Over the past few months, I’ve started to develop a very serious apathy for my schoolwork - I still do it, and I still do it well (IB program, 4 HLs). However, I’m considering attempting to apply to a college such that I can avoid the senior year of high school - I know exactly what I want to study, and I don’t want to waste my time with things that would be entirely ancillary and irrelevant to my favored field of study (economics). I’ve not taken the SAT yet, but I plan to in the immediate future.
This leads me to two questions.
Have I missed the mark at this point in time, considering many applications are due in January?
Would I be unable to go into schools like Columbia or NYU?
I currently hold an unweighted 4.0 GPA (all A to A+ in classes) and a 1380 PSAT.
Do you have the option of taking classes at a university in your state while remaining a high school student? (My state has a program for high school students to take college classes without paying tuition, so I got a free year of college this way.)
Not to lecture, but I don’t think this is a great attitude to have if you want to attend an elite university. Columbia in particular is known for its extensive Core Curriculum. If you’re feeling apathetic right now, maybe you should consider a gap year. (You can secure your place in a university before deciding on this, of course.)
It’s pretty much too late. I don’t know if many schools that have a deadline later than 2/15 and you would need official sat scores (unless the schools are test optional). The latest test date most schools accept for sat/act is February tests. Columbia and NYU deadlines are long gone, and you would need to do better on the sat than your PSAT, especially for Columbia. Do you even have enough credits in each subject area? I get that you don’t like high school, but I think you just need to stick with it. Dual enrollment would be a great option.
Some colleges will admit students straight from their junior year of high school when they don’t have a diploma or GED (not that I would recommend it for someone so close to getting the diploma anyway).
I suspect superstar kids who can condense all their high school offerings are a different animal from the OP with the IBD on offer. Very few kids suffer from a lack of rigour taking a 4HL IBD. I would suggest to the OP that he knocks is IBD out of the park and applies to UK unis where he can really focus on his major.
Yes, you are too late to apply to the schools you are considering. IMO the best chance you will have to get into a top school is to shake off your apathy and perform at a high level for the remainder of your HS career.