Graduating High School as a Junior

ns9908
Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:27:56 +0000

I guess now that I’m in the Times I should clarify my response for those who came to this thread from that link.

Math and science had always interested me and I found that every math and science course that I took as a junior (with the sole exception of AP chemistry and I would assume AP physics, had I taken it) were repeats of what I had learned earlier in HS or even junior high. Even the new information I was learning from chemistry was mostly interesting solely because of the ego boost I received from being the only one to participate in class (I’m sure there are many on this board that can identify with that). This is to say nothing about non-science courses, which had always been simple chores.

Call me a romantic but I still believe that learning and a passion for knowledge are more important than being president of half a dozen clubs for 4 years, annihilating every AP exam you take and ultimately getting accepted to your dream school. High school is one of the best institutions that we have in the US for destroying this passion and I’m sure that had I stayed another year I would have been a complete cynic about any academic or scientific pursuit by the time I reached college–even though I would have been able to make it to a far better school. So my point here is that you shouldn’t sacrifice your youthful exuberance for knowledge for a shot at a better school because you’ll only hurt your chances of educational success in the long run.

In college I found that every class interested me because I had free reign over whatever courses I wanted. I wasn’t pressured into AP American History just so that I could get another AP on my record but rather I took cell biology because I was legitimately interested in it. If you have a single interest you’d like to pursue the best place to do it is in college.

My financial situation was critical in allowing this to happen because had the cost of attending been significant I would have stayed another year in order to boost my record and potentially get into a better school (see above for why a “better” school might not be better for you academically) or at least get more merit aid. Furthermore, I had not planned out my junior year extensively enough to know that I was even capable of graduating early until nearly half my junior year had already gone by. This led to a severely curtailed college admissions process and a general lack of knowledge about what to do when applying since I had intended to learn the ins and outs of college in the last semester of my junior year. Fortunately I was able to get into a well-ranked state school with excellent merit aid and preserve my curiosity, but I would regularly wonder how things would have turned out if I had been able to expand my application pool by simply knowing more about the entire process. So that’s another thing to think about–if you graduate early you may have less time to figure out the application and financial aid process and exactly what you want from a school (which is almost completely unimportant if you’re intellectually curious, but I know I can’t convince you of that so I won’t even try).

Feel very free to ask if you have any questions, this is a decision that can’t be made in a matter of a few days and you’ll need to seriously analyze your values and motivations before reaching a conclusion.