Is it better to graduate early and go to community college part-time as a 16 year old who was supposed to be a junior, or go to Bard at Simon’s Rock and actually work towards an associate while racking up more high school credit?
So, when I was in my old high school, I got a year worth of extra credits when I went into an accelerated program where you could take freshman classes and get credit for them in 8th grade. I also did one elective in 7th grade. I was basically taking classes a year ahead, but I was still on the regular highschool track. During my sophomore year of highschool, I felt like I could be doing something that would be more meaningful to me, and I felt like my high school could not offer the things that would make my education more meaningful to me, so then I transfered to home school so that I could go to community college part-time, get that one math credit I need to meet the graduation requirements in Illinois, and continue as a part-time student basically taking what ever classes that I want to take. When I’m 18, I could apply for university as a freshman, maybe take some of my college credit with me, and have the college experience under my belt that would prepare me for university.
Now, I’m a bit nervous about this decision. I definitely don’t regret it; I value people making choices in what their education should be and learning about things that interests them, and exploring what I want to do is some thing is really cool. However, I’m thinking that it might not be as impressive or going to community college is going to get really expensive because we live out of their district and we don’t have any aid or scholarships right now. Plus, I’ll always be surrounded by adults, even though I can visit my friends, but I can’t really gave any friends on campus. Would colleges even accept me if I don’t have as many highschool credits as others, even though I show that I am college ready by taking college classes. There are just a lot of things to think about since I’m not really going the conventional route.
Then there’s Bard, where I could still get more highschool credit and meet some more requirements that colleges might have for highschool credit, and I could actually get an associates because I wouldn’t be a part time student. If I could get some scholarships or aid, then I could probably go there easily and we wouldn’t have to worry about money as much as we would for community college. I would also be surrounded by people around my age, which would be a lot better. However, I would also be leaving my family for basically a whole school year, which is something I’m not used to. The longest I’ve been away from my family is two or three weeks. I would also be leaving my friend, who is someone I consider to be very important in my life. And I also heard that transferring out of Bard can be super hard. How do colleges look at students from Bard?
I guess it might not matter where I go as long as I can go somewhere that can get me a job as a music teacher. However, after doing Girls Who Code, I’m starting to somewhat consider computer science. I also think starting my own small business would be cool.
I’m sorry for the essay, I’m just not really sure about much these days. I just really need some advice.
(By the way, I’d probably be going to Bard as a senior. I can’t apply now as a junior)