So, I was wondering if I should try applying for colleges soon even though I’m in 11th grade? The thing is, I don’t have any AP/IB classes nor do I have any college courses, so I feel like that’s kind of a dealbreaker for applying. And, if I did apply and got accepted to one, would I have to wait until I graduate to go? If I haven’t graduated would they make me re-apply to their university once I did graduate? Or would they make me take high school and college at the same time or would I have to try to graduate high school early?
First of all, unless you will fulfill 100% of your high school's graduation requirements this school year, there is no point in applying to college because you will not have earned an HS diploma by the time classes enroll in 10 months. You can easily determine if you will have enough credits to graduate by going to your school's website and looking up your HS graduation requirements. At my high school, we needed 25 units, so it was indeed possible to graduate for many if they wanted to. Most high achieving students had between 30 and 36.
Whether you are an average student or the Valedictorian with a 4.0 and 1550 SAT/35 ACT scores, it rarely makes sense to apply early to college unless you are a certifiable genius and have to take all the hardest APs offered and are completely bored.
The simple answer is that getting into college has been the hardest since colleges evolved in America over 350 years ago. At Ivy's the average admit rate among 8 schools is 5.26% so close to 95% of applicants get rejected. Many of those rejected have perfect GPAs and near-perfect test scores, tons of impressive ECs, and have lots of leadership positions. If they applied in 11th grade, they wouldn't stand a chance.
This is why most of the best applicants in the US, wish they even had more time to test prep, take more rigorous classes, participate in impressive leadership positions and hone their spike activities. Most College applications are due 1/1 at midnight and more likely than not 90% of the best students are hitting the submit button within the last hour because they are still trying to polish up their narrative.
This logic also applies to highly competitive colleges, very competitive colleges, competitive colleges, and safety schools as well.
The best way I can describe it with an analogy is, say you are a tennis player but you are an average player. Chances are that you are not going to be a Varsity team caption in your freshman year. But if you practice hard and move up gradually from JV Tennis to Varsity Tennis, there is a good chance that you can become the Varsity Tennis Team Captain, if you want it by 12th grade. If you try out for the Varsity Tennis team, right after 10th grade, you might be just wasting your time and everyone else.
Therefore, do your homework and figure out whether you can graduate early from HS. Then figure out if you are content with applying to the college that will take you versus your dream colleges. Everyone has a different motivation. Some HS students love HS and look forward to Senior Prom and all the HS activities. Others hate HS and have a difficult family situation and just want to leave as soon as possible.
Good luck.
I'm curious why you are applying in junior year. Next year, there will definitely be colleges that will accept you, despite not having any college classes. However, it will be a lot harder to get in this year. However, you should try to apply for dual enrollment this year, which will look good on your applications!
I don't thing you should apply so soon. For now focus on getting good grades and maybe fill out you common app profile. Universities usually need you to graduate before accepting you so its kind of not a good idea.
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