I am on track to fulfill all the degree requirements for a BS in Mathematics (with a couple minors) through dual enrollment courses at a local university by the time I graduate from high school. My goal is to pursue my undergraduate studies at a top university, but I am unsure of the most strategic way to apply given my circumstances.
Herein lies my dilemma: Should I opt for a reverse credit transfer from the other school to the local university after being admitted as a freshman, allowing me to receive my BS degree from the local university one year later? Alternatively, should I apply as a full student to the local university after an early graduation the spring of what would be my senior year in HS? This latter plan would include me graduating a semester early from high school, and I am concerned about how this could impact my high school activities.
Ideally, I could collaborate with the local university to explore the possibility of graduating simultaneously. However, I’m uncertain if this is feasible, and if it is, I’m unsure how it would impact my decision between applying as a freshman versus as a transfer student.
The heart of my confusion is that many undergraduate programs do not accept students who already possess a bachelor’s degree, as they do not offer second bachelor’s degrees. Moreover, the advice from several colleges is that “Students who have taken college coursework counting towards their high school graduation should apply as first-year applicants.” This adds to my confusion, as I will have completed a full BS degree (or at least the requirements) by my high school graduation.
Since I have all these requirements done I want to end up with a degree (preferably sooner than later) and undergraduate admission into another university (to get another degree), the best way possible.
A third option would be to proceed directly to graduate school; however, I do not feel this path is advisable at this stage.
Assuming that you do not automatically get a bachelor’s degree from your dual enrollment school, then what prevents you from applying as a frosh to any other college or university, since you have not yet left high school?
Is there a reason why you want a bachelor’s degree from the dual enrollment school if you will be attending another college or university to complete a bachelor’s degree there?
Well I guess it’s since I did all the work so it makes sense to claim the degree and I get a job part time using the local degree.
I could do the reverse credit transfer option where once im locked into the other school I reverse a few credits to complete the degree. However im not sure how to put this on my college applications that I practically have another degree and how admissions officers would feel about it.
One possibility to consider: You might want to think about getting a bachelor’s degree from your local university, even if this means that you need to be a student there for a year or two, and then apply to other universities for a master’s degree.
I have a master’s degree in a subfield of applied mathematics (specifically operations research). When I was studying for my master’s the other students in the same program (at Stanford) had come from a huge range of other universities. It is very common to get your bachelor’s at one university and a master’s at a different university. Frequently (but not always) the bachelor’s is at a more local or more affordable university, and for very strong students the master’s is frequently (but not always) at a higher ranked university.
You don’t have to say anything specific. The colleges you apply to will want to see your college (as well as high school) records and infer that you have substantial college courses completed.
What is your intended college major at the college you will attend after high school, and what are your post-college goals?
I would not need to be a student there for a year or two since I have ALL requirements done including any credit hour requirements college requirements etc.
The issue is that I am highschool age and I am not sure how my graduate admissions would fare, while for undergraduate admissions I am a much stronger applicant (highschool leadership, act etc). That is why I noted at the end I don’t feel this path is advisable, but I am interested in operations research and financial mathematics, so you could provide some insight on if there’s any shot of me applying directly to grad school (with my local university bachelors) out of high school. Thanks!
I think that being a graduate student at age 18 could have some downsides. Basically you would be way younger than the other students.
Another thing to think about is that at least in my experience most (not quite all) of the students in my master’s program had some work experience. Personally I had two years of work experience doing software engineering in a math-heavy environment after I got my bachelor’s degree and before I started graduate school. Similarly my other family members (who are in different fields, mostly health care related) had some work experience before applying to graduate programs.
I also wonder if you would want to study as an undergraduate for a year or two just to have the experience. As one example, you might want to get a second bachelor’s degree. Math and computer science are for example two fields that go together quite well. Similarly you might see if you can get involved in research at your local university. If you could do research for a couple of years, you might get some university social experience, plus perhaps even get paid something, and get experience that would be valuable before applying to graduate programs.
Can you discuss your options with a professor at the local university where you are taking courses?
I have had meetings with the undergraduate director in math and the college administrators; they really left a lot of it up to me. If I were to attend undergraduate school for a few years, it would certainly not be at this local university, as it really isn’t the place for me. The graduate classes here are of a lower level than some undergraduate classes elsewhere, and I have already won undergraduate competitions here. For attending another undergraduate institution, I now have the options to either get the local university degree later via reverse credit transfer, or try to enroll and then apply as a transfer to receive the degree (since I’d be enrolled officially in the spring of my senior year) while still attending the other college as I would be accept (would need to do a lot of logistics on this).
Speaking of paid opportunities at the local university, I have had some in CS and have some lined up (pending potential funding etc), but sadly have not confirmed a long term one like I wanted (unless one specific lab gets their funding). I also reached out to someone the math director mentioned to see if I could get more paid opportunities on the quant finance internship side given I have coursework experience of an undergraduate.
About the second bachelors option would it be silly to get a degree in something like applied mathematics or mathematics with economics at the second college (w/ a dual major in CS) if I already have the BS in math, because despite already having a degree there’s certainly a step up between this university and other ones.
Economics is another degree that matches well with math. As a graduate student I had room to take one single elective. I took econometrics – basically quantitative economics. Even for a graduate student who was a math major econometrics had a lot of math in it. I liked it quite a bit.