I was thinking about graduating 2 years early from college (instead of the typical 4 years), then also thought of graduating 2.5 years. Which will be a better option?
(I plan on going to grad school after I finish my bachelor’s).
It really makes no difference. You need to make sure you satisfy the requirements for your major and the number of total credits that your college requires for graduation. You should work with your advisor on this. Even if you come in with a lot of AP credits, it’s hard to imagine finishing all the major requirements in two years, especially with majors that have sequenced courses like stem majors.
Generally agree with @me29034, but will also add: be sure you know what your target grad schools want. Depending on the field and the level of competitiveness of the schools you want to apply to, you may need to consider how you will strengthen your application.
Why do you want to graduate early?
You have a ton of credits already?
You don’t have $$ to pay for more school?
Things you could do instead of graduating early:
- Do a Co-op//internship
- Study abroad
- Do a 3-2 Master’s program
- Do research
- Take lab courses
- Double Major
and take the 4 years.
It depends on what you want to major in…if those make sense.
My daughter graduated in 2.5 years (HS Credits + some summer courses) but then finished her masters in 1.5 years…since we would pay for 4 years of college, she got a second degree within that time. We also told her not to rush but were not going to prevent her.
If you graduate early, you will be younger than others at work/grad school…my daughter wasn’t even 21 when she started grad school. Now she is a teacher at just barely 22.
However, if you didn’t take a loan and started work earlier, you gain that salary (if you are only looking at finances).
I think that we need more information to give the best advice.
One issue is that graduating early can save you quite a bit of money.
Another issue is that the courses and the degree are NOT the only thing that you get out of university. Internships and research opportunities can be very valuable. If you graduate in 2 or 2 1/2 years you will have a lot less opportunities for internships and research. Also, if you take more classes at once, it makes it harder to get as much as possible out of each class.
One student I know picked up a few AP credits and a few more credits from summer classes and summer research and could have graduated early. However, the research that she is going as an undergraduate student is very valuable and very interesting, so she has intentionally avoided graduating in 3 or 3 1/2 years. She will still have an extra credit or two when she graduates in 4 years, but will also have had more time to do research. This is something to think about.
If graduating early allows you to avoid debt this is a very good thing.
Someone I barely knew years ago as an undergrad graduated in four years, but with both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree.
There is a lot to think about here. Life is not a race.