at my high school for senior year. My high school goes as high as Calc BC. The only place near me that I can take a college-level statistics course is at ASU.

*Honestly, everyone makes a huge deal out of GPA. By the end of the year, my GPA should be raised to about a 3.5 unweighted. Is it really that important that I raise it? I feel like, with the service, clubs, and other work that I do around my school, that I’d be able to get into a school like Barrett without a GPA of 3.8 or above.

*As someone who wants to dual major in Economics and Statistics, I feel as though my background in communication and math are most important.

Your post makes a point that I’ve heard before – that it’s better not to take Lit, but to take a college-level English class for my Senior year. And frankly, that makes sense. I’m kind of considering taking it in place of AP Lit. But the skills between AP Lang and AP Lit look like they can be translated between one and the other, and that by taking both at the same time, my ability as a writer would be stronger. But your point on taking a college-level english class to take out my first-year English class makes sense. It seems as though that’s something I’d want to do, if Lang somehow can’t do that for me.

Thank you so much for the information that you put into your post. It has helped a lot with my decisions over whether or not to graduate early. I don’t want to make a decision like this based off of friends I have in college or in high school, and what you put in your post has helped a lot. Thank you.

12

My brother actually goes there! He got a 2300 on his SAT, and a 35 on his ACT. In his own words, he is “way too qualified” to go to Ira. A. Fulton.

That’s actually kind of cool. I can’t believe they offered you a plane ticket :smile: