You might want to use some homeschooling time to study the use of “it’s” vs. “its.”
Homeschooler14, what I see is that you want to do what you want to do, when you want to do it. You don’t have to resort to thinking that God is telling you to do it. It’s enough that YOU want to do it. And I don’t see anything wrong with that! You have a singular focus. That’s fine. But the reality is that your current level of academic achievement doesn’t show the exceptional level that’s required to get into a top school. Rushing through independent study for high school with an online service isn’t the same as the kids who do tons of really tough college-level APs, and then score a bunch of 5s on the APs, all while founding their own large, productive charity, becoming a concert pianist, placing first in the state in cross country, and overcoming tremendous adversity. (I know, I’m exaggerating, but nowadays unless you are an underrepresented minority, that’s almost what it takes.) And I’m sorry to say, but a 35 superscore on the ACT is not the same as a 1600 on the SATs. Playing trumpet, golf, etc. is not the same as winning a national/international soloist competition, or being an Olympic level athlete. The fact that you finished online high school young isn’t the same as having finished at prodigy age. Don’t waste time trying to improve your high school record to get into a top 20 school for undergrad. Go to college now! If you’ve already finished high school, start college in January at the best, closest place you can physically get to while living at home, because you ARE too young to live independently right now. There are legal issues with you living in an apartment alone, off campus, this young, especially if it’s not near where your parent or guardian lives. Then transfer quickly to the best school you can get into (which might be your state’s flagship school). Finish your undergrad degree quickly there. Then apply for your MBA at a top school. Assuming you are truly driven and competent, which I suspect you are, you will be applying for your MBA at around the age most people would be going to college, with a degree from your state’s flagship U. That is where you’re going to stand out as unusual, if you have an undergrad degree with incredible grades, in a business related field, especially if you’ve been doing some interesting, successful investment on the side.
You see, to get into the Wall Street firms, you need to do summer internships. They’re not going to take you unless you’re 18, for legal reasons. No one is going to hire you until you’re 18, for legal reasons. But they will take you in a minute if you’re in the summer between MBA years at a top program, and 18 or older. Plus you can have the age-appropriate college social experience when you’re 17 or 18, living on campus, engaging in age appropriate activities with age-appropriate classmates at a top college - except you’ll be in an MBA program there, while they’re undergrads.
Go ahead! Follow your dream with all the intensity and focus of adolescent fervor! Don’t be put off by the probably correct feedback that you’re unlikely to get into a top 20 school by having sped through an online high school curriculum in one year. Do an end run around that, by the path I suggested, and you’ll be there at one of the top MBA programs in the country, at age 17 or 18, and have an internship on Wall Street the summer you’re 18 or 19, and the job you want there when you’re 19 or 20. Just make sure that you can present yourself as a socially competent human being by that time, one who can come across at an interview as a pleasant, outgoing 21 year old (even though you’ll be 17), or they won’t take you. That’s going to take social experiences - clubs, church, team sports, and such. You’re just gonna get that as a teenager at college, instead of high school.
You should know that it was standard practice in NYC up through the 70’s for bright kids to enter college by 16. It wasn’t that unusual in the 30s and 40s for very bright young people in NYC to be skipped through elementary school quickly and enter high school at 11, and college at 14. Many of the leaders of the “Greatest” generation who were from NYC were allowed to race through elementary and secondary school, and dove into college in their mid teens. Your path is unusual nowadays, but if it’s the right one for YOU, it’s fine. Keep in mind that many of the most successful people in business didn’t learn how to do what they did, from attending an Ivy League college/business school. They were astute, incredibly driven, and able to discern business opportunities that no one else saw. That may wind up being your path.
@parentologist I appreciate your thoughtful and well written response. But, you don’t get to tell me that I can’t go to college away because of my age. I can and will do it and nothing any random person says on an online forum will stop me. The rest of your response contains great advice.
If we are just random people, then I’m not sure why you want any kind of advice or speculation from us about how your story will look to top colleges. Your thread title says “Please read!” I’ve spent considerable time reading this long thread and putting my small contribution in, in light of the fact that you don’t want to hear anything except your own own echo chamber. If you can and will do things, go at it. You don’t need us, then. Good luck to you, You do need to develop some gratitude and kindness to people who give time to you. I’m outta here. Let us know how things are in a couple of years.
If anything shouts “I AM 15 YEARS OLD,” it is this.
I’m not saying this to make fun of you. I have a sincerely happy smile on my face right now. It’s a joy to see a kid be a kid, and you were in full kid-dom in that moment.
Go take on the world!
Humility matters.
In real life and within religion.
@parentologist - there might be fields where you can go to a top state school, get good grades and then have a chance at a top graduate program immediately after undergrad, but that would be an incredibly unlikely path for top MBA programs. If the applicant isn’t a prodigy at one of the top unis, s/he’ll have very little shot at a top MBA program without significant, relevant work experience. So add a few years to that timeline so OP can get the needed work experience; that is, assuming the type of employers that will provide those opportunities won’t mind hiring a younger employee.
@EconPop said it best!
@Homeschooler14 yes the math works out. If you want to squeeze a months worth of AP Lit, AP chem, or AP physics ( choose your class) into a long day of about 15 hours…it is technically possible. But why would you want to? Is this really learning? No, it’s not. It’s basically checking off a box on a list of things to do. This is not what colleges want to see.
Where is the discussion? How would you learn from your peers? Where is the group learning? What about listening to the perspective of others? What about labs? Lab reports? What about real understanding and not just spitting back information?
My daughter’s AP physics class (public school) was taught by an extremely intelligent man with a PhD in physics. When we attended back-to -school night he let the parents know that this class would not be about memorizing and spitting back information…that’s not what AP physics was. He went on to tell us that the student’s minds would be stretched in ways never thought imaginable…and that the class required a tremendous amount of out of the box thinking. He was right. My daughter went on to receive an A+ in the class and a 5 on the exam…but it was not without a lot of work, discussion, studying, writing and rewriting lab reports, etc. What this class as a whole received from this teacher…could not be squeezed into 15 hours of memorization.
Additionally…the class had to take the state exam in physics at the end of the school year. This exam was not just an “easier” version of AP material. The state exam and the information required for it…was nothing like the class. It was basically like comparing apples and oranges. The teacher would periodically “throw in” a state exam throughout the year so that the class would be ready for it in June. The first time they saw the test…they were very upset. They had to learn yet another way of thinking.
I disagree…you can’t learn in 15 hours what is taught in a month. EconPop nailed it.
The assumption you’re making with your question, “how much will my story help me” is that it will help you, and you seem to be unable to accept that your assumption might not be true. Finishing high school in a year – or even two – won’t help you with college admissions. It’s not even a question of how much. The answer is not at all.
You do realize that some of us work at elite colleges, right? We aren’t just some random people on the internet. So you can listen to our advice, or not. Or listen only to the parts that support your choice. If you apply and are rejected your app will be kept on file, so you’ll have to have some substantial additions to have a different outcome later. But if you want to gamble on acceptance with your current record go right ahead.
I don’t believe you’d be online posting in an anonymous forum if your parents were truly willing to send you to Manhattan on your own at 16, and willing to pay $30k+/year for a ~500 sq ft studio apartment (plus utilities, food, and transportation), in addition to the ~$50k/year tuition. Why would they pay well over $100k/year for you to go live on your own in Manhattan when you have perfectly good schools in FL? Waiting just a year or two will likely save them nearly a quarter of a million dollars.
Why would they spend that kind of money when they don’t have to? If they were willing, and all of you were certain that you’re on target to be accepted, you’d just do it. So I have to think that either they aren’t as ready to drop ~a half a million dollars on your college education as you say they are or somebody in your house isn’t sure you’re ready. But go ahead and apply and see what happens.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
It appears the OP has the answers and/or needs no additional insight. Closing thread.