<p>SheenR: Your approach is destined to fail. You seem to be looking for what to do rather than what to become.</p>
<p>I went to an urban school district where I met my minimal HS grad requirements by the end of my sophomore year. By state law, I think I was required to stay in school until age 16. Did I opt out? Of course not. Neither did any of the others at my rigorous magnet HS. My HS had tremendous AP offerings and a lot of us dove headlong into them – mostly because they really grabbed us, not because they were tools to craft ourselves as great candidates for top schools. </p>
<p>What I see in this thread is your failing to recognize the correlation of early graduates who happen to get into selective colleges and the path and options open to many people (such as 80% of the kids in my HS who could have graduated early). Like nysmile as repeatedly said, the early graduates who were accepted to the top schools were truly *prodigies *-- kids whose folks drove them to the local college for advanced math and science classes b/c there was nothing left in HS for them to take – kids who were already winning national competitions. Prodigies. For these stellar few, leaving HS early was a logical step. They were recognized by top schools not because of early graduation but because they were prodigies who happened to graduate early. Some prodigies graduate in 4 years and are still coveted by top colleges. </p>
<p>So you see, it’s not graduating early – it’s being a prodigy.</p>
<p>From what I can tell, you aren’t. This isn’t meant to be an insult. I’m certainly not one, nor my kids. But I still got into all my colleges, eventually matriculating at an HYP.</p>
<p>Take the advice about sitting down w/a counselor and discussing your plan of action and your goals (top college, med school afterwards). Believe it or not, your counselor has probably successfully gotten kids onto that route before.</p>
<p>Best of luck to you.</p>