It doesn’t really matter if she graduates with her class or not. unlike high school, her classes will connect her with students of every age. Her activities will also encompass all the years. Outside of the dorm first year, it’s unlikely she will be doing anything specifically “freshmen.” Plus, leaving first isn’t so much a drag as having all your friends graduate a year before you do.
Like others have mentioned, she may not want to cut her time short. That’s a “what-if” discussion to have now. (She needs to know if it’s even viable.) My eldest maxed out what she was allowed to transfer (a years worth of units) but chose to stay all 4 years. The extra units allowed her to study abroad comfortably and take a lot of classes that supported her major without them actually being requirements or in the same department. My son will do the same.
My son entered Northwestern with Sophomore standing thanks to AP classes and scores, and graduated in 4 years with a masters in engineering. He could have graduated in 3 years, but wanted to play his sport senior year and graduate with friends.
Both of my kids started college with a lot of credit from AP and dual enrollment. One is graduating in four years and one summer with a bachelors and a masters in engineering. The second will graduate in three years, having studied abroad one summer and a semester.
Your daughter will have many options. She may be able to do a co-op as one of those options, depending on the school she attends. Some schools do let you live on campus while doing a local co-op but they will charge room and board.
In college no one (generally) cares who is in their actual graduating class. Their friends are independent of what year they are – especially after that first year – and what year they are is independent of age.
If she wants to stay on campus to further her career/academic goals, that’s great, but sticking around to wait for friends to graduate before moving on seems like a waste of money, time, life.
Seem like relatively few colleges have most students progressing together in lock step toward graduation together. But such colleges may be disproportionately represented in discussions here (probably mainly highly selective colleges where most students of all levels live in campus housing, with few or no nontraditional students, transfers, co-op program participants, or those doing combined degree plans).
D entered as a sophomore. Since she has a full tuition scholarship, she plans to take advantage of the scholarship for 4 years-- study abroad and finish a triple major --instead of graduating early. Two sons were in a similar position. One lightened his load, and was able to take a few extra elective classes. The other was able to take an OOS internship for a whole semester with university support.
Some highly selective colleges restrict the number of AP or IB classes you can use for college credit, or don’t recognize any at all. My D1’s LAC limits you to the equivalent of 4 courses—a full load for one semester. Since they have graduation only once a year, and you pay a full year’s tuition regardless of how many classes you’re taking, that effectively means you’re there for four years. I suppose in principle you could use the 4 AP or IB credits to get through in three years by taking an extra-heavy load in the time you’re there, but I’ve never heard of anyone doing that. Most do just the opposite—the AP or IB credits allow them to take less than a full load some semesters.
The school places a strong emphasis on students staying for four years and graduating on time, with their class—and they’re quite successful at it. They have a very high graduation rate, and almost no one takes more than four years to graduate. And it becomes part of the student culture—students expect it, and seem to value it. Loyalty to one’s class is almost as strong as loyalty to the school.
Harvard currently grants credit for AP or IB only if you have the equivalent of 8 college courses, which can propel you into the Advanced Standing program. But beginning in 2020 they’re eliminating Advanced Standing and will give no credit for AP or IB. I can see their point: there are probably few if any AP or IB classes in which the content actually approximates that of a Harvard course in the same subject.
Most colleges grant credit for AP, IB, and dual enrollment much more liberally. I’ve known plenty of kids who have used those credits to get through our public flagship in 3 or 3.5 years or sometimes even less, often with encouragement from their parents who see it as a shrewd money-saving strategy.
State universities are often generous with AP and IB credit, because most students are heavily subsidized in-state students, and they want them to graduate as early as possible (or with the least delay possible).
However, subject credit and advanced placement may be more limited.
If your daughter is not enrolled in the college AND paying tuition to attend classes there, it’s highly unlikely she will be able to live in the dorms…for two semesters.
A small…very small…number of colleges do have student housing for co-op students. But really, by the time most kids do a co-op job, it’s either not near the college…OR they prefer to live off campus (which isn’t free either). You don’t pay tuition the terms you do a co-op at the schools I know of.
as #26 stated, many selective schools don’t accept (or accept at a minimal level) AP, IB, DE for credit purposes. They want you to attend their courses taught by their professors (yes I know it’s a way to get more tuition), but at a certain level of thought, it makes some sense. hopefully the class you take in college is deeper than the class you took in HS. At highly selective schools they better be or what’s the point?
Anecdotally, S took 8 of 9 APs offered in HS. DId well in all of them. Only one was allowed to place out of a core requirement (had to have a 5 on the exam). Had other 5s, but they didn’t count. At first that didn’t sit well with him (or us). But, he actually enjoyed the “repeats” and felt he had a good foundation from HS which helped with a much deeper approach in college. The DEs he took in HS were a complete joke. They were the easiest classes he took by a long shot. Only took 4 because they were a waste of time which is sad because they were held at a local CC.
Meant to add - although the rigorous course load may not have helped knock out college courses, it very likely helped in the admissions process so don’t neglect that part.
Of course student could take smaller class load. Student could take other unrelated classes and pick up a minor or a second major. Sometimes a plan for 3 yrs becomes 4, without a deliberate attempt to slow down. And remember too, that just based on numbers, only about 1/2 of freshmen return for soph yr. It would be awful to deliberately slow down for friends to catch up, then risk their dropping out!
My S started as soph, expected to be out in 3, didn’t work. He didn’t repeat or drop classes. Some courses were sequential and just weren’t available for him when it was ideal for him to take them. He picked up an unplanned minor.
Or maybe student would feel better about attending an unnecessary 4th year just to pay more tuition, housing, food, related costs? Just like a parent might pay for a kid’s summer camp- just so they get the experience? If that’s the case, offer school a higher tuition than they ask for, and graduate in 3 yrs. Then you can feel warm and fuzzy by paying for an unnecessary 4th yr, but move on to adulthood in 3. Friends are great, but college isn’t mainly a social club. It is an investment in one’s career and future. If the learning can be done in 3 yrs, then do it in 3 and get on to the next stage in life.
@younghoss I think your comparing a 4th year of college to summer camp is off base. There is more to an education than taking the minimal requirements. Most kids graduate without getting to the breadth of their major let alone the opportunity to take some business classes or more foreign language or other knowledge that would make them more marketable in the long run. No one is advocating going into debt so your kid can go to frat parties.
My eldest had so many credits from duel enrollment she could have gone to an instate college with all her general Ed’s and graduated in 2 years at the age of 19. Thankfully, she got enough money from a selective LAC that she could take the full 4 years. We saw a huge amount of growth and confidence between 19 and 21. I believe her experiences those two extra years allowed her to successfully launch after graduation.
In some fields, it is hard to get that first full time job without relevant summer work (job or internships). So cutting out the summer between junior and senior year is not a trivial decision. Your kid may walk in with advanced standing, but the resume may look weak compared to someone who is an actual junior (i.e. in their third year of college) compared with a kid who is a technical junior but really a sophomore counting from the beginning.
So think through the consequences of accelerating. Fewer professors to write recommendations. Less time to work editing a professors book or helping a Dean with a presentation for a major conference. Less time to spend volunteering in the college community in organizations which are the “fast track” groups for meeting politicians, corporate leaders, etc.
One of my kids got a fellowship for the summer after graduating (had already accepted a corporate job with the company where the summer job had been the previous year) just on the basis of a professor saying “You are starting a full time job in August? Why not do some travel, some writing, some research before you do? I can help you with a fellowship?” and a month later- boom. On a plane, got an extension from the company to start a few weeks late.
It takes some kids time to cultivate these kinds of relationships.
^ Very good point. Anything in banking, consulting, Big 4, FLDPs essentially require a meaningful internship (s), preferably at a big brand. These are hard internships to lock down. Very competitive. Less than likely to get them prior to being a “natural” rising senior (and they they offer you a job upon graduation) and often require a previous internship just to get the internship. Look on linkedin and check out the background of these kids and you’ll see multiple internships. Don’t have time if you’re getting out in 3 years.
They also require a certain maturity level and generally want to see meaningful leadership in relevant campus clubs. Hard to get that experience prior to junior / senior yr as there is a pecking order to how that all works,
A friend of one of my kids had a semester worth of credits from the start, but took off one semester and couch-surfed at the school for that amount of time, while working on various independent projects. So he was paying bills at the school for only three and a half years, but actually there, and graduated, in four years. Don’t know that that is something one could plan for ahead of time (have to have willing friends with couches), but just putting it out there.
@blossom This is very true. Many internships require status as a student or within a year of graduation. Cutting your college time also means cutting these opportunities off.
I’m not saying it’s never a good idea to graduate early but it should be well thought out for sure.
One of my nieces graduated early. It made perfect sense. She was heading to a lengthy grad program; she had a full time job lined up for January-August (between her December graduation, cutting off a semester’s worth of tuition and her August start of grad school); she was moving to another part of the country so spending 8 months living at home with no rent was appealing. And since she had already been admitted to grad school, knowing more professors/better professors wasn’t a concern (she meets some of them now at academic conferences).
But the plan only came together after her grad school applications were done. Not everyone can get things together early enough to be able to “do without” all or a part of senior year. And she had done a gap year before college so was already a little older/more together than some of her classmates who were scurrying around in April of Senior year asking “Who knows how to write a resume?”
I’m not anti-graduating early. I just don’t think it’s a one size fits all solution, especially for a kid who isn’t ready to launch a year early!!!
It is possible to get out in less than four years with meaningful job experience. My D has one full year of work experience at a major corporation as well as part time jobs and will have completed a capstone project. The possibilities depend on the credits, the major, the course load, the school and the student.