I have great stats and all but I feel like I might have a story that will stand out. I want to know if you guys think my personal qualities will help my admissions chances into top schools. This is NOT a chance me thread though. I know my writing is not the greatest, on CC I really dont care.
When I was 14 I left traditional school to become a homeschooler. School didn’t challenge me and I felt like staying in a traditional high school for four years was holding me back. As a self motivated homeschooler, I graduated high school in just one year. My parents didn’t make me do my work, I motivated myself to get work done and get all As. Before I started homeschooling, I became very interested in Finance and Economics. I knew from a young age that I wanted to work at a Bulge Bracket Investment Bank like JP Morgan or Goldman Sachs. When I turned 14 and thus was eligible for employment I got my first job and invested all of my earnings in Stocks, Mutual Funds, ETFs, and bonds to save for college. When I started homeschooling I had more time to research and study finance. I will be applying to college at 15 years old and I would enter at 16.
By the way, I don’t want to go to a top school for the prestige or to impress people. I want to go because I would get a great education about finance and be able get a job in Investment Banking.
Congrats on your hard work! Your story is great, but you are very young. Are you mature enough to go away to college, manage your health, nutrition, sleep, and school work? What character traits do you have to succeed in a highly stressful environment with people who will generally be older than you? Focus on this as well as your passion for finance. Good luck!
There are 8th graders who can get top test scores. It doesn’t mean they have completed all the requirements for a high school diploma.
I agree that if I were the college admissions officer looking at your application, I’d give it a great deal of scrutiny. I’d wonder how you’d sit through 4 years of college if you couldn’t make it through one year of high school. I’d want to know what you’d add to the college, so would be looking for EC that prepared you for college or life. Were any of your homeschool courses graded by someone other than your parents?
@twoinanddone All my coursework was graded by professionals at Florida Virtual School. I have more than the requirements for a high school diploma in the state of Florida. I sat through 10 years of school actually.
Do you have any test scores? Any EC’s? Leadership roles? Work experience? Simply grinding through High School classes definitely does not make you top school worthy.
Then you aren’t homeschooled. Florida Virtual is an online school and will issue you a transcript and calculate your gpa. You will be compared to all others graduating from Florida Virtual and a good many students who just take a few classes from there. It is not an unusual road at all (nor is homeschooling).
You are asking if graduating at 16 will make you stand out to college admissions officers, whether you have a ‘special story’ because you took 4 years of school in 1 year. I don’t think it will. You’ll be assessed as other applicants will be based on your grades, scores, ECs, community service, awards, sports, leadership. You will have 3 fewer years of ECs to make you stand out. Do you have any leadership experience? Doing your own stock investing is just one point on your application
The only thing that is different from thousands of other applicants is that you finished early. You are missing things that they did in those extra years.
@tdy123 Well, key club and debate team won’t get me anywhere in life. Studying finance will. If elite schools would take the former and my state school would take the latter, I’d attend University of Florida or FAU any day of the week.
What “personal qualities” are you showing? You raced through school, got a job and invested. Colleges can wonder if you plan to race through their programs.
They’re more focused on the four year college experience. As a community. When they see your main focus is pre-professional, it can pose problems. They want a class that can integrate with peers, is open to trying new things, stretching in new ways. It needs to show in your record. Add in giving back in your local area/community service.
Education is a process. Not simply getting the hs diploma or prepping for a career.
And, by bypassing the usual process, you’ve also missed your own research into what those colleges want.
@lookingforward It shows that I am a highly ambitious person. What makes you think I can’t integrate with my peers? Why should I be punished for being successful? I didn’t race through HS for no reason, I am just ready for higher level work.
Ambition is not what gets you into a “top college.” And you haven’t told us more.
You need the time to learn what matters and assess whether you offer that. “Show, not just tell.” That includes intellectual curiosity, which means much more than finishing the hs diploma as fast as you could and moving on to a job. You have so many other opportunities to grow academically.
They get to choose the class they want. In the ways they look for. You have to stop, do some digging, and assess whether you’re really “there” yet. It’s so much more than xx classes and state certification.
We’re a homeschool family. I don’t think your story makes you stand out in a positive way. You rushed through 4 years of school in 12 months. That means each year took you about 3 months to complete. And you found time for piano, trumpet, golf, and a job. It doesn’t make you look ambitious. It makes you look impatient.
Learning is about more than checking off a box. People need time to process and mature. They may view information in new ways and with deeper understanding as they grow. Where’s the depth in your program? If you want higher level work, take courses at your local community college for high school credit.
What else are you doing? Everything you’ve written is all about you. Every homeschooler I know is active in their community. What are you doing to help yours? College admissions is about much more than test scores. You may want to do some research to figure out what top schools want in an applicant.
What do typical 4 year applicants have that I don’t? I have ECs, great test scores, great gpa, and I was able to do in a year what they take 4 years to do.