Is it good to graduate early?

<p>I want to apply to schools like Harvard (my dream school) and i have a chance to skip my junior year and go straight to senior year. I'm already taking junior courses and next year i'll be taking the senior requirements and my senior year i would basicly be taking nothing.. I have nothing to take in my senior year except for vocational classes. What do i do? Do i graduate early? Will it hurt my chance at Harvard and other top notch schools?</p>

<p>If you are exceptional enough that you feel you'll be competitive for top-tier colleges after only three years of high school and are completely willing to miss sharing the perks of senior year with the kids who have been your classmates since kindergarten, go right ahead and skip. Colleges are not ecstatic about kids skipping years of high school (meaning, they prefer that you have all four years), but some people are simply ready academically and emotionally for college after their junior year. More power to them.</p>

<p>If it helps, I was in a similar situation last year. I had the option of graduating a year early or doing mostly correspondence/community college classes my senior year. My friends are mostly a year older than me, and I don't like my hometown that much anyway, so I considered graduating with them and attending an early-college program like the one at USC. But then I realized that I really wanted the full four-year high school experience, to go to prom and graduate alongside my classmates too. Threads I read on this site helped talk me out of graduating early. Next year will be a bit lonely without my friends, but I will be able to continue to improve my resume and grow as a person before college.</p>

<p>Think carefully about graduating early. Do you feel mature enough to handle living away from home? Do your parents? Are you willing to miss the potential growth opportunities that another year of high school could provide? Do you understand that skipping to senior year could put you at a disadvantage in the admissions race? Will you mind leaving your friends a year early? These and other questions you must answer.</p>

<p>Also, even if you do graduate early, you need not go to college immediately. You could do a year of foreign exchange after high school, for instance (a huge growth experience). Or, if you don't graduate early, you can always dually enroll at a local college.</p>

<p>enjoy your senior year</p>

<p>You've worked hard all three years, you should enjoy your senior year. </p>

<p>You should work on making your resume larger if you can, broaden it. It will increase your chances.</p>

<p>I moved a lot so i don't have the same people as i did in kindergaten. My friends are all juniors (i mean all) because i take junior classes and when prom is considered i can always go to junior prom. All i want to know is will a school like Harvard accept me?</p>

<p>hello? </p>

<p>10 char</p>

<p>^We can't tell you that, obviously. We are not admissions officers and we don't know your resume.</p>

<p>Will Harvard reject you ONLY because you graduated early? No, but they won't be especially thrilled with the fact that you did high school in three years. Colleges frown upon it generally, I believe, but are willing to make exceptions for outstanding cases.</p>

<p>Senior year should be the year that you "break out of your shell"</p>

<p>This is my senior year and so far:</p>

<p>I've gotten detention for the first time
Stayed out past 1 am on a school nigt
stayed out till 5 am on a weekend
partied every Friday or Saturday for 6 consecutive weeks
Over chirstmas break, spent more time at friends house than at home and
Spent more time out on the town than sleeping
gone to every football game and stayed past 2 am every time
Caught senioritis and have stopped studying all together</p>

<p>And just enjoyed life for the first time instead of studying W00t :D</p>

<p>Before, I never went anywhere. So just imagine the freedom for me.
senior year is pretty slack and fun, it's a year for rebounding before you head off to college
Take advantage of senior year as a year where you do nothing productive :D</p>

<p>My friend was accepted into Harvard with a full scholarship and she left during her senior year to attend. Therefore, no I don't think it'll risk your chances.</p>

<p>^ that gives me some hope and four arm if you live in GA have you ever been to the bulldogs game...funniest story with my friends. We wanted to go to so a couple of us went in 2 small vans and one of the vans was out of gas so we took a exit and the gas-station was filled with girls that wanted to have sex. A friend of mine stepped out of the van and the girl came up to him, they were talking and he didn't know she was like that so he peeped in his pants.. imagine... ur talking and u pee OMG. it was so funny. my friends are only juniors and seniors... i want to graduate with them</p>

<p>No, I really don't like the bulldogs. More of a Tech Fan</p>

<p>I haven't been to any collegiate games, mostly cuz I don't have the money and resources. </p>

<p>Last year, some band members played for our "show choir", that competed in Louisiana or something. </p>

<p>They all took the trip and got stuck in new orleans last year, during mardi gras, for like 2-3 hours. God knows what they saw....actually I do cuz someone told me :o</p>

<p>^ OMG mardi gras...hahahah. Nobody wants to see that..lol atleast they were band players, they knew the tunes to the trumpets</p>

<p>To put it simply, it doesn't help your chances and will probably hurt them a bit (an extra year gives you more opportunities for accomplishments and bettering test scores), but if you are extraordinary and have a resume something like the following, I doubt it would hurt:</p>

<p>
[quote]
Awards: AMC 12 School winner (2007, 2008), USAMO qualifier (2006, 2007, 2008), 2007 China Girls’ Math Olympiad Bronze Medalist, US Physics Team Member (2008), USAPhO semifinalist (2007), National Science Bowl 9th Place (2007), USABO semi-finalist (2008), USAMTS (Gold- 2008, Silver- 2007), Siemens-Westinghouse Regional semi-finalist (2008), Piano (8 years), RSI 2008</p>

<p>SAT: 2390
GPA UW: 4.0

[/quote]
</p>

<p>^ yea i don't have all of that.. i think i'll wait. wow i just made a major MAJOR decision in my life based on what other people said that i didn't even know. THANKS A LOT to all the people that answered.. i'm getting emotional, aren't I?</p>

<p>Waaaaiiiit.....</p>

<p>If your parents are loaded, and you are up for this, a few of the top prep schools (andover I think) have a post hs/pre college year for kids who graduate early, I def think this could help your chances because apps from places like that are VERY competitive. Im no prep school kid so I cannot attest to these programs, but who knows, the may be for you.</p>

<p>I dropped out of high school after junior year and got into Caltech on a full scholarship. I wasn't an IMO gold medalist or anything, but I did have research and solid coursework. From what I understand leaving early should only hurt your chances insofar as you will be competing with applicants with one more year's worth of accomplishments than you. If you are as competitive as college-bound seniors you should not have a problem.</p>

<p>My advice:
1) If you're going to stay, try and do something that'll help you grow intellectually, like taking hard classes at a community college or through a distance-learning program. Better to take more stuff and become some freakish superapplicant than to look like you're slacking. (Not to mention whatever you learn/take in high school will probably pay super dividends because you'll have more time to learn it properly and get a better background. So try and take stuff now instead of putting it off until college.)
2) If you're leaving, tie your reasons into your overall statement of purpose. Mine was something like "I really really really like math and physics, and I'm done with all the math and science classes here, and I'd rather leave now than have to go without math and physics for a year."
3) Don't leave if you're not emotionally prepared to handle the stresses of college. This kind of screwed me over when I actually went. (But hey, don't chicken out if you're really capable.)</p>

<p>Tboon what are you talking about? I'm kinda lost..</p>

<p>He might be talking about a PG year. </p>

<p>Understanding</a> the Post-Graduate (PG) Year - Boarding School Review</p>

<p>Ivybound11, I recall you mentioning that you just failed a class or something? You shouldn't be graduating early if you're doing that...</p>