Starting college at 16

Hey, another FL student here. If you can hold off a graduation requirement and prevent graduating, do that. Not only does Florida offer an amazing scholarship program, it offers a great Dual Enrollment program as well. As a Dual Enrollment student, many colleges and universities will allow you to take full-time college classes in your Junior and Senior years of high school, all of which will be completely paid for by the state of Florida (books included). Please at least look at Dual Enrollment before you try to graduate early. I know two years seems pretty far off right now (trust me, I've been there) but as a junior myself, I'm incredibly grateful to still have a few more years of living at home. That doesn't mean I'm not being challenged, though—I'm currently taking 17 credits at my community college, including some classes a lot of college freshmen aren't ready for.

Another plus of Dual Enrollment is that even if you finish your Associates degree while in high school, nearly all colleges and universities will accept you as a first-time-in-college student upon graduation. Usually, that means you'll get more financial aid.

You remind me so much of myself freshman year—a gazillion FLVS credits, maxed out test scores on college placement tests, and a love of theatre, reading, and writing. I had been bored academically in middle school, so I took math classes. When I got to high school, they had run out of math to put me in, so my guidance counselors helped me enroll in my first Dual Enrollment class, which I began the spring semester of my freshman year.

If your end goal is to be a doctor, first of all, I hope you're prepared to spend at least twelve more years in school after you graduate. I'm not on the pre-med track myself, but I have many friends who are, and their course load is pretty intense. When you begin taking college classes, you'll want to fit in Precalculus, Trigonometry, Calculus I, II, and III, General Chemistry I and II, Organic Chemistry I and II, Anatomy and Physiology I and II, and General Biology I and II as early as possible. Most community colleges should offer these courses.

To answer your original question, yes. Assuming you have straight As or close to it, you are an incredibly competitive student. You're obviously a go-getter, and if you can manage all of those classes with all of those extracurriculars, I have no doubt you can manage college academics. Most colleges have begun to take a whole-candidate approach to screening applicants, so as long as they see you participated in high school extracurriculars as long as your were able, you should be fine.

The main concern I have for you is that you're so young. Yes, as a junior, I trust myself to take care of myself. Yes, I trust myself to make good decisions. Yes, I know I would be fine away from home at a larger university. Yes, I know I'm smart enough and resilient enough to withstand the workload. And I'm sure you are, too.

But... you don't have to grow up so fast. You're incredibly motivated and you have huge plans, but you only have one chance to be a teenager. More important than any schooling, you need to learn how to build good, strong relationships. You need to learn how make peace with broken friendships, how surround yourself with the people you want to become like, and how to fail. You need to know who you are and what you stand for before you leave for college, because as soon as you leave, you'll have an entire world trying to decide for you.

Know who you are. Know what you believe in. Know how to keep going after failure.

And keep being awesome. Cheers for getting this so far!