Hi, I want to know if graduating a year early in Florida will impact my college admissions and how I would fill out the common app next year.
I’m currently a sophomore and by the end of this year, I will have 5 science credits, 3 Engish credits, 4 math credits, 3 social studies credits, 2 fine arts credits, 3 Foreign Lang credits.
3.9 GPA, 1380 on PSAT/NMSQT Taking SAT in August
My freshman year I took AP Environmental and AP Human Geography the rest are honors,
My sophomore year I’m taking AP Biology, AP Psych, and AP World rest are honors.
Next year I’m planning on taking AP Chem, AP Stats, AP Lit, AP Macro & Gov, AP US History, AP Spanish, and 3D Art.
I’m not aiming for T20 just a good public out-of-state school. My EC’s are okay with a couple of leadership positions and community service. I plan on pursuing Public Health or Anthropology.
It really depends what level colleges you are looking at. For the more competitive colleges (pubic and private alike) you will be hurt by graduating early because you won’t have as many upper level classes as likely not as many EC depth/leadership positions as those who spent four years in HS.
Also depending on your age consider if you really want to start college early. I started college with a person who was 16 – while the coursework was no issue she did have some social related issues that likely would not have happened had she been even a year older.
Is there any other reason that you want to graduate early besides meeting the requirements? Social? Friends?
I have 4 kiddos and 2 are graduating hs this year. One is graduating as a senior at age 18 (boy) and the other is graduating in 11th at age 16 (girl). We are in California.
My daughter who is graduating early has applied to about 30 schools for nursing and has gotten into 25 so far and waitlisted at 1. We are still waiting to hear back on 5. In my opinion, graduating early has not impacted her acceptances at all and nursing is extremely competitive. Her biggest reason for wanting to graduate is that she is homeschooled and her best friends are all 1-2 years older and they are heading to college this fall. She is super independent and very mature. She has a full-time job and 2 associate degrees from the local community college. I have let her take the lead and this is what she wants to do. She bought her own car and every day shows me that she makes good choices. She doesn’t play sports so that made it easier. My 18 yr old, and 2 younger teens would not graduate early because they play sports and this would take away their senior year of their sport.
As far as filling out the common app, it was no problem. There is a section that you check if you are graduating early and you can explain in a short paragraph why you chose to do so.
Best to speak with your hs counselor to see what’s up in Florida. Not sure how is works in Florida but you can attend community college for free while in hs here in California. Perhaps you could do your senior year and just do dual enrollment. If you graduate hs then do community college, you might not have the same scholarships avail to you because you would then be a transfer. If you are applying to oos publics, they can be $$$ since you aren’t instate. Im no college counselor but in our limited experience, with you grades and SAT, it is very likely that you will be able to get good merit scholarships and they are most avail to incoming freshman. (which you would be, graduating in 11th or 12th grade)
Its good you are gathering information now. This way you can make the best choice for YOU.
Consider not graduating early but using senior year to take dual enrollment classes in subjects related to your major: intro to biological anthropology, intro to cultural anthro, sociology, American Studies, history, economics… (in addition to the usual Freshman Composition, etc.)
Thank you so much for your reply and congrats on your daughter! I have a solid friend group I have no issues with them. Sadly, due to personal and religious reasons my family and I do not see eye to eye which has created a not-so-good home environment. My counselor presented me with the dual enrollment option but, it’s all in person with a 45min to 1-hour drive (depends on traffic). So with my parent’s jobs and other reasons, it wouldn’t be realistic.
If you have Bright Futures, then you can be accepted into a FL college after junior year, with $. There is a limit to how many courses you can take in a local college, unless you are willing to pay. Many top colleges have a limit on how many, if any, credits they will accept from dual enrollment. MIT May accept a few, Caltech none, and places like Harvard and Yale may consider you a transfer student. Some colleges make it clear that they will accept juniors, if they have exhausted the resources in their HS.
Do you know your EFC? Can your parents afford it (most can’t)?
Have your run the NPC on the colleges you’re considering?
What characteristics do you want in a college?
What are your instate safeties?
Graduating early will mean upping the college process by a year. We can help but be aware it’s complicated even for kids who take the full 4 years to graduate and you’ll need your parents’ cooperation.
And…since your parents and you aren’t seeing eye to eye…will they be amenable to completing the financial aid applications, and helping you pay for college?
My grandparents do have a small college fund for me. I’m intending to get bright futures and apply to instate schools but if an OOS school offers a good scholarship/fin aid package then I’ll probably go there. I’m trying to apply to as many local scholarships as possible so I can be able to afford OOS. With my parents it depends on the school, If it’s a religious one then they would most likely want to pay.
You said out of state. Are you trying to move away from home, or is there some other reason in state won’t work? Florida is a big place, with a lot of public schools.
Florida is a huge state, so would UF, FSU, and either USF or FIU be far enough (5 hours or more from home)?
What’s the total in your college fund?
Outside/local scholarships are always small, often 1-year only, and can be deducted from your financial aid package. Not a good bet (they’re a nice complement to help pay for books for instance but usually can’t pay for college).
The best financial aid comes from the universities themselves. Some may meet 100% need without loans, some may meet 100% need - those are the most selective. “Need” means “based on your parents’ income and savings”.
Run the NPC on Davidson, St Olaf, Holy Cross (MA). Would they be affordable?
If they’re not, then you need to look for merit. For this, look into U Arizona, U New Mexico, UAlabama, as well as Colleges that Change Lives (look through the website- they offer excellent merit aid for the most part - if you see some of interest, ask here and we’ll provide info about specific colleges).
If you identify as a girl, look into Bryn Mawr, Agnes Scott, Mount Holyoke.
Thank you so much for your reply and congrats on your daughter! I have a solid friend group I have no issues with them. Sadly, due to personal and religious reasons my family and I do not see eye to eye which has created a not-so-good home environment. My counselor presented me with the dual enrollment option but, it’s all in person with a 45min to 1-hour drive (depends on traffic). So with my parent’s jobs and other reasons, it wouldn’t be realistic.
Are you sure you have to go to campus though? My son is doing dual enrollment at USF and has yet to set foot on the campus although it is officially in-person. 100% online classes are plentiful.
I live in a pretty conservative part of Florida so the professors are against online classes. I talked to my counselor and he was mentioning that it’s all in person. I think ENC1101 Freshman Composition is the only online class offered.
@halkoj - i hope that you can get things figured out; it’s good you are thinking ahead.
here’s one thing i’ll mention to you; you may or may not know this - but living in a dorm is expensive. Plan on around 12-15K per year just for dorms. I know in our midwest state, and others, dorms can cost more than tuition! And very few scholarships will pay for dorm living. that’s on the parents. just fyi.
You will not be a transfer student taking dual enrollment in high school. you may get upper class status but you are a first time freshman applying directly from high school.
I agree with others, there is a difference between graduating early because you have met the graduation requirements and graduating early because you have exhausted all your school has to offer. Finishing HS without without taking the opportunity to stretch yourself academically may hurt you at more competitive schools