How To Finish College In 3 Years

Not only would you save an estimated $25,000 in this scenario, but you would also have a bonus year to get started in the workforce or pursue a graduate degree.

The Road to 120: Graduating College in Three Years

With current graduation rates pushing beyond four or even five years, you may be surprised that graduating in three years is achievable without wearing yourself out. Students can often be intimidated by this prospect, but there are a plethora of resources available today that can help expedite the graduation process.

With proper planning and motivation, a three-year graduation is more accessible than you think.

Getting Started: The Importance of Personal Responsibility and Self-Advocacy

Though some programs will require more, let us start with the assumption that a student will need 120 credits to graduate with a standard bachelor’s degree.

How we get to this number and how much we spend to get to this number is more in our control than a lot of us realize. As one of our student liaisons, a sophomore who attends Virginia Tech, remarks, “as a freshman, I thought our advisors decided everything for us. I’ve come to learn that how you get to 120 credits is completely in your own hands.” We will cover this more in the section on course efficiency at the end of the post.

The first 60 credits are largely made up of general education classes and electives. It is crucial that you achieve these credits as inexpensively as possible, and a good amount of them should be achieved before that laundry basket full of random dorm room stuff comes out of the trunk at college.

What steps do you take to accomplish this?

Dual Enrollment

Let’s start in high school. A lot of high schools now offer what are called “Dual Enrollment” courses. These are college-level courses that a student can take in high school for college credit. The high school usually partners with a local university or community college that blesses the classes. These should be highly considered because they are often a fraction of the cost compared to the same class at college a year later. The cost of these classes at Loudoun County Schools in Virginia is $10 per credit hour. Contrast this with the cost per credit hour at Virginia Tech: $476!

These classes may also “matriculate” you into the local community college, which can be very advantageous if it allows you to take additional classes at the community college the summer between your senior year of high school and your freshmen year of college. More on that in a minute.

A word of caution: if your child may end up at an out-of-state college, the credit transfer process with DE classes can get messy. So, make sure you do your research! AP classes may end up being more beneficial in this case.

CLEP Tests

Most parents we talk to about college funding are very focused on how many AP classes their kids should take. They know that getting good grades in AP classes is great for admission purposes and that high scores on the AP tests can count for college credit and eliminate the need for gen eds.

But the majority of families we talk to have never heard of CLEP tests. This is likely because they are advertised more for non-traditional students. Regardless, they can save you thousands of dollars and a whole lot of hours of your life.

The College Level Examination Program offered through The College Board allows students to “test out” and receive college credits. Unlike the AP Exams, CLEP tests are offered year-round and ask about material the student may already know.

Families will, however, need to do some investigative work. Not all schools accept these credits, and the schools that do may only accept certain subjects. The good news is that over 2,900 schools DO accept CLEP credits.

You might want to figure out which schools you are interested in ahead of time, then search their website for which CLEP tests they accept. You can do a preliminary search on the college board website here . You will likely see a lot of common ones between schools, like U.S. History or American Literature.

Summer Productivity: Classes & Certifications

In years past, students trying to get a leg-up during the summer might have trekked to the local community college early in the morning. Now it’s as easy as getting out of bed and opening up your laptop. The abundance of online classes–and not even necessarily connected to the local community college–is a game-changer.

Once again, It is crucial to make sure these credits will transfer to the four-year university/colleges you might attend. Some colleges may have stipulations on summer classes, so finding out beforehand should be part of the college “hunt” before you even apply.

Our student contributor, who attends an in-state school, Virginia Tech, remarked that it was very easy for her to determine which courses counted. All she had to do was peruse the “course equivalency” page on the school website to discover which courses in the Virginia Community College System “equate” at Tech.

Three insider tips for summer classes:

1. “ Often times when taking community college classes, only the CREDITS and not the grade will transfer to your university. Essentially, the class will go on your transcript as a transfer credit, saying that you took the class and either passed and earned the credits or failed and did not earn the credits, but no letter grade will be shown. Therefore, this means that your grade will not be factored into your GPA. This can definitely come in handy when you are just trying to get a class out of the way and just need to pass it to move on. However, if a student is planning on going to some sort of graduate school (law school, medical school, etc.), I believe it is often frowned upon to take an important class at a community college, as it can be seen as an “easier” route. And since they cannot see your actual letter grade on your transcripts, you will have to send your community college transcripts as well.
2. PLEASE inform your college advisor before you do take these classes! There is often a form you will have to fill out to get permission to take this class for the credits to transfer over to your four-year university. The last thing you would want is to take a class over the summer and then find out that you can’t transfer the credits because your university did not approve it.
3. Some students like to do a summer term at their college to get ahead. If money is an issue, see if you can take these classes at a community college instead.

What about non-college classes and certifications?

During the summer, you can also explore online professional license courses for college credit. They are not prevalent, but there are courses online for people seeking licenses, such as Real Estate and Property and Casualty Insurance, that can count for college credit (and possibly fill an elective course requirement). This can be done very quickly.

Check out the American Council on Education’s website to browse different courses/training programs that may count for credit. As always, make sure to verify that these special trainings are accepted for credit at the schools to which you may apply.

Course Efficiency and Planning While At College

Our student contact mentions that her college has a system called the Degree Audit Reporting System (DARS) that runs an audit on all of the credits you have completed, including transfer, dual enrollment, and AP credits. The audit is run against your chosen degree, and it will develop a report on how many credits you have left to complete, which credits count for which general education requirements, and then will provide a list of the courses you have left to complete.

“It is truly the most helpful thing I have come across in my time at Tech. I’ve been able to discover classes that will count for a general education (called “Pathways” at VT) requirement AND my major and/or minor. Therefore, instead of taking 3 separate classes to fulfill the requirements for my pathways, major classes and minor classes, I am only taking one. I believe other schools use this system, and if not, I’m sure there are similar ones at almost every school. 100% worth looking into. It has saved me so much time and money.

The Road Not Taken: A Visual Path to 120 Credits in Three Years

Let’s examine a hypothetical path to 120 credits in only three years of college.

In this plan, you would take a standard course load during the school year, making burnout less likely and giving you ample time for social activities, extracurriculars, a part-time job, etc.

This means that you would need to take advantage of your high school years and your summers in between school years, as shown in the chart below:

How Much Money Can You Save?

Right now, the average student loan debt coming out of college is $28,400. What if you could reduce this number by $10k to $20K through your own actions?

This strategy can make up a good portion of that average shortfall. Let’s do the math based on Loudoun County Virginia Public Schools ($10 per credit hour), Northern Virginia Community College rates ($180 per credit hour), and Virginia Tech tuition rates ($476 per credit). Granted, these numbers will be rough, but you will get the point.

Below, we have calculated how much money you might save if you followed the path we just laid out. Note that these numbers are estimates based on the 2021-2022 school year and do not represent exact savings for your specific situation.

*Since most seniors do not live on campus and have a small meal plan or none at all, this number can be a bit murky. It is based on the published 2022-2023 rates for an undergraduate living off-campus and assumes that the graduate will live with parents during their first year out of college.

Not only would you save an estimated $25,000 in this scenario, but you would also have a bonus year to get started in the workforce or pursue a graduate degree.

Of course, scenarios like this one do not play out so perfectly in real life, so be prepared to make adjustments along the way.

Ultimately, the idea is to change the mindset of both parents and students. Just ‘following the crowd’ may not be what is best for your family. Having a game plan and making some small sacrifices coupled with a good college funding strategy can pay off greatly in the long run and combat the growing cost of college.

Consider scheduling a free consultation with one of our college funding experts who can help you lay the financial groundwork to save for college, reduce college costs, pay for it with tax-efficient dollars, and still be able to retire one day!

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Graduating from College Early: Everything You Need to Know

Should you graduate early? Learn the pros and cons, plus how to finish college ahead of time

Part 1: Introduction

Part 2: Pros and cons of graduating college early

Part 3: How does graduating college early affect grad school admissions?

Part 4: How to graduate college early

Part 1: Introduction

Many people simply assume that college takes four years to complete. However, as you move through your freshman and sophomore years of undergraduate education, or if you’re still in high school, you may begin to wonder: what if I could finish college early?

Students consider graduating from college early for a variety of reasons. A common reason is the desire to save on tuition and other associated college expenses. Based on the average cost of attending a private college in 2020–2021 as reported by the College Board, a student who graduates in three years will save about $50,000 over a student who takes four years to graduate.

There are also non-financial reasons to consider finishing school in three or fewer years. Graduating early can seem like a tantalizing option for students who have a clear idea of their career goals and who want to enter the workforce early to get a jump-start on being in “the real world.”

In this guide, we’ll explore the circumstances under which graduating early might be the right choice for you. We’ll also assess when it might make sense to stick it out for the full four years. If you’ve already decided that graduating early is the right choice, we’ve included concrete steps you can take to turn that goal into a reality.

Part 2: Pros and cons of graduating college early

Why graduate early?

What’s making you think about graduating early? Maybe your course load is really difficult this semester. You’re burnt out, and you just want to be done with labs and exams and all-nighters. If you’re impatient to be done with college, or you’re unhappy with your courses, social life, or extracurricular activities, graduating early might not be the solution.

Instead, it might just be time to make some changes in your college life: join a new club, switch your major, or try a summer internship in a new field.

But maybe you’re pretty happy at college. You like your major and your activities, but you’re most excited for what comes after graduation. Maybe you want an extra year to focus on studying for the MCAT without the pressure of classes and the financial drain of tuition. Or maybe you’re itching to turn your summer journalism internship into a full-time job—but it seems crazy to do both full-time reporting and school. In these situations, graduating early is a means to pursuing goals you’re already working towards.

In addition to the reasons you might have for graduating early, it’s also worth considering who’s making you think about graduating early to begin with. Think about whether the desire to graduate early is coming from you, or if it’s coming from someone else, like your parents, peers, or professors.

And if you want to graduate early for purely financial reasons—maybe you’re the oldest of three and your parents are trying to conserve college funds for your siblings—have you already weighed other financial options, including scholarship applications, and decided early graduation makes the most sense?

In short, you should be asking yourself whether graduating early is in line with your long-term personal, academic, and practical goals.

Benefits of graduating college early

Though it’s an individual choice for everyone, we’ve compiled some benefits you might reap from graduating early.

Save on tuition and make money earlier. During the 2020–2021 school year, the average yearly cost of private college was $50,770, and public college for in-state students was $22,180 (for a breakdown of costs, see the data set linked earlier from the College Board). Student loan debt in 2021 is the highest it’s ever been, with borrowers owing a collective $1.73 trillion. On average, borrowers from the class of 2021 owe $36,900.

Graduating a semester early can save money and soothe financial stress. Entering the job market in December or January, rather than waiting until May when you’re scheduled to graduate, not only saves you tuition money and means fewer potential loans, but means you can start earning sooner.

In 2019, college graduates could expect an average starting salary of $53,889, according to CNBC. Plus, graduating during the winter means you’ll be sending out your resume when fewer recent college grads are entering the job market. You might get a jump-start on finding your dream job, rather than having to wait another six months to start applying.

Prepare for grad school. If you’re going on to medical school, law school, or another graduate program, you know you’re going to spend much of your twenties in school.

Finishing your undergrad degree a year or semester early can shave some time off your total years spent in school. You can use the extra time to prepare for entrance exams like the MCAT or the GRE. Or, you could use the extra time to travel or work before hitting the books again.

There are other ways to learn. You could use the year off to pursue fellowships like the Fulbright, the Rhodes, or the Marshall, or programs like the Peace Corps or Teach for America. These programs offer opportunities for travel, exploration, and social connectivity, much like college.

If you’ve spent much of college in a programmed, intense environment, leaving early can give you the opportunity to step away and reconnect with why you wanted to learn in the first place.

Disadvantages of graduating early

Even if you’ve taken a mental inventory and decided graduating early might be a good option for you, it’s worth considering what you lose when you leave college early.

Missing out on the non-academic aspects of college. College is a time for personal growth and building your social network (which might, in years to come, grow into a professional network). It’s also a time to experiment and make mistakes with limited consequences, when your social and academic life is intertwined. Leaving early cuts down on the time you have to develop new interests, strengthen friendships, and think about what you want your future to look like.

Graduating early could also impact relationships with professors. If you’re overloading your schedule, you’ll have less time to devote to each class. This could cost you great recommendation letters in the future. Remember that there are other ways to accelerate: taking graduate classes while still an undergraduate, for example, could help fast-track a grad degree down the road.

Less time and flexibility on the academic and extracurricular fronts. Taking a heavier course load can lead to rigidity in your academic and extracurricular life. You’ll have less time to take elective classes outside your major, or to check out new activities. Switching majors will be difficult. You might also not have enough time to study abroad if you can’t transfer in enough credits from international institutions.

Fewer internship, externship, and research opportunities. If you’re using your summers and school breaks to get ahead on coursework, you might have less time to pursue internships and externships, which are valuable to employers and helpful for exploring careers.

Some sectors, like tech, finance, consulting, and journalism, often hire directly out of a pool of former interns. If you skip your last college summer—and an advanced internship—it could hurt your job prospects down the line.

In addition, if you’re grad-school-bound, developing research relationships with professors can be helpful for admission (and for growing your intellectual interests). If you’re devoting summer and night hours to extra classes or studying for an overloaded class schedule, you’ll have less time to build mentorship relationships through research experiences.

Financial burden. At first glance, it seems like graduating early = saving money. But remember: as soon as you graduate, your student loan clock starts ticking. This can be a difficult transition for students, and it can be an unnecessary stressor to put upon yourself earlier than your scheduled graduation date.

Part 3: How does graduating college early affect grad school admissions?

If you’ve got your sights set on attending graduate school, you’re probably wondering how graduating from college early will impact your odds of admission. Will graduate schools view your ability to work hard and get things done in a positive light, or will your younger age count against you?

While it can vary from field to field, the general answer is: neither. Your age and the time it takes you to graduate from college are, in and of themselves, relatively unimportant. That said, if you have terrific grades and have excelled in advanced coursework, adcoms may view the fact that you managed to do so in fewer than four years as further proof of your talent.

We say “further proof” because your grades and coursework—i.e. how prepared you are to succeed in grad school—are what matter most.

You might have heard from peers or professors that graduating early will hurt your chances of getting into grad school. There is some truth in this conventional wisdom, and that’s due to the fact that many applicants who graduate early have only taken the bare minimum of required courses and have less research or internship experience. When adcoms see that these applicants haven’t yet explored advanced topics, they may wonder how they’ll handle the rigors of grad school.

So, to determine how graduating early will affect your chances of getting into grad school, ask yourself how it will impact the strength of your applications.

Does graduating college early look good for medical school?

Because we receive the most questions about getting into medical school, in this section we’ll address what impact graduating early can have on the med school admissions process specifically.

Getting into medical school is challenging, and many applicants get nervous when they see that the average medical school matriculation age is 24. They confuse correlation with causation and think that they need to wait to apply simply because they’re younger than average.

As noted above, your age is far less important than the quality of your application. Some students are sufficiently strong applicants after three years of college whereas, for many others, graduating in three years means a lower GPA, less research and extracurricular experience, distant relationships with mentors, and missing out on opportunities like study abroad, coursework outside of the sciences, and campus life.

Similarly, some of our best students go straight through from undergrad to med school whereas others need more time to strengthen their candidacy via gap year activities like Special Master’s Programs, post-bacc programs, MCAT study, and so on. This can be true for four-year and early graduates alike.

Nevertheless, age isn’t always irrelevant. If an applicant has graduated from college remarkably early—say, around age 20—either because they started college at a younger-than-usual age or because they’ve condensed their college education down to fewer than three years, we’ve observed that med schools will take their age into account. That said, adcoms’ primary concern in these situations is usually whether the applicant is sufficiently committed to medicine. Because younger applicants can struggle to get the right extracurricular opportunities, it’s often the case that they simply need more time to build an applicant profile that demonstrates this commitment.

The bottom line is: it all comes down to the strength of your application at the time that you apply.