I was 15 when I graduated from high school. I chose to graduate early because I hated high school. The experience of graduating early was extremely difficult but in the end, it showed me how mature and independent I could actually be. Being a 16-year-old freshman in college I’ve grown academically and socially. Most importantly, I’ve learned that age doesn’t matter when interacting with all of my peers in college.
When I was 14 I entered Windermere Preparatory School as a sophomore. I quickly learned how much I hated high school. I never quite understood why people didn’t like me, but they didn’t. I couldn’t quite understand why everyone around me seemed to get along so well. After sophomore and half of Junior year I realized I couldn’t handle the torture of high school so I worked hard and took two CLEP (College Level Examination Program) tests to finish off the last few credits I needed to graduate. I graduated at the end of my junior year, a decision that has greatly shaped my future.
Graduation was a little strange. Instead of graduating with my friends I walked with the grade above me. Many of those seniors resented me because of my early graduation. It was a very defining moment when I was waiting in my cap and gown to walk into the graduation ceremony and one of the seniors turned to me and said “why are you even here”. Graduating early was not easy, but it was worth it.
My issues with high school were a result of emotional and intellectual problems. On the one hand, I felt very alone and unhappy in high school. I have a very strong personality, I have a lot of opinions and I like to share them. This caused some people to dislike me. I had some friends but I often had the problem of making new friends, fighting with them and then eventually losing them. It was hard to only have one or two people I actually felt I could trust and talk to in school. Teachers also found my personality abrasive so I didn’t get along with them either. Teachers either didn’t know how to handle me so they would end up being rude and disrespectful to me, or they didn’t even try to handle me.
Along with being a social outcast, I didn’t feel intellectually challenged in high school. My classes tended to be only as hard as the dumbest student could handle. I ended up doing little work in class and still getting great grades.
From an outsiders perspective, my graduation probably seemed incredibly strange. It’s not everyday that a young person just decides to go against the grain of society and do something that could possibly alienate them. I often relate my decision to graduate early to the movie “Mean Girls.” In “Mean Girls,” the protagonist learns just how vicious people can be when she goes from being home schooled to entering a public high school. While she used her pain in a negative way by creating a burn book, I used my disdain for high school to do something extraordinary and unusual for myself. I think this is an important comparison. Too often teenagers find themselves frustrated with high school and the pettiness of it all, so they resort to negative behavior. I would hope that more teenagers would be empowered enough to change their own circumstances if they were unhappy with their current ones.
Graduating early was such an important moment for me because it has completely changed the timeline of my life. I no longer get to act like a 16-year-old, but instead I am expected to act like an adult. I will graduate college at 19, the age when many people enter college. I think about this everyday and consider it every time I interact with my peers at college.
I am glad that I had this experience. It has ultimately been a positive experience because I learned that if I work hard, I can accomplish any goals I set my mind to. I also learned just how strong I really am. I learned that I can be independent and mature. I am an adult; I chose to have this experience because, at the time when I was in high school, I felt I had no other choice. Now that I’ve done it, I’m glad that I did it. My experience taught me about myself, my abilities, my strengths, my skills and my weaknesses. And for these reasons, my decision to graduate high school at 15 was probably one of the best decisions I ever made.
My adjustment to college was made a little easier because I chose to go to the same college as my older brother, an 18-year-old junior. Still, the first few weeks of college were tough. I talked to my mom everyday and cried myself to sleep almost every night. Things got better once I made friends that could accept my age and me.
The actual experience of college at this age is a unique one. People generally assume I am 18 which is nice because they don’t treat me differently from anyone else. Many of my actually forget my age and it isn’t a factor in the way people interact with me. However, there are some downsides to being so young. For one, I have to get a waiver signed by my parents every time I want to leave campus with the college, whereas everyone else can just sign the waiver themselves.
As for the work, it doesn’t overwhelm me. I have a lot of time to do it and I almost never have a problem understanding material. I’m doing well socially and academically as well.
I’m really glad I went to college young. It improved my quality of life and I feel like I could not have dealt with another year of high school. I hope that more young people will be motivated enough to do what they want; even if it isn’t ‘normal’.