Advice for a 13-Year-Old Working Toward a Finance Degree

[bellbaby]

When I finished my education and got a great job, it was a direct consequence of my experiences as a brick and mortar student. I had real world experiences on campus. How could that be? Because of all of the labs I took. I also had fellowships to work in labs, both wet and dry. I worked with multimillion dollar equipment gaining very valuable knowledge that would have been impossible to obtain with self-study or even from attending lectures at a brick and mortar school. Plus I had a lot of fun in labs. I went to a big state university and tuition was reasonable. Tuition and books costs less than my fellowships paid me.

A home schooling, self-study program is not a substitute for STEM education at a brick and mortar school. STEM isn't for everybody, perhaps not for the OP.

zapproximator, you're going to finish early, I want you to find a great postbaccalaureate experience somewhere. Take a geology course from the University of Hawaii. Welcome to Geology at UH Hilo! Maybe you can get P.E. credit for learning how to surf. And don't forget about astronomy - take an astronomy course at the University of Hawaii so you can use their world class telescopes. What would impress me is not your online degree at an early age. I would be impressed by enviable post-baccalaureate experiences. My best and most useful college experiences were as a post-baccalaureate student.

Also taking notes, here... good ideas. The friend I mentioned who is working with me as we help our middle school kids has a brother who shot straight to the top of a big company with a great internship... so it is definitely something my friend and I think about.

[DavidHume]

There is a lot of advice here already, but I'll offer my bit as well.

There is no reason you can't accumulate the alternative credits that would lead to a financial degree while also pursuing some of the other suggestions.
I would say take the CLEPs, the AP exams, and whatever study.com or other online courses that spark your fancy. You can decide later if you want to apply those towards a degree or not. Since you're young you can change your mind and still be ahead of the standard schedule. Maybe don't worry too much about schedules. You can work towards your goal and keep your eyes open for other paths and opportunities along the way.

I would encourage you to at least check out what dual enrollment/running start programs are available to home school students in your area. Some may make you wait until a minimum age to participate, but you can sometimes have those minimums waived.

Another option that you might want to explore are some of the summer college programs for high school students. UC Berkeley and Harvard both have programs where high school students can take courses for college credit. There may be some closer to home for you as well. Again, you may be under their minimum age so it may be more of a future thing for you. So if at 16 you go spend the summer taking 1 or 2 courses while immersed in a college environment, you might decide that you would really enjoy experiencing that for a couple years. You might conclude that that was enough college experience for you and be very glad that you racked up those exam and ACE credits. It's good to look into these early if you are interested in applying for financial aid, because those deadlines are usually pretty early.

Again, there's no harm in taking that CLEP on analyzing and interpreting literature and then taking a full literature course later, either because you decide for your own enrichment or because the degree you eventually want to pursue won't accept that credit. Just because there are options doesn't mean you have to pursue them, but you should at least weigh if it might be a benefit for you in some way. You might find you like taking a standard course after taking the associated credit exam for the class because it makes the material more meaningful to you. You might find it a waste of time and feel restless.

Personally, I had some standard in-person courses that I took and felt like I hated the subject, but when I took the same subject as an online class that was mainly self-study I got far more into the subject and enjoyed it.

You have the freedom to make some mistakes along the way without it cutting off future options; so make your plan, pursue your plan, but don't be afraid to amend or drop your plan or to return to your original plan after changing course.

[Clepmaster5]

What???? Love this thread! Just signed my 12 year old up today and she was so excited to see that other kids are trying this path. Thank you everyone for sharing your perspective. This gives motivated kids more ideas and tools they can use to fulfill there dreams. I just wanted to add a few thoughts as a parent with a daughter who is wanting to take a similar route to graduate with her college degree by 17. First, if you have the study skills and work ethic to score well on these exams, start studying and take the SAT now. You never have to report your score to anyone and if you score high enough many summer camps/ learning opportunities for gifted kids become available at the Ivy leagues based of that score. Even at the age of 13. Some even give college credit for participation. Also AP exams...try to take at least three. There are awards given to those students who complete a certain amount of AP classes with high scores. (AP Merit Scholar). This way your able to show your online degree along with a packed resume of achievements. Also another way to get "real world" experience would be to find somewhere that models a great way to get it. (much like you probably found someone who used CLEP to get a degree) I recently heard of Antioch College in NM. They require each of their students to complete a learning internship each year through a job/volunteer co-op. They even have a website with all the internships available for the students. Check it out, look up the internships available in the fields your interested in, then find opportunities closer to home that could provide similar experiences. It will take some work to track something down but most adults are head over heels to meet teens with a great work ethic and enthusiasm for learning a new skill. When you get your degree ask your parents to try one or two far from home. Everything you do over the next five years will add depth and valuable skills to your education that can make you irresistible to any employer or master program admittance committee. Your already doing great things with your website and the tests you have passed so far. Thanks everyone for the great thread to read. Wish we could have found it sooner.

[zapproximator]

Thought I should update everyone - it's been a while! Thanks for everyone's help and support along the way

I'm working on my sophomore year of high school and college and I'm taking CLEPs, APs, and I'm going to start doing some classes at our community college (as well as some extracurriculars at our local school). It's definitely hard, but pretty rewarding and cool at the same time. (And it doesn't feel all that different than all my public-schooled friends taking tons and tons of AP classes lol)

My plan is to earn my degree by 17 or 18 and then do a bunch of really cool stuff - start a business, take really cool classes, explore, probably go to a brick-and-mortal "normal" college either for a post-bacc and eventually grad school. I guess we'll just have to see!

[MNomadic]

That sounds like a great plan! I didn't know about lots of those opportunities when I was in HS. Yeah if I could do it over with my knowledge now I definitely would have tried to graduate HS with at least an AS.