Okay so I’m a rising senior, and next year I plan on taking 9 AP tests, but because I haven’t taken the classes yet I don’t want to assume I’ll pass all or any of them.
Now, I know college is expensive, and I want to avoid debt as much as every other person, and for this reason I think I’m going to go to Community College for atleast a year and a half, if not more. Then, I want to transfer to either DePaul, Loyola, UIC or UIUC, though I’m leaning towards the university of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Probably going to major in a science. To be honest I haven’t gotten that far yet, but I know it won’t be easy.
So, after I graduate highschool, I was thinking I could take summer classes the summer before freshman year of college( how do I do that? Is that possible? I’ve looked online and it doesn’t really say much about that, I have to have an account and whatnot ) I want to take 9 credit hours over the summer, then the max load (which I believe is 18 credit hours) in the fall& spring semesters and then take another 9 credit hour summer class the following summer.
Which would mean (hopefully) by the fall semester of sophomore year of college I would have 54 credits (I know I will have to check to make sure these credits are transferable.)
I think by then I would hope to transfer to a university and of course take advantage of some scholarships and start classes again. The graduation requirements for UIUC is 120 credit hours. And if I have 54 credit hours by then I will need 66 more credits to graduate. I would be able to take a lighter load sophomore and junior year. Sophomore year, I could take 15 credit hour class and a 14 credit hour class, take another 9 hour credit class in the summer and then junior year I could take 14 hour classes both semesters.
((Not factoring any AP classes I have already earned and will hopefully earn))
And then I do plan on going for a masters degree, but I wouldnt be in any rush and would be able to breathe and live a little then.
@Czepiel231 those AP credits will likely only count to core or gen ed credits this means you will spend less time at CC you really need to look carefully at your degree requirements I can assure you that you have to have very specific classes not just total credits to get a degree.
From a saving money perspective, it might be more cost effective to take one or more jobs over the summer and save as much money as you can rather than spending the summer in classes (which will cost you money).
As mentioned above, it’s not just the number of credits that you need for graduation but having the right credits. Many students think they are ahead of the game because they have all these APs in subjects like USH, WH, Psychology, Human Geo, Micro, Macro, etc. If at your school only 6 credits of the 120 credits needed to graduate are social sciences, all those extra APs credits don’t help you graduate sooner.
You also could think about taking CLEP exams for college credit. They are shorter than the AP exams, and can be tken at any time of the year so studying for the, can be a bit easier.
Read the credit by exam policies very carefully at your target institutions so that you know which exams can get you credit for what.
As noted above you really need to pull up the AP Credit policy for each school on your list as a first pass and then pull up the course map for your degree and see what applies. It varies widely from school to school and degree to degree. Some grant generous for a 3 score while others require 4’s or 5’s. I know for my own D18 she varies from a high of 45 potential credits to a low of 10 for the schools on her list, and it will be a factor for her. I think it’s fine to try accelerate if it meets your goals.
Is money a serious concern for your family? Will you have to mostly borrow to finish college?
Because I understand wanting to get through quickly to reduce debt, but there’s a value in giving yourself some room to breathe. First, and most pragmatically, by pushing yourself too hard and taking on too many credits you run the risk of not doing well in your classes. Six college classes is a lot in a semester. Many students do it for one or two semesters through their college career, but not all the way through.
Secondly, your summers are a valuable time to gain experience doing things like internships (if you hope to work after college) and/or research (if you want graduate school).
My family will offer it if I need it but I’m determined to keep costs low, I come from a single parent home. Freshman year would be my “fullest” year considering I’m taking 2 18 credit semesters, but after that I’ll actually have it easier, because the uni I want to go to recommends to take 16 hour classes a semester, and I will be free to take 14 credit semesters. And I figured if I graduate early, I’ll be able to get a jump start on my masters?
Have you run the Net Price Calculators at the websites of all of your target institutions?
Have you verified their financial aid policies? Many merit-based scholarships are only for incoming freshmen. It might be cheaper for you to start directly at the 4-year institution rather than planning to transfer.
What are your career goals that make you think now about a masters program? Some masters programs don’t expect any work experience after college (MS Engineering, MA Teaching, etc.) but others do (bare minimum of two years of increasingly responsible work experience for admission to a good quality MBA program).