Graduating Early

[Doriyah]

I am a high school junior thinking of attending law school after a prospective undergrad of biology/biochem (somewhat interested in IP/patent law). I have AP credits in Biology, Chemistry, and History (Euro), and I’m planning on obtaining credits in at least in Physics, English, Calculus, and a foreign language.

If these credits exempt me from intro college classes, perhaps to the point of skipping a semester or even a full year of college, would law schools typically care? Or would I need a full 4 year bachelor’s degree for law school?

Thank you!

[skieurope]

Would you need a bachelors degree? Yes. Can you get a BA in fewer than 4 years? Yes. Would a BA in fewer than 4 years preclude you from law school? No.

And while it is presumptuous to assume that you will score high enough on future AP exams to get credit, for many reasons, a lot of applicants with tons if AP credit still take 4 years to graduate.

That all said, you’re in HS. Focus on getting into college first. Your threads are all over the board - I wanna go to law school, I wanna go to med school, I wanna masters. Worry about post-college once you are in college.

[Doriyah]

Ha, I guess you’re right, I have been erratic with my posts. I honestly just want to start thinking about my future now so that I have some sort of game plan for the future. Thank you for the response, by the way.

[bluebayou]

If these credits exempt me from intro college classes, perhaps to the point of skipping a semester or even a full year of college, would law schools typically care?

No, they would not care.

[blossom]

You don’t actually have any AP credits. You may have scored 5’s on all the tests- but some colleges will not care. A 5 will allow you to skip the intro course and put you right into harder material- but not actually award you credit. Some colleges use AP’s for placement only, but you still need to pass whatever number of courses they require. Some will give distribution credits for courses that are not in your field of interest- but won’t allow an AP to be used for your major.

Colleges get to determine their own policies.

So don’t plan your life around AP credits! Focus on being the best version of yourself you can be right now…