jk_91

Has anyone heard of someone graduating in three years because they had a ridiculous number of AP credit and took community college classes during high school? If so, does this reflect badly at all when you're applying to graduate school? (particularly business school)

If it helps, I'm talking of graduating in three years in one of the UC schools.

fizz3l

I'm thinking of graduating in 3 years also. Mostly because I just want out of school.

ASC

Never heard of in the public system (unless you get promoted), but it might be possible if you go to a private school.

madenwm

I'm on track to graduate in three years. I'm getting my associates in a year (four consecutive semesters) because i want to get the heck out of cc. Then two years after i transfer I'll have my bachelors. Then grad school... then residency? i dunno yet. Anyways I don't think it'll be much of a problem in grad school admissions. Just speculation tho.

HisGraceFillsMe

...wouldn't four semesters be two years?

Pistolen08

maybe summer semesters or something?

madenwm

right, i meant to say summers included. I'd much rather use my summers to get out of cc sooner.

jk_91

I'm still wondering if this is even a possible task for a public school.

Cards4Life

Technically, it's probably possible everywhere. My brother will graduate in 3 years from a public school, with several of his credits coming from schooling he received while in the Navy.

Personally, I've never understood the desire to graduate in 3 years unless finances were sooo tight that it would be almost impossible to go four years. With more time to graduate you don't have to cram classes together, you don't have to worry about finding a place for a class if it fills up before you can register or if they decide not to offer it a certain semester, etc.

Venkat89

^yes. public schools are a lot more generous with CC credits and more liberal with AP credit.

graduating in 3 years will not make you look bad for business school. if you want an MBA your work experience will matter a lot more than how many years it took you to get out of undergrad.

ticklemepink

1) Work experience counts much more for MBA programs. So plan on spending 2-3 years afrer graduation to work before applying to b-schools.

2) Right now it seems like very long 4 years of high school but once you get to college, those 4 years will fly VERY fast. Especially if you're majoring in something or participating in organizations/clubs/community service that you really enjoy. I remember when I got my college diploma, it hit me like this "Wow, I never realized how long those 4 years of high school seemed compared to 4 years of college..."

jk_91

Ah, thank you for answering my question.

I know this isn't the business forum, but when is the best time to take the GMAT? After graduation? During the summer in college? I think the scores are valid for 5 years or something.

RacinReaver

One of my friends managed to double major in CS and math in three years with a 4.0 from CMU. He was a bit on the outstanding side of the intelligence scale, though.

CWalker

I graduated in 3 years from a UC school and I didn't intentionally set out to do so. A handful of AP credits, plus some CC credits that I took to keep busy, coupled with a favorable credit transfer from a semester abroad and next thing I knew I was done. If you want to graduate early the most important thing is to stick with your chosen major and take the required classes as soon as you can. I was taking Upper Div. major classes by the last quarter of freshman year and that really ended up paying off.

jk_91

But is graduating in three years a relatively common thing? I really don't wanna stand out like that...