Is freshman year of highschool to early to be thinking about college?
No, it's great that you are starting to think about college and career at your age. Most students DO wait until their senior year and that's way too late! A few things to think about: You will be taking the PSAT soon. You should take any tutorials your school offers to do as well as you can--the PSAT is predictive of ability on the SAT. If you test well, you will do well on the MCAT, which is what you take in your junior-senior year of college before you apply to medical school. In other words, you would start in your junior year with your serious college preparation, and your high school counselor will be helping you with information about colleges, financial aid, and other matters. Your parent(s) should also be involved, as you need to know the type of school you will be able to attend--local public university, private school, etc. Classes: Medical school is all about Chemistry--you should take as many chem classes as your school offers, and also Biology, Microbiology, and even Physics. Math is important as well since you will need to focus in science. Don't panic, just take it slowly and worry about one year at a time. Also, you might want to think of volunteer work or extra-curricular activities such as volunteering in a hospital, at a homeless shelter, or some other area where you are helping people. That helps on your college applications and for scholarships, and it shows that you are committed to the field you have chosen. Good grades are needed for most colleges, and then again for medical school. If you don't do well in your freshman year, you have three more years to raise your GPA. It is more important to show higher grades in the junior and senior years; some schools only consider your last two years. At this point I wouldn't worry about what KIND of doctor you want to be--many don't even know when they enter medical school! It's important to check out different types of career paths, and you may even decide to stay in the healthcare field and do something other than be a doctor--that's OK too. You have a clean slate for your life, you sound like and interesting and interested person, and I wish you well in high school!
Is 9th grade early to think about college?
No, perfect time. This is the time if wanting to get into a certain college, research the requirements etc and do well in all 4 years of high school. Don't fool around like most of the high school kids, Ive been there and it makes me sick. right now you need to schedule to take the IB/AP courses or any higher lvl courses available and also get involved with volunteer work, sports, clubs and try to obtain leadership roles. This all makes you a strong applicant. the rest of kids in high school fool around than end up wondering why they don't get into the college of their dreams, but if you start now and do well which is the perfect time to do so. Try to obtain a 3.5+ GPA (th grade is a perfect time to do all the EC's since your young and able to do things. As you get older it gets a little harder to do because you take harder classes and heavy course loads. Sacrifice things now and it will pay off in the future, high school like anyways is a waste, half the people you meet in there are fake and you will never meet them again, your true friends are in college and in the future. Trust me I've been there i started to go to college full-time after my sophomore year through dull-enrollment at my local community college. that's another thing you should look into and get rid of your last 2 years of high school. After your sophomore year try to contact your local community college and find out if they offer dual enrollment, and you will be able to be a full-time student at college. I'm 17 and i will be transferring to a university as a junior in college next fall. But i started to think about college during my soph year. I started to realize and i matured quickly.
How can I graduate high school early after Junior year if my high school won't let me?
I have almost all my credits and my high school does not offer the option to graduate after Junior year anymore. I just finished my Junior year and summer is about to start. I really don't want to go to Senior year next year. I would rather just graduate now. Is there away I can get my high school diploma before Senior year?
Should I graduate early? (3 years of high school)?
Wish I had finished high school earlier. Senior yr was fun, but it wasn't all that great. When I was 25, I was really TIRED of school and impatient to start real life as a vet. School gets old really quickly. On the other hand, you need to realize that you need to apply yourself really really well and have an excellent GPA to be considered at any vet school. It is extremely competitive, way more than med school. I had a few classmates that applied to both vet school and med school: some were accepted to both, some were accepted to med school only, nobody got accepted to vet school only! Again, only you know if you have the maturity to apply yourself really well in undergrad. Many students are in college and are 16, but these students are mature and apply themselves very well. Your GPA in high school has no relevance when applying to vet school. You can go to a vet clinic, tell them you are interested in becoming a vet and ask them if you could shadow the dr. or volunteer. Experience in a clinic does have relevance and helps when applying to vet school. Only you know if you care about missing out in your sr yr or not. Things to consider for becoming a vet: 4 yrs of undergrad: preferably animal science major or biology. Animal sci gives you a better background and hands on in handling animals, but not all universities offer it, so biology is the best second choice. 3 years of pre-clinical classes: all the theory behind it: anatomy, physiology, pathology, medicine classes, etc... 1 yr of clinical school: where you actually work as a vet under the guidance of a licensed veterinarian. This will give u the DVM and you can work as a general practitioner. If you want to specialize (ie. exotics, surgery, pathology, internal medicine, etc) you need to make an extra year of internship. Like the clinical school, but you have more responsibilities than the vet students. Then you have anywhere from 2-5 yrs of residency to become board certified in the area you want to specialize. Is a lot of schooling. My opinion, the sooner the better... that way you can actually start enjoying your life soon! and those students that are senior vet students and 1-2 yrs younger than the rest of us seem to have a blast bragging about it.... at least, they annoyed me and I envied them :-)
How do I graduate high school early?
Take periods before and after school, if they're offered. They're sometimes called zero period or A period classes. See if your high school has night or weekend adult classes that will count for high school credit. Ask the school staff if you can take Jr. college classes for high school credit. This will not only get you out of high school faster, but will get you out of college faster, because the credits will count for both. College classes are usually not any harder than high school classes, and you end up spending less time in the classroom than you would for a high school class. A math class that you're in 5 hours a week at the high school might be a 1.5 hour class twice a week at the college. Take summer school. Most people are taking it for classes they've failed, but you'll be there to get ahead. There are correspondence classes offered by some universities. BYU is the only one I have experience with. I took a 10th grade English class through them and loved it. You mail in an assignment and get it back with interesting and encouraging notes from your teacher. It was about $100 including the book, but was well worth it. The reading was much more interesting, they dealt in more poetry and the assignments actually made me want to do them. It was the only high school English class I got an A in. Lastly, make sure your requirements don't overlap. Taking elective classes is fun, but if you take more electives than you need, it's just increasing the time you're sitting in that desk. Many high schools will let college classes count as electives, so you'll get more choices, have more fun and can focus on taking core classes on your high school campus. The JC near my high school had aircraft mechanics courses, flower arrangement, nursing classes, child development classes, business managment classes and pre-law. How rad would it be if you were out of high school at 16 or 17 and were already a sophomore or junior in college. You'd be Ms. Doogie Howser. Do not be tempted to take open periods unless you are in your very last semester and don't need any more credits or prerequisites. Using some or all of these methods, you might be able to graduate 4 or even 5 semesters early depending on how much time you spend on classes outside of the regular school day.