How I graduated in 2.5 Years from College
I graduated from Washington University in St Louis in 5 semesters, rather than 8, which saved me 3 semesters of tuition. I also saved on room and board because I lived at home during the remaining semesters. Because of Covid-19, I also stayed at home for one of those 5 semesters, so I almost cut the college cost of living in half. It was a very stressful process, since there was no established way to graduate early, and I wasn’t even sure that it was possible. I took a massive overload of credits every semester, and I also contacted several academic advisors at my school to figure out how I can meet all the graduation requirements. Finally, I contacted several teachers, and asked them if it was okay for me to bypass certain requirements (for example, I asked my physics professor if it was okay for me to take physics II before physics I).
With a lot of emailing, courses, and stresses, I was able to graduate on an extremely early time table. In this blog post, I’ll share exactly how I did that, and how you can do the same at your university. Please contact us if you have any questions.
I’ll start with why I did this, and the pros and cons of the early graduation track that I took.
I’ll begin with the pros:
I saved a lot of money. My college’s cost of tuition, room, board, and remaining costs were about 75-80 thousand US dollars per year. This is extremely high! Most private universities that are out-of-state that don’t offer need or merit-based scholarships will charge a similarly high ticket price to attend. When I was deciding among colleges, I chose WashU over several other colleges that offered full-rides or large merit-based discounts because I was accepted into WashU’s 8-year medical program, so it is associated with a top 10 ranked medical school.
I had a lot of time to do other things, during my time off. During the time that I wasn’t a college student, I attempted to launch a clothing line, I trained as a Behavioral Technician to be a caretaker for children with autism, I conducted a research project, I blogged, I taught students MCAT and writing, and I started writing a book. The time off gave me several opportunities to test the things I learned in college in the real world, so I think I actually may have learned more during my time out of college rather than in.
The cons:
My workload was really, really high, and I constantly had to focus on my GPA. I ended up receiving a 4.0, but doing so was far, far more difficult than it would have been if I was taking the normal 15 credits per semester. I was taking 7 classes per semester, on average, and during my finals week, I would usually have 6 finals, back-to-back. Some days I would wake up at 4 AM to study for my exam because I had no time from previous days. It was hectic. I would also take a lot of classes way too early (like taking biochemistry without completing biology, taking physics II before taking physics I) or I would take several time-intensive classes in the same semester (biology, chemistry, physics, and biochemistry all at once).
I had less time for important extracurriculars during the school year, including those that would help me with my medical school applications. I spent the summer after my freshman year taking organic chemistry at my local college, rather than doing research or shadowing at the hospital. This made it a bit more difficult during the school year to meet the expected premed extracurricular requirements. Even so, I would usually spend the weekends spearheading volunteer efforts for my college. These included working at a suicide helpline, teaching children in low-income areas, volunteering at a domestic violence shelter, and more. Many college students have enough time for a lot different extracurriculars, so I just had to squeeze in time whenever I wasn’t busy with classes.
I didn’t have the traditional 4-year college experience. I don’t really mind that, since I still have my medical schooling left to do, but many people wouldn’t have liked the early graduation because that means that they wouldn’t have had as enjoyable of a time. I still had a great time in college.
Okay, now you know the pros and cons of the early graduation. Here’s how I did it.
I didn’t decide in the beginning of my college that I would graduate early. Actually, I didn’t even know that graduating early was an option until my second semester of freshman year. By then, I realized that I could save a lot more money than I could earn at that point by graduating early, so I made a conscious effort to take enough classes so that I could graduate one year early from college.
The first requirement to graduate from WashU Arts and Sciences is to complete 120 units, 90 of which must be in the Arts and Sciences coursework and 30 of which must be at the 300/400/500 (advanced) level. Since I was a biology major, I was in the Arts and Sciences School.
Most classes are 3 units. I should have had about 40 units from high school AP exams, BUT WashU did not allow me to carry more than 15 units from high school. This means that I only had 15 units at the start of my first semester.
In addition, there were several general education requirements that my school had. I had to take one course to satisfy each of the core skills.
I had to take 3-4 courses for each of the following four categories.
I needed at least three integrations in two areas of studies. Integrations could include majors and minors.
Finally, I need a major. My major was in biology and minor in anthropology.
The typical college semester is 15 units, or 5 classes. WashU did not allow any student to take more than 21 units, or else they had to pay an extra $2000+ for each extra unit.
My first semester I took 18 units.
Running Total = 15 (from high school) + 18 (first semester).
My second semester I took 19 units.
Running Total = 15 (from high school) + 18 (first semester) + 19 (second semester)
Then, I took organic chemistry and organic chemistry laboratory at George Mason University during the summer. I took both semesters of this course over the summer, and it was very intense, since it was all completed within 8 weeks. The course at George Mason was 10 units, but WashU’s organic chemistry course is only 8 units, so WashU awarded me 8 units for Organic Chemistry I and II with lab.
Running Total = 15 (from high school) + 18 (first semester) + 19 (second semester) + 8 (summer)
I had 60 units at the end of the first year. It was at this point that I realized there was a small chance that I could graduate in 2.5 years, as long as I followed a very, very tight schedule that would allow me to complete a major in biology, a minor in anthropology, and fulfill every single general education requirement that WashU had.
My first semester of second year is when things started to really ramp up. This was by far my most difficult semester academically. I was taking physics, biochemistry, and human anatomy and development at the same time, which were very difficult science classes. For me, Human Anatomy and Development was incredibly time-consuming and quite difficult, and I had a very tough time visualizing all the various body parts. I spent hours and hours on this class. My guess is that I probably spent more time on that single class than all the other classes combined. It was also this semester that I was working hardest for my extracurriculars, since I had a leadership position for the program that volunteered at the domestic violence shelter, and I was taking shifts at the suicide helpline.
Running total = 15 + 18 + 19 + 8 + 21
My second semester was Spring 2020, and I took 20 units. This was once again an incredibly tough semester, and I chose to take care of almost every single general education requirement I had. I took tons of writing courses, such as “Argumentation” “Present Moral Problems” “Social Theory and “The Anthropology of Death and Dying”. All of these courses required lots of writing and reflection. I found the content to be very interesting, so writing essays was never too difficult. My professors were also very good. This was the semester that Covid happened, and I was taking an MCAT course that required 10 hours a week outside of class. This means that I was taking 20 units in addition to a very intense MCAT course. Outside of that course, I ended up doing a lot of studying. When Covid happened and we all went home, I changed three of my courses to pass/fail, and then used the time I gained to study a lot for the MCAT.
Running Total = 15 + 18 + 19 + 8 + 21 + 20
During the fall 2020 semester, I took a leave of absence. I did a lot of medical-related trainings during this point, prepared for my position as an MCAT tutor, and did a lot of remote research. Since I was planning to graduate after one more semester, I decided (upon conversations with my premed advisor) that it would be a good idea to finish my last semester during the spring, after the covid-related online teaching difficulties were resolved.
In the Spring 2021 semester, I took 19 units again. This included an Independent Study course in which I completed my research, and several science courses to complete the upper level units for my biology major (microbiology laboratory and disease ecology). I also took two very fascinating courses (positive psychology: the science of happiness & writing episodic television). During this semester I was tutoring two MCAT courses for WashU undergraduate and graduate students. I was also working as a caretaker for a boy with autism and tutoring. I was also doing some work in the hospital.
Running Total = 120 units
I went in May for graduation, and felt very fortunate to receive my diploma.
I hope this helped you in determining whether and how you might be able to pursue a early graduation time track. Every college differs in their policies, so I’d recommend emailing a lot of advisors, reading deeply into the website, and doing your due diligence. I don’t have any regrets, but there were definitely a lot of stressful moments.
I wish you all the best! Thank you for reading.