How common is it to enter college with sophomore status?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What’s the rush? I graduated at 20. I am now 50 yo and burned out. Wish I had taken the time to smell the roses and enjoy the journey.

You weren't rushing if you started college with sophomore status(or started at 16 and took the full 4 years). Rushing is compressing 4 years of college into 3, which I think is pretty rare. But graduating in 3 years when you were on track to graduate 3 years is pacing yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What’s the rush? I graduated at 20. I am now 50 yo and burned out. Wish I had taken the time to smell the roses and enjoy the journey.

+1

I graduated college in 3.5 years. To this day, I wish I had taken the full 4.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why rush getting out of college, you get so much more out of 4 or 5 years than 3, academically, socially, fun, etc

I would rather my kid take a biology class at a university taught by a well respected college professor than some disgruntled high school teacher with 3 years on the job and no real world experience with a world class lab.

My DS graduated from UVA college of Engineering in 3 years because the school accepted over 30+ credits from his high school AP courses. He graduated in May '23 in three years, and I gave him 44K, the money I would have to pay for his last year at UVA, to travel the world before he comes back and either starts grad school or works for the NSA. Staying in school for 4 or 5 years only benefits the university, NOT you.

Btw, some of those "disgruntled" HS teachers have degrees from MIT or CalTech, something that you do not have. Be respectful....

When he applies for jobs or tries to create something on his own, he's going to be competing against people with a full 4-year education, some including a masters or a double major.

He also missed out on building connections with the top students at his school who spent the 4th year doing the most advanced work leading to stronger post-college placements.

DP, but calm down. A student who graduates in 3 years from a decent uni doesn't have much to worry about. They will do well no matter what.

Another DP. A friend of my Dd's at UVA had 65+ credits coming in from a Governor's School. She started as a second year and doing only three years never hurt her in the slightest. Here's an old article on the (then) 80+ UVA students that do it every year. She graduated and went right into a master's program and is now a second year in a T14 law school. https://news.virginia.edu/content/class-2013-new-tradition-uva-honors-grads-who-earn-degrees-three-years-or-less

[Anonymous]

My law school friend entered Harvard as a sophomore. She hated the school and applied elsewhere for law school (we went to Berkeley).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s the rush? I graduated at 20. I am now 50 yo and burned out. Wish I had taken the time to smell the roses and enjoy the journey.

+1

I graduated college in 3.5 years. To this day, I wish I had taken the full 4.

I graduated college in 3 years. It was one of the best decisions I've made for myself. Everyone has different experiences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My law school friend entered Harvard as a sophomore. She hated the school and applied elsewhere for law school (we went to Berkeley).

I should correct htis: she graduated in 3 years. CLEP-tested out of all the intro classes.

[Anonymous]

Common for my kids high school. Lots of APs etc. My kid had enough to be a sophomore.

But since the college also covered his tuition for 4 years, my kid is double majoring in computer science and finance.

[Anonymous]

It took me 5 full years to get through. I worked full-time so I took only 12 units per semester.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why rush getting out of college, you get so much more out of 4 or 5 years than 3, academically, socially, fun, etc

I would rather my kid take a biology class at a university taught by a well respected college professor than some disgruntled high school teacher with 3 years on the job and no real world experience with a world class lab.

My DS graduated from UVA college of Engineering in 3 years because the school accepted over 30+ credits from his high school AP courses. He graduated in May '23 in three years, and I gave him 44K, the money I would have to pay for his last year at UVA, to travel the world before he comes back and either starts grad school or works for the NSA. Staying in school for 4 or 5 years only benefits the university, NOT you.

Btw, some of those "disgruntled" HS teachers have degrees from MIT or CalTech, something that you do not have. Be respectful....

When he applies for jobs or tries to create something on his own, he's going to be competing against people with a full 4-year education, some including a masters or a double major.

He also missed out on building connections with the top students at his school who spent the 4th year doing the most advanced work leading to stronger post-college placements.

I've worked at Intel, Apple, Google and these companies do NOT cares about where you get your degree from or how long. It comes down to the interview and how well you performed on the actual test given by the company. You might have a Master degree in Engineering but do poorly on the test, you will not be hired.

Does a college education help with the test, or is the coursework just killing time while waiting for the degree?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s the rush? I graduated at 20. I am now 50 yo and burned out. Wish I had taken the time to smell the roses and enjoy the journey.

+1

I graduated college in 3.5 years. To this day, I wish I had taken the full 4.

I graduated college in 3 years. It was one of the best decisions I've made for myself. Everyone has different experiences.

Yeah, but I didn't have any AP credits coming in, so I had to overload and take summer classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If we are bragging... Mine will be a junior after first semester

mine was a junior the first day... but seriously, it a race to nowhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My law school friend entered Harvard as a sophomore. She hated the school and applied elsewhere for law school (we went to Berkeley).

dp.. wow, my friend did the same. Hated Harvard. Went to Cal next.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS and many of his friends are going to be sophomores when they start college.

Aren’t you special!

[Anonymous]

I did it in the 1990s but my SLAC handled it as though I skipped sophomore year, not freshman. I was in housing w first years, etc. It worked out very well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What’s the rush? I graduated at 20. I am now 50 yo and burned out. Wish I had taken the time to smell the roses and enjoy the journey.

It cut 25% off the price. Which, as the student, was the single biggest contribution I could make.

Graduated without debt. It shaped the whole trajectory of my life positively. No regrets whatsoever.