Please help. I’m not sure if I should graduate high school early.
I’m a current sophomore in high school. I plan on graduating 1 year early. I will be able to fulfill all graduation and A-G requirements, but my worries are: Will I get into college?
My ultimate goal is to get into UC Berkeley. I’m an in-state student and low-income. The reason why I want to graduate high school early is slightly personal but it’s essentially because of family situations and the fact that I don’t feel like I belong in high school. I also want to speed up the process in being able to support my family.
If I get rejected from my top-choice colleges next year, I will attend community college for a year and apply again as a transfer student.
What are my chances of being accepted to UC Berkeley, UCLA, or Stanford?
I haven’t taken the SAT or ACT, but my PSAT 8/9 score from 9th grade was 1310/1440. I scored in the 99th percentile overall, but scored in the 97th percentile specifically for reading and writing. I have all straight As and am involved in multiple extracurriculars, some of which I’m an officer in. By the time I graduate, I would have taken all honors and AP classes available at my school except: AP Lang (I plan on taking the test though), AP Comp Science, AP Art, and AP Spanish. The honors and APs I would have completed are: Pre-Calc honors, AP Bio, AP Calculus AB, AP Literature, AP Gov, APUSH, Spanish 4 honors, and AP Chem. Until the fall I apply for college, I will take at least 1 concurrent enrollment class per semester at my local CC.
Do you think my plan will work? Or am I significantly better off graduating with my class? Another thing I have to consider is that if I attend a CC for a year then transfer, I’ll save a lot of money and finish my undergrad 2 years faster than my high school class. Is it worth a shot?
This seems like something you should discuss with your family first and foremost. What is the financial situation like? If it’s truly pretty bad, I would recommend finishing highschool, going to community college for two year, then transferring to UC Berkeley. That said, you really should talk to a parent or a school college counselor.
Without taking SAT/ACT (and knowing the score) you can’t plan anything that early!
(And what about AP calculus BC? Isn’t that offered in your school? That could be essential for top schools.)
The transfer process from community college to the state four year system favors those who have earned the associates degree. You need to be mentally prepared to take 2 years in community college.
It’s very hard for a student with three years of high school to compete with kids who have four years at Stanford’s level, but if you are willing to do a broad college search beyond the three schools you named, you would be able to get in to a four year school.
Graduating Early is not a good idea. Even though you have completed the a-g course requirements and meet your HS graduation requirements, spending an that 4th year can help enhance your application especially if you are targeting highly selective schools like UCB/UCLA/Stanford. These schools like to see consistency in your EC’s so 4 years vs 3 years involvement can make a difference. Since you have not taken the SAT and/or ACT, you may want more time to improve your scores especially if you want to be a competitive applicant. It seems like you still have some classes available for you to take at your HS for Senior year, so you have not exhausted all the offerings. Also you mention that you plan to DE for 1 semester a your local CC, so you can continue to take more DE courses your Senior year which would have a very positive effect on your application.
The best financial aid is given to Freshman applicants, so it is in your best interest to apply as a Freshman with CC credit than as a transfer. Stanford accepts less than 5% of Freshman applicants and even less as Transfers.
Graduate with your class, work on your test prep and get a competitive score and continue doing the EC’s that interest you.
Best of luck.
AP Calculus BC is not offered at my school.
Since you plan to take some CC courses, you can always take Calculus at the CC.