I’m a currently ending the 3rd quarter of my sophomore year in high school. I want to graduate next year because I have to be able to work (I work two jobs already), and I’ve been having mental health and family issues. I’ll be 18 for all of senior year and the only credit I would even need is a semester of government and a semester of economics. However, I still want to go to a good university. My top college would be in the honors college at University of Florida. Bright futures will cover it if I can get a good enough SAT/ACT score because I’m in Florida already. But I’m wondering just how realistic that would be with graduating early? I did AP Human Geography freshmen year, and I’m currently enrolled in AP Psychology, AP World History and AP Seminar. The rest are honors.
My reminding classes will go as follows:
This Summer
DE Pre Calc
DE English Comp 1
DE Government
DE Intro to Chemistry
Semester 1
AP Research
AP Biology
DE Statistics
DE World Lit 1
DE Macroeconomics
DE General Chemistry 1
Semester 2
AP Research
AP Biology
DE Calc 1
DE Abnormal Psychology
DE World Lit 2
DE General Chemistry 2
Sophomore class rank is 34/556 but if I graduate early fo course that will change a lot. Weighted GPA is 4.2969. I will have well over the county mandated 24 credits.
I am lacking in extracurriculars though because I have to work to help support my family. I’ve only been involved in one club freshmen and sophomore year. I want to major in Chemistry, or Psychology, so I am trying to go for the National Science Honors Society next year.
I’m sure a lot of people are in the same situation and I was wondering if anyone else is planning to do the same, or has graduated early already has any advice? My college and school counselors are absolutely useless. Thanks.
I may have a different perspective than some…my son could have graduated a year early. Instead, he stayed and took dual enrollment classes. We will see if it pays off as credits transfer. Our thought was that he could save some money with some gen ed classes at the community college. If UF is “away” for you, housing and food are the expensive part.
As @Gator88NE said, working to support your family is a great EC (better than almost any club you could join). I don’t have the exact answer for your situation, but I bet there are several ways to get where you want to be. Maybe UF will let you enroll right after your junior year (speak with UF admissions). Maybe you could technically stay a high school student while taking nothing but dual enrollment classes (my daughter did that just like @ufalumn1997 suggests) and then graduate after your senior year (thus saving A LOT of money in tuition and books even if UF is not away). An additional plus to the extra DE classes is that if you earn your AA degree you get two bites at the apple. You can apply as a freshman and if you don’t get accepted you can reapply as a transfer student.
My son graduated the summer after his Junior year, skipped his senior year entirely, and is admitted to next Fall’s incoming Fresman class at UF. It seems his “gap year” hasn’t affected his college admissions much, going on his predictions based on his stats going in. He’s gotten in where he thought he would, been deferred by his reach schools, and probably will be rejected by his far-reach schools. He had a decent internship related to his intented major for about 4 months and has worked several jobs the whole time. That may have bolstered his ECs and essays a bit, and probably detracted from his overall academic record, which was very good for his 3 years. A few things for you to consider: (1) try to do something useful with your time away from school, preferably something that supports a weakness that you might have (2) any time off is an opportunity to take courses either for college credit or for your own development. Online courses, including certificates of completion, could demonstrate a keen interest in a subject (3) Bright Futures volunteer hours have to be submitted before your graduation date, so get them all in before the end of your Junior year (4) Your class rank won’t really be affected as most college apps are submitted in the fall of your senior year, so the next round of grades wouldn’t have come out before you apply.
I am graduating a year early from high school this year. When I was in 9th grade, I had more than 3/4th of the credits needed to graduate a year early, so I decided that I would do all that I can in order to make that happen. Last year, when I was in 10th grade, I took all the classes that I would need to take in order to complete 11th grade, U.S. History, English 3, and a few electives. I finished all of the classes that I would’ve taken in 11th grade online and before my 10th grade year ended. I had made sure in 10th grade that I would have everything that I needed in order to graduate and apply for college. That meant that I had to take my SAT in my 10th grade year, finish all my community service hours, build up my college application through extracurricular, and continue to do the best I can in order to build my GPA so that I would be a competitive senior. I finished my 10th grade with a 4.45 UF GPA and a 1370 SAT. I had a decent amount of extracurriculars including a couple of jobs that I held throughout high school as well as community service events and clubs. When applying through Coalition, I put all the classes that I had taken in high school, and when it asked me for classes that I took in 11th grade, I put that I had skipped a grade due to having enough credits needed to graduate a year early. When I applied to UF, earlier this year, I was a senior who had everything done. Sure enough, I got accepted for the Fall 2019 term. Just make sure you have all the credits you need to graduate, as well as prepare to take the SAT/ACT and build/improve your GPA, so you will be competitive next year.
I’m also graduating a year early and got accepted to most of my top choices. My best advice is to write down any questions you have and call up the school (or email them). I similarly had a pretty unhelpful counselor, but I managed to work things out. Keep your options open. Attending a community college then transferring is a great route that I definitely would have pursued if I got rejected everywhere else. It’s also very important to explain thoroughly why you are graduating early. If you write great essays and have stats that fit in the school’s 25-75th percentile of students, then you should be fine.