Hello,
I am currently finishing up my sophomore year of high school. I greatly dislike high school and would be looking to graduate as a junior as I will have fulfilled nearly all of my credits (the remaining required credits will be fulfilled via an online course).
My idea is as follows:
graduating high school after my junior year, then taking a gap year where I would try to get an internship at some sort of engineering/math based firm, then applying to college the next. This gap year would help to eliminate the social awkwardness of entering college a year early, but, most importantly giving me some great experience in something I’d really like to do as a career.
If all goes to plan, I will graduate high school having taken 4AP year-long courses, 5 IB year-long courses, and one honors course.
I would like to know if this plan would affect my admission into colleges as well as anything else worth noting. Thank you in advance.
It won’t help your college admissions chances. And an engineering internship with no engineering coursework under your belt isn’t going to be a very robust experience, even if you could manage to land one. Plus, trying to apply to college a year after HS graduation is s hassle. Your HS still has to be closely involved (recommendations, transcripts), and that can be harder to coordinate after the fact.
Provided you do graduate from high school with decent grades and get decent ACT or SAT test scores, there will be plenty of places that will admit you. Talk with your parents about how they expect you to pay for college, and when you know about the money, you will be able to look for affordable colleges/universities, and determine whether early graduation makes sense for that particular application list.
On another thread you say 3 AP. We have no info about what you’ve studied or how well you’ve done, what ECs, including math/science. Nor what colleges you have in mind. You may not find an internship at your age and if your record doesn’t make you a good choice.
All these are things to consider when vetting a plan.
You should certainly be able to get into some colleges with your plan (although I agree with @intparent that it is unlikely you will get any meaningful engineering experience with no coursework behind you). But do keep in mind that many top students would be able to graduate after 11th grade if they choose (with maybe one extra junior year course). However, the vast majority stay through senior year to take advantage of all the school offers in order to create the strongest application possible – these students will be taking an additional year of rigorous coursework, maximizing involvement in ECs, etc.
There have been many threads on CC about graduating early. You should read some of them if you haven’t already.
Sounds like you plan to graduate when you’ve “nearly” fulfilled all requirements. I don’t think that’s how it works. Do you mean you’re going to become an on-line/cyber student and fulfill your remaining requirements while also working?
You’ll be applying to start college two years after starting your junior year, with a HS diploma, so I don’t think it will affect your chances one way or the other. Other than the fact that you’ll have taken fewer courses than most students. Top college that emphasize a rigorous schedule, challenging yourself, are probably out, but there are plenty of schools that will be available (assuming decent grades, test scores, etc., none of which we know).
Its hard to imagine an engineering company where a HS grad could make a meaningful contribution. If they could, they would hire them instead of college grads.
Any interest in a year abroad as a hs student? AFS or Rotary exchange programs might be options.