Would graduating early or on-track be more beneficial for admissions? Answered
I'm not sure how much of a difference it would make, but as I have a lot of extra credits and am advanced for where I need to be, I have the option to graduate one year early (in my junior year). I have been leaning towards this option, but it doesn't allow me to do the IB programme. Since IB is a 2-year programme (junior and senior year), I would need to graduate on track in order to take IB classes or graduate with an IB diploma. If I graduate early, I would be doing full AP with some college classes. There's also the option of graduating early, and then going to an in-state school for a year and then later applying to a different school in the area where I want to go (East Coast region). Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should do?
I want to go to law school, so I want to major in criminal justice or something related to that in college. I also am interested in smaller liberal arts colleges, such as Swarthmore. I have very strong academics and am confident in maintaining a 4.0, and grades/test scores won't be an issue for me. I just don't know whether graduating early with only AP/college courses would be better than graduating on track with the IB course. I would rather graduate early for other reasons, but if it will lower my chances in any way of getting into a college, then I would be willing to wait.
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It depends on where you are coming from. Personally, if I were you, I'd stay on track. Here are my reasons for both:
(1) Why graduate early: I would only recommend graduating early if it's very early (more of an anomaly) and if you are doing extremely well in school. If you graduate only a year early, for example, you will miss out on a lot of crucial resources, and graduating one year earlier isn't that impressive. If you are like Young Sheldon, graduating high school at 7, then 100% go right ahead.
(2) Why graduate on track: For most high schoolers, they have many more academic opportunities in their later years of high school. These academic opportunities will indeed help you stand out much more.
An actual example: me. I could have graduated at 16; however, I chose not to. Why? Sophomore year was particularly bad (I want to get into a T20 school) due to a lot of familial problems and such. I currently have a 3.8 unweighted GPA as a rising senior. I say this because I am going to be graduating with 16 (most likely 17) AP classes under my belt, putting me well into the top 0.1% of American high school students and one of, if not the highest, in my school. If I graduated early, colleges would never see this improvement.
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I would also be able to grad at 16, + I would also be able to achieve up to 16 AP's along with 2+ courses at a local college. My grades are also good, and I'm confident that I'll maintain a 4.0 UW. The only difference I would have would be not being able to get the IB diploma if I graduated early. I'm also looking at a lot of T20 schools, and I don't know how knowledgeabl you are on this, but a better question would be is: graduate early with APs or on track with an IB diploma?