<p>Here's my situation: I'm currently at the end of my sophomore year with enough credits to easily graduate at the end of my junior year (this is my preferred course of action). Should I expect colleges to be less or more receptive to an individual like myself who chooses to graduate early? Will my interest in applying to college early countereffect my potential lack of reccomended credits in order for me to be more successful through the admission process?</p>
<p>Your HS must reccommend you for early application. usually, colleges will only take juniors who have FULLY exhausted all the available AP courses and such. So unless you go to a really rural school that offers limited AP's and you're just absolutely blowing the lid off there... chances are low. And they start to wonder, "Why is this kid so eager to get out of HS?"</p>
<p>I'm taking the exact amount of credits required to graduate. Quite frankly, I don't see any benefit in taking a 2 credit year at my high school (I'm taking full loads of credits for three years, plus 2 extra). Why would a college care if I happened to graduate with the required credits a year early? What on earth is so special about Senior year?</p>
<p>Are you suggesting colleges would be more receptive if I took a regular load the first three years and decided to "relax" for an additional year, inevitably earning me the same credits regardless of whether I stayed for Senior year or not?</p>
<p>I'm also graduating early. I emailed the colleges that I wanted to apply to and the general response from them is that there would be no special consideration for early graduates, and that they would be compared to the seniors. As long as you know that colleges will judge you in the same context as the seniors or judge you possibly harder, there is no problem.</p>
<p>Colleges care about people graduating early, because even though there is only a year difference, they still worry about maturity and how an early graduate would adjust to the college environment. If you have exhausted the hardest course load possible and can show that you are mature enough to handle college a year early, colleges will take that into consideration.</p>
<p>The colleges don't want you to "relax" an extra year, they want to see students who show initiative and drive by taking AP courses, extra courses and the like.</p>
<p>Now, that depends on the tier of colleges you're looking at. Many state schools don't care so much, although as was mentioned, maturity is a concern. If you're looking at a competitive college, and you haven't tried to take the tougher classes that are available, they'll see you as a person who wants to skate by on the minimum. Many people apply to these colleges with far more than the minimum. That's your competition.</p>
<p>Yeah if you are only doing enough credits to graduate, that's wrong from the college's perspective. You need to take every hard class at the school before you think about leaving early. Besides being the most economical way to educate yourself, it prepares you better for college. I agree totally with DespSeekPhD. It does depend on what schools you are looking at. This average white girl at my school got a low 20s score on her ACT and graduated early, and got into DePaul and UIUC business. An Asian male graduate with a noticably higher ACT got rejected from UIUC Business. Who knows?</p>