How I Finished High School in 3 Years

If you didn’t pick it up from the title, I did indeed graduate from high school a year early. And while I do pride myself on graduating with a 3.8 GPA, I wasn’t able to graduate early because I was the best in my class, it was more because I had all of my credits.

Now exactly how I earned all of my credits is slightly confusing but definitely do-able. I know that every school in each state has the same baseline requirements (i.e. all Ohio schools require the same basic credits), and I’m pretty sure every high school is similar in their graduation requirements (give or take a few credits and classes). These are the bare minimum requirements for mine:

• 4 Math Credits
• 4 English Credits
• 3 Science Credits (Life Science, Physical Science, Science Elective)
• 3 Social Studies Credits (American Government, American History, World History)
• 1 Fine Arts Credit
• 1 Gym Credit (.5 Health and .5 PE)
• 5.5 Elective Credits

In order to receive the credit, you must pass the exams (duh), and then now, you must also receive a certain amount of points to graduate (I didn’t have to do this, but all high schoolers have to, starting with the graduating class of 2018). All of this information should be in your school’s Course Planner or equivalent document.

Anyways, so this was my specific journey to graduate early. Keep in mind that I began considering this path in 8th grade (this means when I began scheduling for high school, I was adamant about making sure I would have an abundance of credits from various areas), but didn’t implement it until the summer before my junior (senior) year. First, I was able to earn all four of my math credits because I earned one of them in 8th grade. I was able to do so because I was in accelerated math, so by 8th grade, I was taking a high school level math course. To earn my English credits (this is a bit confusing), I earned one of them through College Credit Plus. I took English 1001 at my local college and not only did that cover my English credit at my high school, I am also earning that credit for college (I won’t have to take the introductory English course when I go to college). I earned my last English credit through credit flex. I scored a perfect score on the English portion of my ACT test and because I plan on becoming a math teacher and studying mathematics in college, the administration at my school allowed me to retake the English ACT test (an option for credit flex) and I just had to get an 85% or higher to earn the credit. I earned my American history credit through College Credit Plus as well. That ended up being totally unnecessary, but at least that credit will also transfer to the college I’m attending. Then lastly, I earned my health credit online through Brigham Young University Independent Study (BYU). Other than that, I had earned my other credits naturally in the courses that I had chosen to take. It seems kind of confusing, but what a lot of students don’t realize is that they are able to take this path because schools already set you up to graduate in four years, and a lot of requirements only take three years to complete. Yes you would have to put in a little extra work, but I honestly didn’t find it to be that much more effort.

That was the technical part of achieving this milestone, but I know that I wasn’t the only person that put in effort to get me there. I’d say that the most important person that helped me achieve this was my school counselor. She put in a lot of effort and negotiations with teachers and administrators to make sure that I was able to graduate when I wanted to, and it took a ton (I emailed her so much) of back and forth communication to make sure that I was on the right path and that nothing got overlooked. As I became a graduate of my high school, I definitely kept her in mind and know that she was the person behind the scenes making it all work for me.

Graduating early isn’t for everyone, but it’s a very possible option for those students that feel that high school isn’t their thing (one of the reasons I choose to graduate early). It’s also important to be mature enough to understand that you have chosen to leave high school a year early so you better have some kind of plan in mind. If you feel that you want to graduate early, I highly encourage you to discuss it with your parents/guardians and your school counselor(s).

~ TEA