I feel that traditional high school doesn’t give me enough time to focus on my future. I currently invest in the Stock Market, and hope this gives me a head start in my future career in the financial world and to contribute to my college application. I sadly cannot adequately maintain focus on both Wall Street and High school classes. I have a 4.2 GPA, classes aren’t the problem. Wall street doesn’t diverge my attention from academics. I just don’t have the time i need to put in to the market while in school. This is my future, and I feel if i had a more flexible schedule, where i could work on stocks while the market is open from 8:30-3:00 and schoolwork throughout and afterwards, this would benefit me more. Im looking to apply to Ivy league colleges to get an MBA, and dont know if an online course, with a yielding stock portfolio would better my chances, in college, and in career. Give your insights, thank you.
It will not help you get into an Ivy. You can’t just skip a solid education and expect to get into the most competitive colleges in the world, and in turn into one of the most competitive careers as well.
Not trying to skip a solid education, I just feel that it could be beneficial to adhere to a schedule that better suits my needs.
From all indications, Harvard doesn’t share your beliefs
Ask Harvard if there is are online school(s) that they respect for rigorous academic preparation. For the most part, online classes are assumed to be inferior to attending school unless clearly proven otherwise.
I’ll disagree with the other posters and say sure you can homeschool by taking online classes and still take a rigorous academic load that you can study on an alternative daily time schedule. You can take AP courses and take the exams, etc. The question is if enrollment is still available. Stanford Online High School, Florida Virual School, Derek Owens, AoPS, self-study via Coursera, edx, mit opencourseware, Thinkwell, etc might be options. Most of the well-known online home school providers normally fill enrollment in March-May for the following school yr. Well-trained Mind Academy might have openings left.
Fwiw, the success of the approach is 100% going to fall on how well you manage your time and how self-motivated you are. My kids could do it, but they have been homeschooling since K and time management is a mastered discipline in elementary school. They are also motivated to the point that they excel beyond any normal expectations.
Sounds like a bad idea. I don’t know what you do with the stock market? Are you day-trading? Are you a stock analyst? You can’t be a license broker considering your age and other requirements needed for the license. If you are taking online classes and to do the stock activities in HS, what would stop you from doing the same in college. This will be the #1 question on your profile. You could well skip classes in college and just show up on the exams (many college profs have the class material post online, indeed many kids skip class but such action is seriously being frowned upon). This goes beyond whether the quality of online classes is as good or better than regular classes. Some of my students are taking online classes to supplement their regular learning from school. These classes can be very high quality with good materials and require the student a lot of self-discipline. So I am not in definitive camp of arguing online classes are subpar to regular. That said, the real mark on you would be the decision to skip regular classes to take online classes because of stock trading activities during the day. Having seen more than a couple of my students went to top B-schools as MBA or undergrad, I’d say none of the programs would be impressed by that decision. Last word, unless you run a eight digit portfolio or your parents do, no AOs would care how you do with your investments. One yr, I had a kid with a startup generating a couple of million dollar sales and yet not able to get into Wharton. Same year, a different kid with similar academics but worked 3 different jobs to support the entire family while at school got in. Don;t assume the admissions would be impressed by some #1 champ in investment challenge. Make sure you have think through the pros and cons of this decision. JMHO.
In general, online courses are fine and of course they’re common for homeschoolers. Some are very fine.
But if you want to apply to Ivies or other tippy tops, they are far less concerned with your career aspirations than you are. They want kids who will integrate well into their campus life, as a whole, and are flexible about a variety of experiences, familiar and new. And there you are, saying you just want to focus on your own interests. That’s something to carefully reconsider. It also leaves me wondering if you have the right balance of ECs, in and out of school.
You might very well come across as both unilateral and “pre-professional.” Think hard about balancing your wants. Look into what the colleges themselves say about what they like.
This is a forum on home schooling. I’m not sure why there are people associating “taking online courses” with “skipping a solid education” and there are people saying that “online classes are assumed to be inferior to attending school unless clearly proven otherwise.”
If home-schooled students don’t take online courses, what kind of classes, especially advanced ones, can they take? I know I myself, as a parent of a home-schooled student, can’t teach Partial Differential Equations, or Quantum Physics, or English Literature.
There are plenty of reputable schools offering online courses. I just happen to know two of them because my D used to take classes from them: Stanford EPGY and John Hopkins CTY. She (now a PhD student) was admitted to many respected universities.
The OP also brought up a potential issue: balancing between school work and stock trading activities. But that should be a different discussion.
I think a parent picking and choosing quality courses as a part of homeschooling is different from a student looking to enroll in an all-in-one online school he can do for a few hours in the afternoon after the stock market closes. I know many homeschoolers happy with individual online course providers for specific subjects. I hear more negative than positive about all-in-one online schools.
There are some very good programs. Let’s not argue that. OP’s bigger problem is wanting Ivy level and not understanding they don’t need kids who only go off in a corner and ‘do their own thing.’ He seems to be explaining this as getting a jump on his career.