Hello Friends!
I want to share a little piece of my college journey and how I did it in 3 years verses the traditional 4 years.
First, I want to start out with a little back ground about my education journey. I was home schooled K-6th grade and at that age, college was never encouraged or even brought up by my parents. Once I reached middle school my parents asked me if I wanted to attend public school and I said YES! I didn’t even realize this until now, but it was in public school when college was something that was pushed very heavily on me by teachers and staff. They encouraged us to do honors classes, extracurricular, sports, volunteer, and take on every leadership position we could. Why? - So we would look good on a college application and get into a good school. In retrospect I was a very busy teenager and my entire life revolved around getting into a good college. It made failures feel even worse than it should have and I rarely gave myself grace for bad grades or failures.
SET A GOAL: Get into College
Okay, now that we got the background laid out lets jump into how I actually graduated a year early. I achieved success in school because I set goals for myself. It began with the simple goal of wanting to get into college. I was encouraged in middle school to do honors classes for the GPA boost and to, of course, look good on a college application. It was for these reasons that I took a ton of A.P. classes in high school. A.P. stands for advanced placement and if you complete the course with a passing grade and pass the huge final exam at the end of the course then you receive college credit for that course. I didn’t just do a few AP classes, I did every AP class that I was qualified to take. As a result I entered my freshmen year of college with 18 college units.
CREATE A PLAN: Do it in 3 years
After reviewing all of the classes that I did not have to take it became clear that nearly all of my general education courses were waived from my A.P. credit. As I began to make a 4 year plan for my course schedule I realized I could do it in 3 and a half years very easily. Then, as I got to crunching numbers, I realized just how expensive college was. I decided the summer going into freshmen year that I was going to figure out how to graduate in three years. I sat down with my guidance counselor who helped me map out exactly how to graduate in three years. I took 18 units every semester and had to strategically map out what courses to take and when. I was cautious to balance my schedule with half easy classes and half hard classes each semester. In addition, I had to strategically plan my class schedule to work with working 40 hours a week.
STICK TO THE PLAN: Show up and pass the classes
One huge factor that played into me graduating in 3 years was actually sticking to my plan, even when times got crazy busy and hard. I had to have the mentality that failing a course for any reason was not an option. I refused to drop a class or get a bad grade because I knew that just one course deviating from my plan would cause me to prolong my education and result in more money out of my pocket.
Bottom line I graduated in 3 years from AP classes in high school, two extra classes a semester, and passing all of my classes. I hope you found this helpful if you are planning to attend college. If you're in college, hang in there! My journey is unique to me and everyone's path is different. I hope this encouraged you to set a goal, make a plan, and achieve your dream!
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