<p>Hello Dad II - Absolutely - it is entirely possible! I graduated within 2.5 years from Cal as an English major, and no, I'm not crazy, and yes, I did have an extremely enjoyable undergrad career and don't feel I lost out on any aspect of college - academically or socially - by not having been there the full four years. I was out of state, so financial matters were one reason for this, but the other was that I simply wanted to finish up early, and I don't see any wrong with the student who chooses to go this route. Each student in the end should make choices as he or she feels is right for individual career goals, finances, etc.</p>
<p>I was grateful that as a public school, Berkeley transferred approximately 17 of my AP credits. In addition, I completed some summer courses one summer and for two of my semesters I took a 20 unit workload versus 15 units as is the usual workload. In the end I felt challenged, but never so much so that I was being pushed beyond my limits. I was able to have fun and spend time with friends, and work hard at school as well, and I am very happy I did it this way, and very happy that my school accommodated my choice. With the ever increasing tuition of college these days, it is not abnormal for a student to wish to finish up early.</p>
<p>Similarly, my friend graduated within 3 years with her Comp Sci degree.</p>
<p>So I say if your child has the desire to finish early, and her school is accommodating, then go for it! :) More power to her!</p>
<p>Both of the kids I know that graduated in three years did so while pursuing double majors - so they ended up being there 4 years but leaving with 2 degrees. One was a Math / Economics and the other Nuclear Biology / French Lit... (I know - quite a combination - currently in med school)</p>
<p>I graduated in three years and it was one of the best decisions I ever made. I never had to give up taking any class I wanted to take, I spent a year at a foreign university, and due to picking up credits above the regular 3 per class along the way I could take only four classes my last semester. It was not purely a financial decision, I was more than ready to be out of there by the end of three years, but it did allow me to go to grad school (to a one year MA program) and when my friends were getting their BAs, I was getting my MA.</p>
<p>My nephew did undergrad in 3 years in a small LAC. Had some AP and took the max load. He used the money saved to go to law school at UVA. He did not feel he gave up any thing along the way. Had fun but worked hard, too.</p>
<p>D of a good friend of mine finished a top-tier u in 3 years. She had AP credits, tended to carry a higher-than-usual unit load and went to summer school after her sophomore year. Here parents were against the girl graduating early, but the kid's reason was that she was simply sick of school. She was a humanities major who felt she'd written enough papers and participated in enough 'discussion groups.' After she graduated, she worked two jobs, thought about life/goals/interests and a year later applied (and was accepted) to grad schools. In the end, those two years off the undergrad-grad school track were a time for her to grow up & figure out what she wanted. And it wasn't more paper-writing or discussion groups. ;)</p>
<p>I graduated from MIT in three years in 1975, for financial reasons. A fourth year would have meant loans. It was a mistake but I'm not sure four years would have been any better. Who knows? A year or two off might have made more sense.</p>
<p>My son graduated from MIT in 3.5 years in 2007. He was anxious to get out and get to work because he prefers working to studying. It also had the advantage of saving us about $25000 (double the cost of my entire MIT education). </p>
<p>Both of us accomplished this by taking a slightly heavier load throughout college--a consistent five courses/semester instead of four--not by using AP courses. </p>
<p>My daughter took a slightly heavy load--4.5 credits--most semesters but chose to stay for the whole four years. She really enjoyed being in school, though. </p>
<p>I think four years for college is an artificial number in any case. Most students take more or less than four years. I think it's appropriate to think of it as a range. Probably the 25-75 range for college completion is 3.5 to 4.5 years.</p>
<p>DMD, I know many MIT kids who did 3.5 years.... but the 25-75 range is absolutely not 3.5- 4.5. My son has been out of college for 2 years; most of his grade school friends have just completed college and many of his HS friends have one more semester to go.</p>
<p>BCEagle and blossom: you're both agreeing with my main point but disagreeing with the details. It depends on the college and the region, I think.</p>
<p>I was counting by total semesters attended (ignoring time off and gap years) and looking only at those students who actually graduated. I stand by my figure: the middle 50% of students take 3.5 to 4.5 years of attendance to graduate from college. It could even be the middle 75%. </p>
<p>(Yes, I know there are outliers in both directions. My nephew just graduated at age 33. He took one course/semester all the way through.)</p>
<p>If I am reading this chart correctly it looks like over all the six year graduation rate is surprising low (56% for the US - varies by state): HigherEdInfo.org:</a> Graduation Rates</p>
<p>I guess that I'd need to see more statistics. You have a lot of people that go for a year or two and then continue in CC or evening school and it can take quite a while to graduate that way.</p>
<p>My pastor's daughter graduated from College of Wooster in three years, she did her required senior project the third year. She has always been mature beyond her years though, and I wouldn't recommend it to everyone...</p>
<p>Some schools require that the last 60 credits/2 years be completed at their campus (an official study abroad counts)- they are giving a diploma with their name on it and it seems logical to assure that the school's most advanced courses were taken at the institution giving the degree and not elsewhere. The 4 years comes from a common number of credits per semester times the 8 semesters (4 years at 2 semesters per year) it takes to get the required credits to graduate- eg 15 x 8 = 120, or 16 x 8 = 128 (my sister always pointed out how her lesser state school required more credits to graduate than mine). It is easy to get the breadth and depth required in this time frame if one starts with the major known and manages course selections well.</p>
<p>Yes, Dad II, we know you and how chemists think (some of us majored in chemistry and have friends with PhDs and beyond in it, plenty of others have equally, if not more, impressive credentials) so we are trying to put/keep you on a good course that will serve you and your children well. Some of us are more elitist than you but have had our dose of harsh realities by virtue of having gone through the college application process (and raising boys who don't always get the perfect grades they could, but that's another thread...). You are learning a lot from us, keep up the good work.</p>
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[quote]
My statistics were off. Here is an article from 2002, comparing Harvard and Princeton. Harvard does not have a distributional requirement, making it much easier than P to obtain AS. But I recall reading that even with the percentage of eligible students dropping fro 50 to 30%, there would still be more eligible students than would make use of AS.
[/quote]
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<p>marite, if you're still reading, or anyone else, could you tell me more about this? (harder to obtain AS at Princeton?) Is it because, to gain AS for P, you need many more different APs than for H? I'm interested in gaining AS for P, that's why.</p>
<p>other than obtaining AS, in what way would it be harder to actually do AS at Princeton? i.e. more stress than at Harvard or other schools? heavier courseload? </p>
<p>Harvard may not have a distribution requirement, but that's because it has so many required courses in the Core Curriculum (or whatever they've called its replacement.)</p>
<p>My son is graduating this year from VT after only three years. He took a lot of APs and tested out of other courses. He took a heavy load each semester as well. He is taking math/physics double degree and plans to apply his $ savings from not having to attend for a 4th year toward grad school. I would characterize him as a motivated student who is "gifted" enough to find the advanced courses easy.</p>