Thoughts on graduating junior year and going to college a year early??

I am a sophomore who is very unhappy with my home situation as well as my school. I have always taken the highest level classes possible at my school and if I take a few extra classes this summer, I think I would be able to get the credits I need to graduate junior year, and I know I have the drive and motivation to get out of high school early; I am just not sure if it would do me more harm, if colleges would see someone who only had 3 years. as unprepared. I would turn 18 October of my freshman year in college if that matters.
I don’t really care about getting into a very prestigious or selective school either, just anywhere other than where I am that won’t hinder my success post grad.
I’d really appreciate any info or advice.

Who is paying for college? If it’s your parents, are they okay with this idea? You need to discuss with them first. If you are financially dependent on them, I suggest you discuss with them sooner rather than later.

Colleges will care about your grades. If they are high, I can’t see colleges too worried about your ability to cope with college level coursework. Plenty of kids turn 18 when they start college. If you aren’t bothered about selectivity and prestige, I think you’ll have choices about schools to attend.

You have a little time to plan this out. Talk to your GC about when you should take the PSAT (if it is even offered this year). Plan your classes to get the best sequence. See if there are others in your class who are graduating early and if you can get together to get help with applications, FAFSA and CSS filings, to apply for local awards, get letters of recommendation started.

Turning 18 October of freshman year is not young in many parts of the country. Traditionally, the cut off date for school enrollment was a birthday by Dec 31st of that year, so until the last 30 years or so, it was expected that 1/4 to 1/3 of the freshman class wouldn’t turn 18 until the fall that they began college. And if you came from the NYC public schools, where years ago it was very common to be skipped a year of elementary, AND do 7/8 in one year, it was pretty common for those who went to college, to go to college two years early - some people even earlier than that (but most people lived at home for college, so it didn’t make that big a difference). Some districts have rolled that cutoff date back to Sept 1, so you are probably one of the oldest in your district, whereas in my district, you would have been one of the younger ones. Anyway, my point is that you would not be too young for college, compared to your classmates. You’d be one of the younger ones, but not by much, and there would be people younger than you.

Now, as for the issue of college admissions being affected by your graduating early. It all depends upon where you want to go. If you want a non-competitive school, no problem. If you want flagship state U and your grades qualify you, also no problem. If you want a highly-competitive admission school - big problem. Unless you already have extraordinary achievement in one area that sets you apart and above most other applicants, you’re going to need that 3rd year of high school to establish a record of exceptional academic achievement, for applications submitted in the fall of your 4th year of high school. From what you say, going to college a year early sounds very reasonable for you. I would not say to anyone that you are doing this to get away from a miserable household or misery at school. Say that you just felt that you had gotten all that high school had to offer you, and that you felt ready to move on to college. From what you describe, you could certainly get into your state’s flagship state U (unless you’re in a state with an extremely selective flagship state U), so it seems to me that would be a good goal. Also, if you have fantastic grades and excellent standardized test scores, you might win substantial merit funding, which would help you to feel more in control of your life, not as dependent upon your parents to pay for school.

You will need to double up on English for next year - all schools require 4 years of English, I think. If you’re high achieving, you’re probably a year ahead in math already. I’d meet with your school counselor and tell them that you want to prepare to finish early, and plan your course load and sequence of courses accordingly. In addition, you should take an official practice SAT, and an official practice ACT, each under timed conditions exactly as the test would be officially administered. See which one you do better on, and then focus on preparing for that test, and take it starting next spring. A high SAT or high ACT score can reassure a college that you’re ready for college level work, without that last year of high school. If you are taking AP classes this year, high scores on the AP exams next May will help with that, also.

Good luck to you! I think you are smart to take control of this, and plan to move on. For many people, college was a much happier time of life than high school had been. Starting college a month before you turn 18 sounds a lot better to me than being in high school until you are 18 and 2/3 years old!

If you’re not gunning for super-elites that want to see the full array of junior year grades and extracurriculars fully on record for an application to be competitive, then graduating early could certainly be a viable option.

You might also think about “gap” opportunities that would get you out of your home environment, but still let you apply to college after your junior-year transcript is complete, and start college with your regular cohort. Unfortunately, most service programs like City Year require you to be 18 before they begin. But you could spend a year abroad with an exchange program like AFS or Rotary - live with a host family and do another year of high school in your host country. This could be a great life experience (can be better than many college semester-abroad programs turn out to be, in many ways) and could strengthen your college applications both because of the growth experience itself, and because you’d have your full junior year at home complete plus your senior/super-senior year of advanced coursework abroad in progress.

But if you feel that starting college a year early is the best option for you, and your parents are willing to let it happen, then it sounds like a reasonable plan. You’re in that “could’ve gone either way” fall-birthday age group anyway so it’s not even really a stretch age-wise. You can also apply to both colleges and gap programs, and then decide when you see what your options are.

Purely in terms of age, I didn’t turn 18 until spring of my Freshman year, and there were many in the same boat, so that’s not an issue. Maturity is more important than age.

All of the issues noted above are much more impactful.

It was quite a few years go, but several colleges my son applied to, as a junior, did not require English 4. That included the state flagship.

My son turned 18 during the first term. There were many younger than he.