Hey, John here! :) Thanks for watching my 2nd-ever YT video - any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Also resources are in the description, along with the free E-Book / Waitlist for the Fast Grad Academy can be found here: linktr.ee/thejohnzheng
You should probably slow down on the heavy editted videos Early in for a channel yt cares about watch and retention, trying to see if you are promising. Having 2 videos only and spending so much time in between with editing will make it worse I’d just pump out videos with still some but less intensive and easier editing, then once you actually HAVE an audience edit to the style you like
I'm so glad this video got recommended to me. The editing was well done, the explanations were simple and easy to understand - kept my attention for sure. Can't wait to see future uploads from you :) !
Honestly he could have actually just helped someone who cannot afford three full years of payments, and he’s telling others how to do it even if he could have kept this for himself, cool guy.
Wow. Really awesome comment. Thank you. I really do hope this will help as many students, either pursuing college or think through the right paths in life. You only have so much time… let’s make the most out of it
@@christopherlormant8083 That's alright, but I didn't for example, a lot of people know how to do a lot of stuff that you can find online, that doesn't mean that it cannot be useful for the ones who don't.
@@christopherlormant8083 they don't know how the school system works lol. this comment isn't gonna help while the entire school system is built the worst way possible
This is awesome John! I am a retired AP Physics teacher and agree with what you presented. Two points to consider: 1. This is not for all students. You must be quite intelligent and have a strong work ethic to pull this off successfully. 2. Many students need the time in school with peers to develop social skills and emotional maturity. I would suggest a mentor, maybe a teacher you are close to, to consult with and guide you if you are considering this. Such a great way to beat the cost of higher Ed!
It is more a matter of motivation than intelligence. If you are motivated then you can focus much harder for a longer period of time and get more information into your brain. Most people are smart enough, circumstances and priorities just get in the way and distract us.
I thought AP is easy. My youngest son did not take any AP classes, nor he paid any attention to college board curriculums, he just got books and read them. He got 5 in all his AP exams. That happened to my two older sons as well.
@@plastictouch6796 I think you may have been sheltered in academia a bit if you think even 50% can pass a single AP test, let alone “most” Add to that that only a very small percentage of people would have thought of the strategy, a smaller percentage willing to try, a smaller percentage of that to achieve any level of success in it. I’d say that category you gave of “priorities” hides the majority of the problem in that even when people don’t have any reason not to be devoted to education, they won’t be. “Sex, drugs, and rock and roll” and all that Not to say people shouldn’t try, but it’s not within reach for many.
@@plastictouch6796 A big part of it is geographical. Not every school is going to have all these cheap / quick alternatives and motivation isn't enough to get you to move to a new city, establish yourself financially and continue your education.
@@JeronimoStilton14 well telling more people would widen the first gate. less negativity and more encouragement would widen the second gate. if people are more motivated they would have a higher level of success. easy.
what a refreshing mentality! Not condescending, not humble-bragging, simply explaining what he did and how. So hard to come by this mindset, especially with asian pressure making it more likely that people are just competitive.
The strategy itself was genius, that is not saying anything about himself. He was only able to complete HIS strategy through his own hard work and determination. @@xahst
Yeah, don't let hard-core Asian parents watch this video, they will start comparing their kids to this guy. Then, it becomes competitive all over again. Look at Steven He's dad.
This is why I feel this generation is blessed to have the internet. All this information at your finger tips. When I was in HS I wanted to do something similar to this but as it was prior to the internet, the information was much more difficult to come by (such as the fact I didn’t need to take the AP class to take the test). Thank you for sharing this information.
Same here. We had the internet but didn’t even know we could look up this information. However, if I remember correctly, taking the actual class is a GPA booster.
@@92spice18 Yes, in my state AP courses are weighted in your GPA. So an A is more than a 4.0 for those courses. I think our valedictorian had like a 4.4 GPA for this reason.
Right? Where I grew up and went to High School during the Internet’s infancy (requiring dial-up connections and time online was limited to the school library’s three computers), I never even heard about AP or CLEP. Dual enrollment was a thing, but the closest community college was over half an hour away, and the classes you could take by dual enrollment were limited. I didn’t hear about AP until I was at the university itself, and didn’t hear about CLEP until many years after I graduated from there.
I’m also Minnesotan and can confirm that PSEO/Dual Enrollment is OP. It wasn’t until 2021 that I realized how much more efficient self-study and online learning is. While doing over 18 online credits every semester, I graduated with my associates in 2022, bachelor’s in 2023, and I’m currently in an accelerated, 10-month Masters of Data Science program that I’m scheduled to graduate in June of 2024. You’re a beast bro, thanks for sharing.
@@wherethequietbeingsgo If you can't get into dual enrollment, at least do CLEP. Most associates programs will take up to 30 credit hours of CLEP. Knock out an associates and then transfer into a university as a Junior. Most universities will also take CLEP, but they typically have lower limits on the number of credits they'll accept.
My advice for graduating early (B.A. in 2.5 years): 1) AP Statistics is the most valuable AP course (in my opinion). I got 9 credit hours (3 classes worth) of college credit for it. It applies to multiple general education credits, and to extra credits within a variety of disciplines (e.g. STEM, sociology, business, etc.). If it does not apply specifically to a major, then it makes the “Research Methods in [Major]” course so much easier. 2) Public universities are significantly more likely to accept and award greater credit for AP classes than private universities. 3) Get out of the university language requirement. If the school requires a language: (a) if you are already fluent in a language, then take the test from the university itself (once committed) to place out, or (b) take a language in high school, and take the AP exam for it (and get a score to completely place out). 4) Appeal your dual-enrollment classes. I have found that the credit will be accepted, but placed within general education requirements. If it fits within a specific major requirement, then appeal for it to also apply there. 5) Take summer university courses. They are often online (so there is not a housing cost to it), and the cost per credit hour may be less than that of semester courses.
Depending on the college, the most valuable AP can be different. AP Stats only gets you out of 1 class at my college but Calc BC and Physics each gets you out of 2-3 classes at my school (depending on your major).
This is an incredible comment. Thanks for sharing your experience and take on things. I didn’t know you could appeal dual-enrollment classes- that’s good to know!
Summer classes are more expensive as you are paying per credit. I’m a transfer student and needed to take 3 summer classes to graduate in the spring. Spring and fall tuition is around $6k and the summer classes came out to just over $5k which is crazy and wasn’t covered my my scholarship I have as it doesn’t cover summer.
AP chem is huge for anyone going into a similar field, covers a whole year of chem in college. AP Physics not so much usually since calculus based is more important, same for AP Stats since it’s not very rigorous compared to college level statistics.
I wish I was this bright and investigative in HS, but thanks to you, maybe my children and nephews/nieces can learn from my mistakes and help to graduate sooner and cheaper than I did
I discovered this on accident, I had a teacher who said “I don’t give A+’s, if you were that smart you would CLEP out” 🧐 that night I spent all night researching it. You can’t CLEP out of high school, but I dropped out at 16, got my GED and got into ASU before the next semester started. Thank you Mrs McDermott 😅
I went back to school at 42 , studied for 24 hrs , took the college mathematics clep , easiest 6credits ive ever gotten. Cost 120 proctored at home.. Those 2 classes would have cost 3000 dollars locally. EVERY high school student should be taking all the cleps when possible.
Great job! I did this back in 2010 and at about the same age finished my degree. Math was what had held me back for years and in my case, ALEKS helped me overcome my mathphobia. Not sure what folks can do now but there's got to be a lot more options today.
I myself did similar to this 20 years ago. Having my dad as a professor greased the system for me too. I could never figure out why anyone would want to spend 4+ years at a university. 1-2 years is plenty. Every student should be taught about this path, especially since resources are so much more widely and easily available. Great work!
Thats awesome! Glad you had someone to help guide you through the inner workings of how it all worked. Yes… I agree. 4+ years at a university is definitely too many. Things have completely changed in education now (tech + resource side). Unfortunately, the school system is slow (or opposes) to adapt
There's actually a reason it's 4+ years. I read a while ago that it was designed to delay mass graduation of people into the workforce minimizing unemployment of educated people. According to NCES, 15.8 million student were enrolled in undegrad (of that 14 million in 4-year) in Fall 2021 and 2 million students were awarded degrees in 2021 (17.1 million enrolled in Fall 2017, of that 11million in 4-year) Imagine if 15 million people could graduate in 1 year, this isn't enough time to allow: internal workforce movement where people advance into roles leaving entry level positions open, or not enough time for people to retire, or not enough time for companies to grow and add new positions etc nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372
In summary, I don't think EVERY student should be taught this path. College provides the opportunity to grow, meet life long friends, builds tenacity and time management skills. The goal should be reducing college costs and barrier for entry. And, imagine what the housing and rental crisis would be if everyone 15-20million 19-year olds graduated. Or the 15 million kids needing cars for their jobs cause the city can't sustain this growth at once increasing traffic and pollution. I think there's a valid reason why 100+ countries adopt this 3-5year curriculum. It's important to consider the ripple effects as a whole. Just a thought
@@chocolateearrings You don't think every U.S. high school student should be made aware there are fast paths to a college degree? Most of the real personal growth happens during the first two years of away-from-home college. An early grad will most likely still live in a college town because they want friends and dates and half of them already have cars. A faster undergrad allows students to pursue a graduate degree much sooner, making them more valuable to the world at less cost. The fast path through college basically allows you to skip most of the liberal arts classes that don't apply to your major. European schools have already been doing this; they learn more in 4 years than we do because of this because they focus on the desired vocation first. Saying you want to slow a kids progress because otherwise they'll want a house and car seems backwards.
Hey man, I never knew you could just skip the class straight to the test, this really helps us smart guys looking to take the faster path straight to our goals, thanks man
Definitely an option. I didn't know it was either until I submitted my test scores to my HS. They approved it and I got out of classes. However, people still need to double check with their school on this. But... if there's a scenario where I can test out of calculus and the school still makes you take calculus - they got their sh*t backwards haha
I actually had this idea of finishing college really soon. I’m glad there someone out there willing to test the limits of our knowledge and how we acquire vs what school systems are capable of. Great video well done.
Really smart I did the same thing in high school because my mom told me about taking extra classes in summer school to get ahead. Great advice ! Keep it up 🎉
Very smart with transferology. The thing I learned getting my degrees, is employers never care about your grade point average and they rarely care about where you got your degree, only that you have one.
This definitely depends on the employer/industry. I did recruiting, and we definitely had (high) GPA minimums, major requirements by university, and university-tier requirements.
This is awesome! I graduated high school a semester early and am on track to graduate with a B.S in Neuroscience in 2.5 years. I could attend grad school as much as 2-3 years earlier through early grad.
Some tips from a college admin for over 17 years Avoid AP credits unless you can guarantee a 5… it will usually only transfer as a general credit Take dual credit or clep instead Take the ACT instead of the SAT because you will do better on the act as its based more on logic
Really depends on your goals, as he said in the video whether you need a 3,4, or 5. I'd just check in advance that what you're about to do will count for what you need it to. Sometimes the 3 gen ed is all you need. I'm glad he decided to go to graduate school and get the worldly experience benefits of college. Good luck young man. Try things!
@@ethanhedden1874 You may want to look again. I took a look at Georgia's AP credit equivilance, and usually you get a lot more for 5s than you do for 3s. For instance, in Art (Art History, Art: Drawing, Art: 2D Design, Art: 3D Design), Computer Science, Politics (US), US History, European History, World History, Physics C (Electricity), Calculus AB, they won't even grant you a 3. In Music Theory, they won't grant you credit for a 3 or a 4 (though it does count as having completed the class). In other ones, you get higher credits for better scores. For instance, in Chemistry, you get CHEM 1110 (+LAB) for a 3, for a 4, you get CHEM 1211 (+LAB), and for a 5, you get CHEM 1211 (+LAB) and CHEM 1212 (+LAB).
The dual enrollment pathway is another way to earn college credit while in high school and even graduate with an associate degree at the same time as you graduate high school. The associate’s is transferable to the bachelor’s degree. It’s what my niece did. And got her bachelor’s in a year and a half.
This video is gold. I’ve had multiple small businesses and am successful at my current tech sales job, but dropped out of college early on because nothing frustrated me more than how much of a stupid waste of time and money school was. The lack of a degree hasn’t hurt me yet due to having many other valuable skills in the workplace but I’m still young (23), and seeing my girlfriend get back into school has gotten me thinking about it. I’m definitely going to look into the CLEP and DSST stuff because I’m confident I can regurgitate a few weeks of studying well enough to pass a test, and the option to skip a lot of the BS of our college system is very appealing to me. Thank you for taking an ambitious risk and sharing what you learned!
I’d say look further into pursuing the entrepreneurial path, it seems like you’re pretty ambitious and already have the experience from sales/smb! Unless, you’re planning on moving up from current job?
I graduated a bit early from my college by doing some of these things. It sucks that they didn’t really promote dual-credit classes in my school, but AP and dual-credit took out all my required electives and pretty much all my gen-ed credits. It saved me a good two quarters of classes to take, which is a lot of money.
That's awesome, good on you for saving on some classes. And yeah... My counselor/teachers were so confused on what I was doing- thought I was throwing my future away
This is very similar to what I did. Using CLEP tests and dual enrollment, I completed almost all the requirements for my engineering degree except the actual engineering classes (i.e. math, chemistry, physics, English, and almost all of my electives were complete) before enrolling at a university. I finished undergrad at 20 (couldn't do it any faster because of how the prerequisites were structured), took a semester off, then did grad school in another 3 semesters. You can accomplish a lot if you apply yourself in high school.
I wish I had seen your video years ago. There’s just so much about the school system that isn’t explain and trips a lot of people over. I felt so stuck in a rigged system designed to complicate people, especially those with less unfortunate circumstances. I felt like I spent so much effort into wasted works. I’m so glad you made this and you addressed everything so clear in details.
When I graduated high school I had completed 32 units of college credits. It still took me 5 years to graduate college due to excessive GE requirements.
@@Brigadorsky not all GE are useless - courses in writing and communications are fairly important for everyone, but the amount of GE and what it emphasizes... eh... yeah a lot of it is just there to screw you out of cash.
This is so refreshingly accurate! It seems strange that not more people are noticing that the traditional school route/system isn't actually cost efficient or time efficient. I have thought about doing an accelerated program or something along those lines, but the only thing keeping me from doing it is the fear that I will miss out on making friendships and interacting with people. So my question is, did you find your social life was impacted by taking this non-traditional route? If not, why? Thanks man, great video!
Thank you so much! And great question. Yes, the social aspect of it does come into play… didn’t help with covid as well. But, it’s still worth it. Definitely make as many friends the first year. The other thing is, I was in the mindset of just going all-out haha… lots of great memories there. And you can always come back to campus and crash w/ friends and enjoy night life on the weekends. That’s what I did. If you’re really thinking it through, the other thing is just getting an apartment, or literally renting the same space with people you met the first year. No ones going to stop you 😂 The social aspect doesn’t end at college. I’m in many private groups, clubs, and networking events - you just have to make an effort to find places/groups to socialize. College just makes it easier. Hope that helps :)
I graduated high school at 15 because I skipped 2 grades in elementary (Class of 2015) and turned 16 in the following July. In university, I ended up taking 30 credits per semester, and the real issue with this is that prerequisites and course sequences make it significantly more difficult to finish in 2 years. But yeah, your advice was a lot better. A professor told me that an alternative at the university was that you could opt to test out of the course, where you self study the whole year and take the final exam, and that would be your final grade. Congrats on Harvard, by the way. A lot of these T5 universities love accepting people that are young high school or college graduates, it seems more impressive and it definitely played a factor in your acceptance. Apologies for my grammar, I am on my iPhone. Cheers from Palo Alto!
I'm currently on track to get my Computer Science degree in only one year as well. The college WGU is basically completely consisting of self study courses so my average completion time for a course is only about a week. Tuition is also only $4000 per term so much cheaper than alternatives
@@Sora_NaiI’d like to see proof of where WGU is a “scam.” My brother went to WGU for a Masters in CS and got a Data Science job (wgu degree + a couple certs.) Def don’t think it’s a scam, but if you’re legitimately claiming it is and not being satire i’m genuinely curious in what you have to say or show
@@LoganRS I can't speak about WGU but I can say UMUC's cybersecurity program is a joke where they repackage third party content made for certs and use it for the entire course's content.
A Minnesotan myself and PSEO was how I was able to save myself time and money in college. I managed to graduate early thanks to PSEO and a couple AP courses. So I'm very glad you mentioned PSEO in your video! My younger sister went to Harvard and just graduated this year, and she took a lot of AP courses and did full time PSEO in junior and senior year of high school. The coursework didn't transfer over as credits, but it did help her later with having the knowledge she needed to do well in her classes at Harvard.
I'm currently a senior. 😭 I'm getting more and more nervous about college. Your video is really helpful tho, hope there'd be more viewers for your channel!!
My mom always pushed me to CLEP out on my general ed courses for college whilst in high school, I never did...but now, 13 years later, I'm homeschooling my own children and when they get in high school, I'm going to make sure they do it this way (if CLEP is still around)
As someone with a passion for individualism and carving one's own path, I loved this video. I graduated with a bachelor's degree in 3 years (without the extensive planning lol) because of a bunch of systems you mentioned in the video. I took the summer off to travel and am starting a job in a week from now, and this whole time I've been thinking how I could still be stuck in college.
That’s awesome! I absolutely relate. Individualism and autonomy over my time is at the core of who I am. I’m happy you got the chance to travel over the summer! One of the best things to do while you’re young. Best wishes at your new job :)
You are a GENIUS. The true kind of GENIUS (according to my standards). Your mind is on another level. I'm always thinking abut how unnecessary and stupid some things are, how humans complicate things for them selves and for others, when there's TONS of possible ways to do achieve the same thing/results but easier and even BETTER. Your explanation was really articulated and detailed.. I don't know you, but I feel very proud of you.
My husband did this. He challenged the university course, took a test, got the credits. There was only one challenge he was nervous about while taking it. The math course did not have a challenge test so they made one up. He said he was sweating bullets taking it but he did pass. It was quite confusing for the university because he graduated in 2 years but did not have many in classroom time. His degree is Electrical Engineer. Yes, he’s a smartee. This was in the late 1970s
Great video! I took a similar path to you and I am really enjoying how self-paced and independent it is! I started dual enrollment in grade 10 and tested out of High School to attend community college at 16, and I'm currently applying for transfer to some state universities. If everything goes well, I should be able to get my bachelors before 18. I really like how you emphasized the research and double checking aspect of your plan! It's certainly a hassle juggling coursework from so many different institutions/places. Another thing people who might want to go on this path may want to watch out for: Once you've maxed out on general education and lower division (first and second year) coursework from community college/AP/CLEP, you can try to enroll as a visiting student at local state universities to get rid of upper division (junior/senior) requirements. Since community colleges in California (my home state) only offers lower division coursework, I attended a local UC and CSUs to clear upper my upper division requirements. Not sure how this would work for other states, but I'm sure similar "exploits" exist if you look hard enough for them.
Wow, that's incredible! Thank's for sharing your experience. Bachelor's before 18?! You might have to make your own video when you're done. Stay in touch 👍
Literally amazing I didn’t even know about CLEP OR DSST exams. I am entering my sophomore year of college and just found out I can do these exam at my university. Thank you for saving me money ❤Keep up the amazing content
This is actually incredibly creative and a brilliant strategy. I mentor lots of middle school to high school age boys, so this is great for me to know to better help them. Thanks for sharing!
In the intro I saw you went to school in Minnesota, and I knew it from there. Dual enrollment! As a Minnesota grad myself, I was happy to graduate college in 2.5 years!
Did this strategy also - dual enrolled and self studied APs for my science classes. Graduating from Cal in two years and going on to my master's! Such a great strategy.
Excellent video. Content, cadence, visuals. He could probably make a good living teaching this model to other families. Like a College Entry Consultant. Subscribed.
As someone who double dipped classes in college to shorten my time, I greatly appreciate the work you've done, and it is incredibly intelligent. That being said, it is incredibly intelligent. While you may or may not be "a genius" to a traditional definition, you are definitely at an intelligence level higher than the vast majority of the population, with capabilities to memorize at a much faster rate. Also knowing what you want a degree in (or acknowledging that for most jobs the actual degree doesn't matter). This strategy is not a viable option for 90 percent of students out there, either for personal or scholastic limitations. I think it is important to acknowledge that as well. That being said, it is incredibly impressive, and certainly there are a number of students who can take bits and pieces from this to cut down on time in school if so desired. I think that is the ultimate message, it isn't a one size fits all model.
Thank you so much! Great comment. Having a direction early on is essential for this to work. Again, this path isn't meant for everyone. One option of many if college is the path they're pursuing and the intention is to reduce time/costs
This is beyond incredible. I didnt know this was possible and i wanted as an adult later in life to take some college and change careers. I have been trying to find self study options to be able to be accepted but i was daunted at having to quit work and go full time as a school kid again. I was trying to find after hours self study internet college options. This is fascinating for every step of the way. I dont want to waste time and money on in class room fluff. This is awesome! Please make more in depth videos about the steps you did. You outlined a great framework but details please!!!
I came to this same conclusion when I was in my first year of college, however, I was not completely sure how the education system worked in the US while in high school. Looking back at this, I regret so much not doing enough research on my own or finding out about AP classes or dual enrollment way sooner.
I graduated undergrad in 3 years because I took a lot of AP classes in high school. (Didn’t even think I’d be able to until I learned of that option the spring of my second year lol). I honestly think it’s amazing what you did and a great way to save yourself so much money with how expensive college is. Would’ve been so cool to graduate in one year (although with the business program at my school I probably would’ve been stuck doing 2 years of school for undergrad at least). Thanks for sharing these tips with people! You may very well save people hundreds of thousands in debt!
Bro waited 8 months and dropped the most helpful informative video 🙏 Your production quality and the usefulness of the information are what makes this video. I guarantee if you give this all you got you'll make it big.
Thanks John. This is a great goal I'll suggest to my kids, to aim for getting as many of these credits by the time they finish high school. Great inspiration
Very mature approach from an inspiring young man and very generous for sharing it. Thanks for being a good role model, even to those of us twice your age :) Wishing you all the best for your future.
Thank you for sharing this video with us. I’m going into high school, but I’m around 4 years ahead in certain subjects, so this helps a lot with me trying to prepare for collage in a earlier grade.
This video was chill but also very motivating. Im a second yeat college student, but i feel like this could be very useful for my younger cousins and future kids which is awesome. For anyone in highschool, dont over pay and go to private schools unless they pay you! Dont go into debt, make sure to call the school and always ask for extra aid! All schools have the money. Private and public schools are the same, but if you love a private make sure you can get the most from it! Debt is not always bad as long as youre passionate!
I'm so happy you made this video! It reminded me that I also want to help younger students take a path they might not consider because they don't know about it. Look forward to future videos!
Nice. Good job! That’s how I did my undergrad degree too. I didn’t do any AP courses though-just CLEPs and DSSTs. I ended up only having to take I think four actual classes. It was wonderful. I haven’t tried to go to Harvard for grad school yet though, so kudos to you!
Wish i was still in hs when this vid came out. Freshman at uni now will still try to use this info tho. great video with a lot of information I never knew about.
Yeah, I wish I would’ve made this sooner 😅 but, see if you can self-study exams from DSST/CLEP and if your school accepts them. Additionally, I forgot put this in the video, see if your uni has a petition to test out of a class. Many college/uni departments that have exams if you already know a subject from work experience, or if you’ve done a class elsewhere. Definitely get in touch with your school on that to see if it’s a possibility
One smart cookie! I wish i had done this when I was in high school. Sent this vid to all my kids. Inspirational. I want to see how far you will go, you obviously think outside the box. Great job!!!
Well done John, loved your approach to game the system. While possible, it takes focus and dedication to pull it off. And yes, you pay for the network you build, not the education 😊.
As a homeschooling parent, this is encouraging to hear. We are all about self-study in the upper years. We are in KY, so things might be a bit different. Definitely thinking about dual enrollment, but that costs money.
All the routes take money, some less, some more. But you can make money back later. What you never get back is the time. Even if you can just afford to dual enroll in 30 credits worth, that's one year less of college and one year they're ahead of their peers.
Holy crap i just watched both of your videos and immediately subscribed. Such genuine content, especially as someone like me who is a self taught software engineer. Looking forward to upcoming vids
I had a friend at UMN that graduated in 1.5-2 years in computer science with a similar strategy to yours, heavy on the PSEO. It definitely can work but I did question the social efficiency of it. I personally wouldn't want to trade away the last years of my college experience but I understand for some the cost and debt can swing this the other way.
John, this is exactly what I have been waiting for Thank you I greatly appreciate this video and all of your resources. I am a college student, but I have deiceded to take a break, and I hope that I can cut a lot of corners with this method.
I ruined my chances so bad, you wouldn't believe it, but I did get into a University I wanted to get into so all I can do is try! Thanks for your in depth strategy this will be a great tool for so many!!!
Hey John, I found this video very interesting! I did the same thing last year but am currently on track to graduate in 2 years. I did the IB program and took 13 AP tests along with the 6 from IB and people called me crazy but seeing other people do it too is interesting. Very interesting loophole that a lot of people neglect. Great video!
That’s awesome! My school also had IB. I didn’t mention it in the video because of the time commitment vs other options. Looks great for college admissions though - at least from what I’ve seen
My school offered and I took enough AP's to enter college a year ahead. That plus overloading my schedule plus a scholarship saved me student debt and despite transferring and changing majors (so, losing credits) I still got out early. Didn't know you could self study AP exams, and didn't know about any of these other methods either! If only schools would teach what's actually important...
I did CLEP back in the 90's (graduated HS in 1996) and maxed out the allotted number of credits. Back then it was up to 25% of your degree program (I believe it was 32 credit hours of my 128). It saved a ton of time and $. This video should be shown to every parent. My nephew will get is B.S. in just over a year... my sister had him on the efficiency track also. Time is our most valuable asset, make the most of it :)
My brother did something similar. He took AP classes and dual enrollment classes through the local community college while he was in high school, finished his BA in Accounting in 1.5 years, and his masters in 1 year. He graduated high school in May 2018, graduated with his BA in December 2019, and his MA and December 2020 *his high school allowed students to take up to 15 classes in one academic year, so many students would take 8 in person classes (including AP), and the rest online through the community college
This is really cool! Wish I saw this when I was in high school but I'm a college freshman now haha. Unfortunately, my university does not accept CLEP or DSST scores. But I can take summer courses and some of my AP scores were able to get a few classes out the way. Planning to graduate in 3 years then go to medical school.
Congrats on achieving your goal; your system makes sense if the goal of study is the degree. I feel that the goal of study is to explore an interesting aspect of life. For me college and grad school were about that, with the exams and degree mere confirmation. I acquired two years worth of general credits by examination when I entered college, and used that freed up time to take more interesting (and more difficult) courses. I did have pretty much a full ride, so debt wasn't an issue, but I paid for grad school, and got a masters in a subject (philosophical aesthetics) that has never gotten me a job, but has continued to enrich my life ever since.
Much respect! Well put together video! I never even considered this a possibility in high school, though it definitely would have been. I respect the forward thinking and wish there were more people/mentors that would introduce these ideas to kids who may be willing to do the work and get schooling done earlier and more efficiently. Very interesting story!
I’m currently in college but I want to transfer to university and this video inspired me to do some research to see how I can cut back some university class time. Thank you for posting this!
hey man great video! i’m a highschool senior going into neuroscience next year and i really wish i knew all this in 10th/11th grade. great job on your second video, keep up the great work!
Well done. I'm super impressed by your accomplishments. I did something similar, but I had a much different path. I graduated in 4 years from Colorado with 3 majors: physics, math, and psychology. This sounds impressive, but because I was able to game the system it is much easier than it appears. I kept a spreadsheet throughout college with all of the classes that I needed to take. I included credit requirements, prerequisites, and would experiment with potential paths, trying to widdle down credit requirements. I constantly looked for classes that would give credits for all three majors. Colorado offers an interdisciplinary track within the physics department where I could take 12 credits for a related degree (math) and it would count towards my physics degree. This helped a lot. I was also able to use psychology classes to cover many gen-ed requirements for physics and math (history of psychology, social psychology, etc. that covered non-stem requirements). I did this despite forgoing nearly ALL of my AP credits from high school (due to very bad advice from my college advisor freshman year). I was told that classes in college would be harder than high school, but this is absolutely not true, especially if you attend a good high school. For psychology I did not heed the advice from my advisor so I applied my AP credits there. I took summer school for a couple of semesters and relied heavily on classes that I could set my own pace. Unlike John, I am blessed to have parents that were willing to sponsor my college tuition, so I did not have any added stress from student debt. Now I am a graduate student at Harvard's extension school. I am also applying to law schools where I am going to try to speed run the curriculum there too. Whenever I talk to freshmen I always stress the importance of keeping making a plan and keeping a spreadsheet. College advisors (and high school advisors too) do not know about unorthodox paths to degrees. This is because they are trained to help students on the traditional path. This is no dig at advisors, they are trained to help the majority of students. For my kids someday, I am definitely going to make them do concurrent enrollment. The big bucks are made from graduate degrees, not undergrad. I wish I came across this video, or a video like this, when I was in high school. It would have helped me graduate even faster and find my path sooner. I hope that everyone in high school who watches this video listens to John's advice; your future self will be very grateful despite any added stress!
Wow amazing read. One section that stood out to me: “College advisors … do not know about unorthodox paths to degrees. This is because they are trained to help students on the traditional path.” I couldn’t agree more… they’re also incentivized to do so. When students leave school for dual enrollment or their own thing, it actually takes away from the school’s funds they receive. Each student brings the school a certain threshold of revenue. Example: The more students that leave to do PSEO, the less funding they get
@SamuelJporter Your comment is very helpful. I am an adult college student and have kids. You are correct in that school counselors, principals and advisors are no help for students who want to advance in school, they actually make it harder. Now I am dependent on youtube videos and comments to learn about more efficient paths for my kids. Although I was raised in a different country, I felt high school was a waste of time…. Took to long for what we learned. One won’t miss a thing by hurrying through it. Now I need to find out how all of it would work in my state, Virginia. Because for sure the school will not help much. Do you have any advice on finding more information related to each state possibilities or should I just check the resources shared on John’s videos and see what can be applied here?
if only i had the drive i have now when I was in college the first time ... oh, well, we have guys like you who are motivating and hopefully someone young sees this and knows they can do whatever they want too.
Even though this video is a few months old, I cannot thank you enough. I've yet to enter college, but, maybe I could get into a better one with these techniques. Thank you very much!
Absolutely! Travel nourishes the soul. You get new perspectives and exposure to life/cultures that shatter conditioned thinking. Definitely explore it :)
I used AP psych study guides to clep out of intro to psych, then built on that to clep out of developmental psychology and sociology. My sister took at least 8 AP exams, used dual enrollment for government when she realized she would not learn from the highschool teacher, but ultimately all the study got her free college at a small private school where she had to retake the classes again, but it was free except for books.
Love this video. Would like to here more about your perspective on the education system or a video on how to go through college fast if your already in it.
Hey, John here! :) Thanks for watching my 2nd-ever YT video - any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Also resources are in the description, along with the free E-Book / Waitlist for the Fast Grad Academy can be found here: linktr.ee/thejohnzheng
You should probably slow down on the heavy editted videos
Early in for a channel yt cares about watch and retention, trying to see if you are promising. Having 2 videos only and spending so much time in between with editing will make it worse
I’d just pump out videos with still some but less intensive and easier editing, then once you actually HAVE an audience edit to the style you like
I'm so glad this video got recommended to me. The editing was well done, the explanations were simple and easy to understand - kept my attention for sure. Can't wait to see future uploads from you :) !
Remember me when you're famous
i needed this 3 years ago 😭😭😭😭
Love the video, John. It would be nice to see a video in the near future where you elaborate on the alternatives to going to college.
Honestly he could have actually just helped someone who cannot afford three full years of payments, and he’s telling others how to do it even if he could have kept this for himself, cool guy.
Wow. Really awesome comment. Thank you. I really do hope this will help as many students, either pursuing college or think through the right paths in life. You only have so much time… let’s make the most out of it
most people know about ap classes XD
@@christopherlormant8083 That's alright, but I didn't for example, a lot of people know how to do a lot of stuff that you can find online, that doesn't mean that it cannot be useful for the ones who don't.
@@christopherlormant8083 they don't know how the school system works lol. this comment isn't gonna help while the entire school system is built the worst way possible
2 of my kids are in AP for all their classes. It is not a program for the average child and tends to have high requirements of grades to enter
This is awesome John! I am a retired AP Physics teacher and agree with what you presented. Two points to consider: 1. This is not for all students. You must be quite intelligent and have a strong work ethic to pull this off successfully. 2. Many students need the time in school with peers to develop social skills and emotional maturity. I would suggest a mentor, maybe a teacher you are close to, to consult with and guide you if you are considering this.
Such a great way to beat the cost of higher Ed!
It is more a matter of motivation than intelligence. If you are motivated then you can focus much harder for a longer period of time and get more information into your brain. Most people are smart enough, circumstances and priorities just get in the way and distract us.
I thought AP is easy. My youngest son did not take any AP classes, nor he paid any attention to college board curriculums, he just got books and read them. He got 5 in all his AP exams. That happened to my two older sons as well.
@@plastictouch6796 I think you may have been sheltered in academia a bit if you think even 50% can pass a single AP test, let alone “most”
Add to that that only a very small percentage of people would have thought of the strategy, a smaller percentage willing to try, a smaller percentage of that to achieve any level of success in it. I’d say that category you gave of “priorities” hides the majority of the problem in that even when people don’t have any reason not to be devoted to education, they won’t be. “Sex, drugs, and rock and roll” and all that
Not to say people shouldn’t try, but it’s not within reach for many.
@@plastictouch6796 A big part of it is geographical. Not every school is going to have all these cheap / quick alternatives and motivation isn't enough to get you to move to a new city, establish yourself financially and continue your education.
@@JeronimoStilton14 well telling more people would widen the first gate. less negativity and more encouragement would widen the second gate. if people are more motivated they would have a higher level of success. easy.
what a refreshing mentality! Not condescending, not humble-bragging, simply explaining what he did and how. So hard to come by this mindset, especially with asian pressure making it more likely that people are just competitive.
Thanks for your in-depth comment! Mindset is everything
@@xahst it isn't humble, and he wasn't merely bragging, but telling the truth.
@@xahst6:46 “Im not a genius either” he put that in the title just to say it 😂😭
The strategy itself was genius, that is not saying anything about himself. He was only able to complete HIS strategy through his own hard work and determination. @@xahst
Yeah, don't let hard-core Asian parents watch this video, they will start comparing their kids to this guy. Then, it becomes competitive all over again. Look at Steven He's dad.
This is why I feel this generation is blessed to have the internet. All this information at your finger tips. When I was in HS I wanted to do something similar to this but as it was prior to the internet, the information was much more difficult to come by (such as the fact I didn’t need to take the AP class to take the test). Thank you for sharing this information.
I didn't even hear about CLEP until I just finished my second deployment. I was so pissed
Same here. We had the internet but didn’t even know we could look up this information. However, if I remember correctly, taking the actual class is a GPA booster.
@@92spice18 Yes, in my state AP courses are weighted in your GPA. So an A is more than a 4.0 for those courses. I think our valedictorian had like a 4.4 GPA for this reason.
Right? Where I grew up and went to High School during the Internet’s infancy (requiring dial-up connections and time online was limited to the school library’s three computers), I never even heard about AP or CLEP. Dual enrollment was a thing, but the closest community college was over half an hour away, and the classes you could take by dual enrollment were limited. I didn’t hear about AP until I was at the university itself, and didn’t hear about CLEP until many years after I graduated from there.
I’m also Minnesotan and can confirm that PSEO/Dual Enrollment is OP. It wasn’t until 2021 that I realized how much more efficient self-study and online learning is. While doing over 18 online credits every semester, I graduated with my associates in 2022, bachelor’s in 2023, and I’m currently in an accelerated, 10-month Masters of Data Science program that I’m scheduled to graduate in June of 2024. You’re a beast bro, thanks for sharing.
Dude that's awesome! Congrats on everything you're doing.
Self-studying + online learning is definitely more efficient than what's going on now
With your local dual enrollment, did you have to provide SAT scores? This was the only thing that was unfortunately stopping me.
@@wherethequietbeingsgo some people did it without taking the act/sat. Just depends on your state
@@wherethequietbeingsgo If you can't get into dual enrollment, at least do CLEP. Most associates programs will take up to 30 credit hours of CLEP. Knock out an associates and then transfer into a university as a Junior. Most universities will also take CLEP, but they typically have lower limits on the number of credits they'll accept.
@@wherethequietbeingsgoit depends on the college (if from Georgia), iirc 2 year colleges usually don’t require SAT/ACT scores but 4 year colleges do
My advice for graduating early (B.A. in 2.5 years):
1) AP Statistics is the most valuable AP course (in my opinion). I got 9 credit hours (3 classes worth) of college credit for it. It applies to multiple general education credits, and to extra credits within a variety of disciplines (e.g. STEM, sociology, business, etc.). If it does not apply specifically to a major, then it makes the “Research Methods in [Major]” course so much easier.
2) Public universities are significantly more likely to accept and award greater credit for AP classes than private universities.
3) Get out of the university language requirement. If the school requires a language: (a) if you are already fluent in a language, then take the test from the university itself (once committed) to place out, or (b) take a language in high school, and take the AP exam for it (and get a score to completely place out).
4) Appeal your dual-enrollment classes. I have found that the credit will be accepted, but placed within general education requirements. If it fits within a specific major requirement, then appeal for it to also apply there.
5) Take summer university courses. They are often online (so there is not a housing cost to it), and the cost per credit hour may be less than that of semester courses.
Depending on the college, the most valuable AP can be different. AP Stats only gets you out of 1 class at my college but Calc BC and Physics each gets you out of 2-3 classes at my school (depending on your major).
This is an incredible comment. Thanks for sharing your experience and take on things. I didn’t know you could appeal dual-enrollment classes- that’s good to know!
Summer classes are more expensive as you are paying per credit. I’m a transfer student and needed to take 3 summer classes to graduate in the spring. Spring and fall tuition is around $6k and the summer classes came out to just over $5k which is crazy and wasn’t covered my my scholarship I have as it doesn’t cover summer.
AP Stats was the only AP that got me nothing lmaooo
AP chem is huge for anyone going into a similar field, covers a whole year of chem in college. AP Physics not so much usually since calculus based is more important, same for AP Stats since it’s not very rigorous compared to college level statistics.
I wish I was this bright and investigative in HS, but thanks to you, maybe my children and nephews/nieces can learn from my mistakes and help to graduate sooner and cheaper than I did
I appreciate that, thank you 🙏
Thanks
The struggle with being a first gen college student is the informational disparity. Can't do A when you don't even know A exists
@@Demopans5990 facts
@@Demopans5990Facts. So much things I missed out on. I wanna time travel back to help myself
I discovered this on accident, I had a teacher who said “I don’t give A+’s, if you were that smart you would CLEP out” 🧐 that night I spent all night researching it. You can’t CLEP out of high school, but I dropped out at 16, got my GED and got into ASU before the next semester started. Thank you Mrs McDermott 😅
Hahaa she played you like a fiddle! Was she a great teacher?
Lmao 🤣🤣 I kinda did the same thing. People don't know that there's online highschools that you can graduate from at any age.
Then you can go to online school take Sophia and Cleo about half of your degree then finish the rest in 4 months or less
I went back to school at 42 , studied for 24 hrs , took the college mathematics clep , easiest 6credits ive ever gotten. Cost 120 proctored at home.. Those 2 classes would have cost 3000 dollars locally. EVERY high school student should be taking all the cleps when possible.
That’s awesome! Thanks for sharing your story
Great job! I did this back in 2010 and at about the same age finished my degree. Math was what had held me back for years and in my case, ALEKS helped me overcome my mathphobia. Not sure what folks can do now but there's got to be a lot more options today.
For me 1 class usually cost 500 - 1000 with books. Probably a bit less.
@@Lol99410 thats super cheap , either way 60 a class is still cheaper.
Crazy video quality for it being your second video
Thanks!! I really appreciate that
He is Speed running yt as well. Haha
@@simonpauly9177 👀
Well clearly he’s a fucking genius so go figure
I myself did similar to this 20 years ago. Having my dad as a professor greased the system for me too. I could never figure out why anyone would want to spend 4+ years at a university. 1-2 years is plenty. Every student should be taught about this path, especially since resources are so much more widely and easily available. Great work!
Thats awesome! Glad you had someone to help guide you through the inner workings of how it all worked. Yes… I agree. 4+ years at a university is definitely too many. Things have completely changed in education now (tech + resource side). Unfortunately, the school system is slow (or opposes) to adapt
There's actually a reason it's 4+ years. I read a while ago that it was designed to delay mass graduation of people into the workforce minimizing unemployment of educated people.
According to NCES, 15.8 million student were enrolled in undegrad (of that 14 million in 4-year) in Fall 2021 and 2 million students were awarded degrees in 2021 (17.1 million enrolled in Fall 2017, of that 11million in 4-year)
Imagine if 15 million people could graduate in 1 year, this isn't enough time to allow: internal workforce movement where people advance into roles leaving entry level positions open, or not enough time for people to retire, or not enough time for companies to grow and add new positions etc
nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372
In summary, I don't think EVERY student should be taught this path. College provides the opportunity to grow, meet life long friends, builds tenacity and time management skills. The goal should be reducing college costs and barrier for entry. And, imagine what the housing and rental crisis would be if everyone 15-20million 19-year olds graduated. Or the 15 million kids needing cars for their jobs cause the city can't sustain this growth at once increasing traffic and pollution. I think there's a valid reason why 100+ countries adopt this 3-5year curriculum. It's important to consider the ripple effects as a whole. Just a thought
@@chocolateearrings You don't think every U.S. high school student should be made aware there are fast paths to a college degree? Most of the real personal growth happens during the first two years of away-from-home college. An early grad will most likely still live in a college town because they want friends and dates and half of them already have cars. A faster undergrad allows students to pursue a graduate degree much sooner, making them more valuable to the world at less cost. The fast path through college basically allows you to skip most of the liberal arts classes that don't apply to your major. European schools have already been doing this; they learn more in 4 years than we do because of this because they focus on the desired vocation first. Saying you want to slow a kids progress because otherwise they'll want a house and car seems backwards.
Universities make money from tuition they want to keep you there as long as possible.
Hey man, I never knew you could just skip the class straight to the test, this really helps us smart guys looking to take the faster path straight to our goals, thanks man
Definitely an option. I didn't know it was either until I submitted my test scores to my HS. They approved it and I got out of classes.
However, people still need to double check with their school on this.
But... if there's a scenario where I can test out of calculus and the school still makes you take calculus - they got their sh*t backwards haha
good for you smart guys
I wish I knew that as well.
@@uganda_mn397 😂
We had students that never came to class but ACED each exam. I assume this is what you're trying to do.
I actually had this idea of finishing college really soon. I’m glad there someone out there willing to test the limits of our knowledge and how we acquire vs what school systems are capable of. Great video well done.
Thank you!!
Really smart I did the same thing in high school because my mom told me about taking extra classes in summer school to get ahead. Great advice ! Keep it up 🎉
Thank you! Glad you also figured out an expedited path
Very smart with transferology. The thing I learned getting my degrees, is employers never care about your grade point average and they rarely care about where you got your degree, only that you have one.
This definitely depends on the employer/industry. I did recruiting, and we definitely had (high) GPA minimums, major requirements by university, and university-tier requirements.
so surprised this only has 130 views, this video was more helpful then almost any other, thankyou so much for creating this
Thank you! Glad it was helpful :)
Woah, look at the views now!
This is awesome! I graduated high school a semester early and am on track to graduate with a B.S in Neuroscience in 2.5 years. I could attend grad school as much as 2-3 years earlier through early grad.
That is awesome!
Some tips from a college admin for over 17 years
Avoid AP credits unless you can guarantee a 5… it will usually only transfer as a general credit
Take dual credit or clep instead
Take the ACT instead of the SAT because you will do better on the act as its based more on logic
Problem with CLEP is that not all schools recognize them, including many public schools (such as the UC system in California)
CLEP has been widely accepted at Virginia public universities. Not sure about the private ones.
Uga took all of my 3s, 4s and 5s
Really depends on your goals, as he said in the video whether you need a 3,4, or 5. I'd just check in advance that what you're about to do will count for what you need it to. Sometimes the 3 gen ed is all you need.
I'm glad he decided to go to graduate school and get the worldly experience benefits of college.
Good luck young man. Try things!
@@ethanhedden1874 You may want to look again. I took a look at Georgia's AP credit equivilance, and usually you get a lot more for 5s than you do for 3s. For instance, in Art (Art History, Art: Drawing, Art: 2D Design, Art: 3D Design), Computer Science, Politics (US), US History, European History, World History, Physics C (Electricity), Calculus AB, they won't even grant you a 3. In Music Theory, they won't grant you credit for a 3 or a 4 (though it does count as having completed the class). In other ones, you get higher credits for better scores. For instance, in Chemistry, you get CHEM 1110 (+LAB) for a 3, for a 4, you get CHEM 1211 (+LAB), and for a 5, you get CHEM 1211 (+LAB) and CHEM 1212 (+LAB).
The dual enrollment pathway is another way to earn college credit while in high school and even graduate with an associate degree at the same time as you graduate high school. The associate’s is transferable to the bachelor’s degree. It’s what my niece did. And got her bachelor’s in a year and a half.
Incredible! Good for her!
Graduated from champlin as well fam “2021”👊
Oh wow, thank you! That’s awesome
This video is gold. I’ve had multiple small businesses and am successful at my current tech sales job, but dropped out of college early on because nothing frustrated me more than how much of a stupid waste of time and money school was. The lack of a degree hasn’t hurt me yet due to having many other valuable skills in the workplace but I’m still young (23), and seeing my girlfriend get back into school has gotten me thinking about it. I’m definitely going to look into the CLEP and DSST stuff because I’m confident I can regurgitate a few weeks of studying well enough to pass a test, and the option to skip a lot of the BS of our college system is very appealing to me. Thank you for taking an ambitious risk and sharing what you learned!
I’d say look further into pursuing the entrepreneurial path, it seems like you’re pretty ambitious and already have the experience from sales/smb! Unless, you’re planning on moving up from current job?
I graduated a bit early from my college by doing some of these things. It sucks that they didn’t really promote dual-credit classes in my school, but AP and dual-credit took out all my required electives and pretty much all my gen-ed credits. It saved me a good two quarters of classes to take, which is a lot of money.
That's awesome, good on you for saving on some classes. And yeah... My counselor/teachers were so confused on what I was doing- thought I was throwing my future away
This is very similar to what I did. Using CLEP tests and dual enrollment, I completed almost all the requirements for my engineering degree except the actual engineering classes (i.e. math, chemistry, physics, English, and almost all of my electives were complete) before enrolling at a university. I finished undergrad at 20 (couldn't do it any faster because of how the prerequisites were structured), took a semester off, then did grad school in another 3 semesters. You can accomplish a lot if you apply yourself in high school.
That’s awesome!! Thank you for sharing your perspective and journey. Best of luck on everything
I wish I had seen your video years ago. There’s just so much about the school system that isn’t explain and trips a lot of people over. I felt so stuck in a rigged system designed to complicate people, especially those with less unfortunate circumstances. I felt like I spent so much effort into wasted works.
I’m so glad you made this and you addressed everything so clear in details.
Thank you so much. And yes… there are so many things wrong with this school system
When I graduated high school I had completed 32 units of college credits. It still took me 5 years to graduate college due to excessive GE requirements.
Yeah… GE is a lot. In my opinion, colleges overdo it… and they have incentive to do so since it’s a huge revenue source
Useless classes to pad their pockets.
@@Brigadorsky not all GE are useless - courses in writing and communications are fairly important for everyone, but the amount of GE and what it emphasizes... eh... yeah a lot of it is just there to screw you out of cash.
GEs are a con. Colleges use them to squeeze more money out of parents
@@stephenkolostyak4087it's not like you learn english for 12 years straight before college 😂
This is so refreshingly accurate! It seems strange that not more people are noticing that the traditional school route/system isn't actually cost efficient or time efficient. I have thought about doing an accelerated program or something along those lines, but the only thing keeping me from doing it is the fear that I will miss out on making friendships and interacting with people. So my question is, did you find your social life was impacted by taking this non-traditional route? If not, why?
Thanks man, great video!
Thank you so much! And great question. Yes, the social aspect of it does come into play… didn’t help with covid as well. But, it’s still worth it. Definitely make as many friends the first year. The other thing is, I was in the mindset of just going all-out haha… lots of great memories there.
And you can always come back to campus and crash w/ friends and enjoy night life on the weekends. That’s what I did.
If you’re really thinking it through, the other thing is just getting an apartment, or literally renting the same space with people you met the first year. No ones going to stop you 😂
The social aspect doesn’t end at college. I’m in many private groups, clubs, and networking events - you just have to make an effort to find places/groups to socialize. College just makes it easier.
Hope that helps :)
I can because I’m literally a fucking loner
I have no social life anyway
I graduated high school at 15 because I skipped 2 grades in elementary (Class of 2015) and turned 16 in the following July. In university, I ended up taking 30 credits per semester, and the real issue with this is that prerequisites and course sequences make it significantly more difficult to finish in 2 years. But yeah, your advice was a lot better. A professor told me that an alternative at the university was that you could opt to test out of the course, where you self study the whole year and take the final exam, and that would be your final grade. Congrats on Harvard, by the way. A lot of these T5 universities love accepting people that are young high school or college graduates, it seems more impressive and it definitely played a factor in your acceptance. Apologies for my grammar, I am on my iPhone. Cheers from Palo Alto!
That’s incredible for graduating at 15!! 30 credits a semester?! Wow! And I agree, credit stacking & course sequencing is important to make this work
What godsend of a counselor let you take 30 a semester? My college barely lets anyone take 24!
I'm currently on track to get my Computer Science degree in only one year as well. The college WGU is basically completely consisting of self study courses so my average completion time for a course is only about a week. Tuition is also only $4000 per term so much cheaper than alternatives
Incredible!
@@Sora_NaiI’d like to see proof of where WGU is a “scam.” My brother went to WGU for a Masters in CS and got a Data Science job (wgu degree + a couple certs.) Def don’t think it’s a scam, but if you’re legitimately claiming it is and not being satire i’m genuinely curious in what you have to say or show
@@LoganRS I can't speak about WGU but I can say UMUC's cybersecurity program is a joke where they repackage third party content made for certs and use it for the entire course's content.
the editing quality is amazing for it being your second upload! you're definitely helping a lot of people save time and money with this video.
I appreciate that! Thank you!
A Minnesotan myself and PSEO was how I was able to save myself time and money in college. I managed to graduate early thanks to PSEO and a couple AP courses. So I'm very glad you mentioned PSEO in your video! My younger sister went to Harvard and just graduated this year, and she took a lot of AP courses and did full time PSEO in junior and senior year of high school. The coursework didn't transfer over as credits, but it did help her later with having the knowledge she needed to do well in her classes at Harvard.
Incredible stuff! Yes, PSEO is amazing
@@John_Zheng It sure is. I always recommend PSEO or APs to anyone in high school.
I'm currently a senior. 😭 I'm getting more and more nervous about college.
Your video is really helpful tho, hope there'd be more viewers for your channel!!
You can do it! And thank you!
My mom always pushed me to CLEP out on my general ed courses for college whilst in high school, I never did...but now, 13 years later, I'm homeschooling my own children and when they get in high school, I'm going to make sure they do it this way (if CLEP is still around)
7:28 I wish I thought more in depth about things in high school. Pure genius on your part- well played, sir.
As someone with a passion for individualism and carving one's own path, I loved this video. I graduated with a bachelor's degree in 3 years (without the extensive planning lol) because of a bunch of systems you mentioned in the video. I took the summer off to travel and am starting a job in a week from now, and this whole time I've been thinking how I could still be stuck in college.
That’s awesome! I absolutely relate. Individualism and autonomy over my time is at the core of who I am. I’m happy you got the chance to travel over the summer! One of the best things to do while you’re young. Best wishes at your new job :)
You are a GENIUS. The true kind of GENIUS (according to my standards). Your mind is on another level. I'm always thinking abut how unnecessary and stupid some things are, how humans complicate things for them selves and for others, when there's TONS of possible ways to do achieve the same thing/results but easier and even BETTER. Your explanation was really articulated and detailed.. I don't know you, but I feel very proud of you.
Wow thank you so much!! These kind words mean a lot 🙏
Thanks!
Oh wow, thank you so much!! 🙏
My husband did this. He challenged the university course, took a test, got the credits. There was only one challenge he was nervous about while taking it. The math course did not have a challenge test so they made one up. He said he was sweating bullets taking it but he did pass. It was quite confusing for the university because he graduated in 2 years but did not have many in classroom time. His degree is Electrical Engineer. Yes, he’s a smartee. This was in the late 1970s
Great video!
I took a similar path to you and I am really enjoying how self-paced and independent it is! I started dual enrollment in grade 10 and tested out of High School to attend community college at 16, and I'm currently applying for transfer to some state universities. If everything goes well, I should be able to get my bachelors before 18. I really like how you emphasized the research and double checking aspect of your plan! It's certainly a hassle juggling coursework from so many different institutions/places.
Another thing people who might want to go on this path may want to watch out for: Once you've maxed out on general education and lower division (first and second year) coursework from community college/AP/CLEP, you can try to enroll as a visiting student at local state universities to get rid of upper division (junior/senior) requirements. Since community colleges in California (my home state) only offers lower division coursework, I attended a local UC and CSUs to clear upper my upper division requirements. Not sure how this would work for other states, but I'm sure similar "exploits" exist if you look hard enough for them.
Wow, that's incredible! Thank's for sharing your experience. Bachelor's before 18?! You might have to make your own video when you're done.
Stay in touch
👍
Kuraberarekko kuraberarekko
Literally amazing I didn’t even know about CLEP OR DSST exams. I am entering my sophomore year of college and just found out I can do these exam at my university. Thank you for saving me money ❤Keep up the amazing content
This is actually incredibly creative and a brilliant strategy. I mentor lots of middle school to high school age boys, so this is great for me to know to better help them. Thanks for sharing!
In the intro I saw you went to school in Minnesota, and I knew it from there. Dual enrollment!
As a Minnesota grad myself, I was happy to graduate college in 2.5 years!
Haha that's awesome!
Did this strategy also - dual enrolled and self studied APs for my science classes. Graduating from Cal in two years and going on to my master's! Such a great strategy.
That’s awesome! Best of luck on everything
Excellent video. Content, cadence, visuals. He could probably make a good living teaching this model to other families. Like a College Entry Consultant. Subscribed.
Honestly amazing how you figured this out and committed to it at such a young age. This is awesome.
As someone who double dipped classes in college to shorten my time, I greatly appreciate the work you've done, and it is incredibly intelligent. That being said, it is incredibly intelligent. While you may or may not be "a genius" to a traditional definition, you are definitely at an intelligence level higher than the vast majority of the population, with capabilities to memorize at a much faster rate. Also knowing what you want a degree in (or acknowledging that for most jobs the actual degree doesn't matter). This strategy is not a viable option for 90 percent of students out there, either for personal or scholastic limitations. I think it is important to acknowledge that as well.
That being said, it is incredibly impressive, and certainly there are a number of students who can take bits and pieces from this to cut down on time in school if so desired. I think that is the ultimate message, it isn't a one size fits all model.
Thank you so much! Great comment. Having a direction early on is essential for this to work. Again, this path isn't meant for everyone. One option of many if college is the path they're pursuing and the intention is to reduce time/costs
This is beyond incredible. I didnt know this was possible and i wanted as an adult later in life to take some college and change careers. I have been trying to find self study options to be able to be accepted but i was daunted at having to quit work and go full time as a school kid again. I was trying to find after hours self study internet college options. This is fascinating for every step of the way. I dont want to waste time and money on in class room fluff. This is awesome! Please make more in depth videos about the steps you did. You outlined a great framework but details please!!!
I came to this same conclusion when I was in my first year of college, however, I was not completely sure how the education system worked in the US while in high school. Looking back at this, I regret so much not doing enough research on my own or finding out about AP classes or dual enrollment way sooner.
in the same boat too :, )
I graduated undergrad in 3 years because I took a lot of AP classes in high school. (Didn’t even think I’d be able to until I learned of that option the spring of my second year lol). I honestly think it’s amazing what you did and a great way to save yourself so much money with how expensive college is. Would’ve been so cool to graduate in one year (although with the business program at my school I probably would’ve been stuck doing 2 years of school for undergrad at least).
Thanks for sharing these tips with people! You may very well save people hundreds of thousands in debt!
Thanks for sharing your experience!! Glad you were able to finish early- still quite the $/time savings
Bro waited 8 months and dropped the most helpful informative video 🙏
Your production quality and the usefulness of the information are what makes this video. I guarantee if you give this all you got you'll make it big.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate that!
Thanks John.
This is a great goal I'll suggest to my kids, to aim for getting as many of these credits by the time they finish high school.
Great inspiration
That’s awesome! Best wishes to them
Very mature approach from an inspiring young man and very generous for sharing it. Thanks for being a good role model, even to those of us twice your age :) Wishing you all the best for your future.
Thank you for sharing this video with us. I’m going into high school, but I’m around 4 years ahead in certain subjects, so this helps a lot with me trying to prepare for collage in a earlier grade.
Awesome! Best of luck to you 👍
Wow, I used to go to Champlain, I’m in Osseo now. I only clicked cause of the thumbnail, this is kind of inspirational.
🙌
Thank you for sharing. This is helpful for me as a parent to be supportive of my soon to be highschool daughter.
This video was chill but also very motivating. Im a second yeat college student, but i feel like this could be very useful for my younger cousins and future kids which is awesome. For anyone in highschool, dont over pay and go to private schools unless they pay you! Dont go into debt, make sure to call the school and always ask for extra aid! All schools have the money. Private and public schools are the same, but if you love a private make sure you can get the most from it! Debt is not always bad as long as youre passionate!
Well said, Leslie. And thank you :)🙏
Wow!! I’m so impressed! Kudos to you for figuring all of this out and congrats as well.
Also, thanks for sharing with all of us!!!
I'm so happy you made this video! It reminded me that I also want to help younger students take a path they might not consider because they don't know about it. Look forward to future videos!
Thanks for subscribing 🔥 And glad it touched you in a way to want to give back!
Congratulations on your success and good luck with your future! This is a brilliant breakdown I hope all US high school students see.
As a high schooler, this is really helpful! Thanks!
Thanks for watching, and glad it was helpful!
Nice. Good job! That’s how I did my undergrad degree too. I didn’t do any AP courses though-just CLEPs and DSSTs. I ended up only having to take I think four actual classes. It was wonderful. I haven’t tried to go to Harvard for grad school yet though, so kudos to you!
Honestly, this should be promoted more. I always knew about AP but dual enrollment wasn’t introduced to my high school until our senior year.
Yeah… they’re incentivized not to tell students, since it may lose revenue for the school when students leave for dual enrollment.
Omg 🤯 This is what I needed back when I was in school. I’ll use this info for my kiddos. Thanks 🥰🙏🏼
Wish i was still in hs when this vid came out. Freshman at uni now will still try to use this info tho. great video with a lot of information I never knew about.
Yeah, I wish I would’ve made this sooner 😅 but, see if you can self-study exams from DSST/CLEP and if your school accepts them.
Additionally, I forgot put this in the video, see if your uni has a petition to test out of a class. Many college/uni departments that have exams if you already know a subject from work experience, or if you’ve done a class elsewhere. Definitely get in touch with your school on that to see if it’s a possibility
One smart cookie! I wish i had done this when I was in high school. Sent this vid to all my kids. Inspirational. I want to see how far you will go, you obviously think outside the box. Great job!!!
Well done John, loved your approach to game the system. While possible, it takes focus and dedication to pull it off. And yes, you pay for the network you build, not the education 😊.
Well said! It’s definitely what you make of it.
As a homeschooling parent, this is encouraging to hear. We are all about self-study in the upper years. We are in KY, so things might be a bit different. Definitely thinking about dual enrollment, but that costs money.
All the routes take money, some less, some more. But you can make money back later. What you never get back is the time.
Even if you can just afford to dual enroll in 30 credits worth, that's one year less of college and one year they're ahead of their peers.
3:05
wtf, videos of this quality will get you to a 100K in less than a year! Keep up the grind, your videos are awesome.
That means a lot! Thank you so much 🔥
@@John_Zheng You gained more than 1k Subs in 10 Hours!!! 🔥🔥🔥 Congrats 🎉 🎉
Holy crap i just watched both of your videos and immediately subscribed. Such genuine content, especially as someone like me who is a self taught software engineer. Looking forward to upcoming vids
Wow! Thank you so much :)
I had a friend at UMN that graduated in 1.5-2 years in computer science with a similar strategy to yours, heavy on the PSEO. It definitely can work but I did question the social efficiency of it. I personally wouldn't want to trade away the last years of my college experience but I understand for some the cost and debt can swing this the other way.
Yeah, it’s definitely a trade off. But this is an option for other routes.
Thanks for your perspective and sharing your friend’s experience!
John, this is exactly what I have been waiting for
Thank you
I greatly appreciate this video and all of your resources.
I am a college student, but I have deiceded to take a break, and I hope that I can cut a lot of corners with this method.
I ruined my chances so bad, you wouldn't believe it, but I did get into a University I wanted to get into so all I can do is try! Thanks for your in depth strategy this will be a great tool for so many!!!
Thanks for sharing your experience. It’s great to hear you got into your university!
THIS IS ACTUALLY SO VALID UR SO CRACKED
Hey John, I found this video very interesting! I did the same thing last year but am currently on track to graduate in 2 years. I did the IB program and took 13 AP tests along with the 6 from IB and people called me crazy but seeing other people do it too is interesting. Very interesting loophole that a lot of people neglect. Great video!
That’s awesome! My school also had IB. I didn’t mention it in the video because of the time commitment vs other options. Looks great for college admissions though - at least from what I’ve seen
From your lips to the World, independent of age!
Way to go John!
My school offered and I took enough AP's to enter college a year ahead. That plus overloading my schedule plus a scholarship saved me student debt and despite transferring and changing majors (so, losing credits) I still got out early.
Didn't know you could self study AP exams, and didn't know about any of these other methods either! If only schools would teach what's actually important...
That's awesome! Glad you were still able to graduate early.
Yes... if only schools would. That's why there's RUclips University haha
I did CLEP back in the 90's (graduated HS in 1996) and maxed out the allotted number of credits. Back then it was up to 25% of your degree program (I believe it was 32 credit hours of my 128). It saved a ton of time and $. This video should be shown to every parent. My nephew will get is B.S. in just over a year... my sister had him on the efficiency track also. Time is our most valuable asset, make the most of it :)
Absolutely!
My brother did something similar. He took AP classes and dual enrollment classes through the local community college while he was in high school, finished his BA in Accounting in 1.5 years, and his masters in 1 year. He graduated high school in May 2018, graduated with his BA in December 2019, and his MA and December 2020
*his high school allowed students to take up to 15 classes in one academic year, so many students would take 8 in person classes (including AP), and the rest online through the community college
Wow, that’s awesome. Great on him for taking all those opportunities
This is really cool! Wish I saw this when I was in high school but I'm a college freshman now haha. Unfortunately, my university does not accept CLEP or DSST scores. But I can take summer courses and some of my AP scores were able to get a few classes out the way. Planning to graduate in 3 years then go to medical school.
That's awesome! Best of luck with med school!
this is so fire thanks for sharing your journey
Absolutely!! Thanks for watching
You're both genius as you are hard-working. Can't wait where that will bring you in life.
Thank you 🙏
Man, wish I knew this back in high school... could have saved myself like 2-3 years
Congrats on achieving your goal; your system makes sense if the goal of study is the degree. I feel that the goal of study is to explore an interesting aspect of life. For me college and grad school were about that, with the exams and degree mere confirmation. I acquired two years worth of general credits by examination when I entered college, and used that freed up time to take more interesting (and more difficult) courses. I did have pretty much a full ride, so debt wasn't an issue, but I paid for grad school, and got a masters in a subject (philosophical aesthetics) that has never gotten me a job, but has continued to enrich my life ever since.
Your strategy is impressive!! I hope the best for you!
Thank you! 🙏
Great video. Thank you for sharing.
Much respect! Well put together video! I never even considered this a possibility in high school, though it definitely would have been. I respect the forward thinking and wish there were more people/mentors that would introduce these ideas to kids who may be willing to do the work and get schooling done earlier and more efficiently. Very interesting story!
Thanks man! I appreciate those kind words 🙏
I’m currently in college but I want to transfer to university and this video inspired me to do some research to see how I can cut back some university class time. Thank you for posting this!
You can do it!
hey man great video! i’m a highschool senior going into neuroscience next year and i really wish i knew all this in 10th/11th grade. great job on your second video, keep up the great work!
Thank you! Best of luck on everything :)
Great job. I am very impressed with this foresight and action! Great job - your future is bright!
Love how concise this video was! Look forward to more 👍
Thank you!!
Congrats! Thank you. Continued success!🎉
Well done. I'm super impressed by your accomplishments. I did something similar, but I had a much different path.
I graduated in 4 years from Colorado with 3 majors: physics, math, and psychology. This sounds impressive, but because I was able to game the system it is much easier than it appears. I kept a spreadsheet throughout college with all of the classes that I needed to take. I included credit requirements, prerequisites, and would experiment with potential paths, trying to widdle down credit requirements. I constantly looked for classes that would give credits for all three majors. Colorado offers an interdisciplinary track within the physics department where I could take 12 credits for a related degree (math) and it would count towards my physics degree. This helped a lot. I was also able to use psychology classes to cover many gen-ed requirements for physics and math (history of psychology, social psychology, etc. that covered non-stem requirements).
I did this despite forgoing nearly ALL of my AP credits from high school (due to very bad advice from my college advisor freshman year). I was told that classes in college would be harder than high school, but this is absolutely not true, especially if you attend a good high school. For psychology I did not heed the advice from my advisor so I applied my AP credits there. I took summer school for a couple of semesters and relied heavily on classes that I could set my own pace.
Unlike John, I am blessed to have parents that were willing to sponsor my college tuition, so I did not have any added stress from student debt.
Now I am a graduate student at Harvard's extension school. I am also applying to law schools where I am going to try to speed run the curriculum there too.
Whenever I talk to freshmen I always stress the importance of keeping making a plan and keeping a spreadsheet. College advisors (and high school advisors too) do not know about unorthodox paths to degrees. This is because they are trained to help students on the traditional path. This is no dig at advisors, they are trained to help the majority of students.
For my kids someday, I am definitely going to make them do concurrent enrollment. The big bucks are made from graduate degrees, not undergrad.
I wish I came across this video, or a video like this, when I was in high school. It would have helped me graduate even faster and find my path sooner.
I hope that everyone in high school who watches this video listens to John's advice; your future self will be very grateful despite any added stress!
Wow amazing read. One section that stood out to me: “College advisors … do not know about unorthodox paths to degrees. This is because they are trained to help students on the traditional path.”
I couldn’t agree more… they’re also incentivized to do so. When students leave school for dual enrollment or their own thing, it actually takes away from the school’s funds they receive. Each student brings the school a certain threshold of revenue. Example: The more students that leave to do PSEO, the less funding they get
@SamuelJporter Your comment is very helpful. I am an adult college student and have kids. You are correct in that school counselors, principals and advisors are no help for students who want to advance in school, they actually make it harder. Now I am dependent on youtube videos and comments to learn about more efficient paths for my kids. Although I was raised in a different country, I felt high school was a waste of time…. Took to long for what we learned. One won’t miss a thing by hurrying through it.
Now I need to find out how all of it would work in my state, Virginia. Because for sure the school will not help much.
Do you have any advice on finding more information related to each state possibilities or should I just check the resources shared on John’s videos and see what can be applied here?
Great video! Crazy you have less than a thousand subscribers, glad this popped up in my feed.
Wow, thanks!
if only i had the drive i have now when I was in college the first time ... oh, well, we have guys like you who are motivating and hopefully someone young sees this and knows they can do whatever they want too.
I appreciate it, thank you!
Even though this video is a few months old, I cannot thank you enough. I've yet to enter college, but, maybe I could get into a better one with these techniques. Thank you very much!
you inspired me to travel and know more about this route, thank you.
Absolutely! Travel nourishes the soul. You get new perspectives and exposure to life/cultures that shatter conditioned thinking. Definitely explore it :)
I used AP psych study guides to clep out of intro to psych, then built on that to clep out of developmental psychology and sociology.
My sister took at least 8 AP exams, used dual enrollment for government when she realized she would not learn from the highschool teacher, but ultimately all the study got her free college at a small private school where she had to retake the classes again, but it was free except for books.
Love this video. Would like to here more about your perspective on the education system or a video on how to go through college fast if your already in it.
Thanks for the suggestion! I’ll add it to my list :)
You truly inspire me to be brave and go after my big dreams❤
Thank you for this video! Could you make a video about SAT as well?