Please help for degree planning

[Rabbitbunny]

Hi everyone, I’m a high schooler who recently discovered this forum. I had to take a gap year during high school due to medical reasons and am now interested in pursuing a degree online. I’m looking for advice on how to get started and what options are available for me. Thank you for reading.

•  Location: International 
  
• Your Age: 16
  
• What kind of degree do you want?: An associates/bachelor's in any field of study. Current Regional Accredited Credits: None
  
• Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: None 
  
• Any certifications or military experience?: None Budget: As cheap as possible
  
• Commitments: School 
  
• Dedicated time to study: 10-20 hours/week Timeline: Around 2 years maximum
  
•  Tuition assistance/reimbursement: None
  

[Hotdogman1]

Please go back to high school. The first requirement for college is a high school diploma or equivalent.

However, if you decide to ignore that advice, an equivalent would be the GED exam. As you are under 18, you will have to sign an Age Waiver. The GED exam costs $320 for most International students. (https://www.ged.com/en/policies/other/#:...%20subject.) If you score high enough, you can also get up to 10 lower-level undergraduate credits (viewable via Credly). “GED College Ready + Credit: Test-takers who score in the GED College Ready + Credit level (175-200) demonstrate some of the skills that are taught in college-level courses and may be eligible for up to 3 credits in Math, 3 credits in Science, 3 credits in Social Studies, and 1 credit in English.” (https://www.ged.com/educators-admins/pro.../adoption/)

You should remain in High school if possible. If you want to get ahead, you can knock out a lot of your college general education requirements by taking CLEP exams. You can even take them for free via voucher after completing courses from Modern States.  More information can be found here: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Modern_States. 34 CLEP exams are available. (https://clep.collegeboard.org/clep-benef...iversities.)

There are a lot of other free/cheap resources so if you have any specific interests, I’m sure someone could point you in the right direction.

[Rabbitbunny]

Thank you for your detailed response. I'm currently attending high school, so I apologize for not clarifying that earlier.

Actually, I've heard about high school students earning associate degrees while still in high school, which piqued my interest. I apologize for not being more clear in my post.

The CLEP exams via Modern States sound like a valuable opportunity to get ahead with college general education requirements. I'll definitely look into this further.

Thank you very much for your guidance and concern. I am primarily interested in biology, psychology, and chemistry. If any one has recommendations for free or affordable resources in these subjects, I would greatly appreciate it.
Thank you once again 

[ss20ts]

Thank you for your detailed response. I'm currently attending high school, so I apologize for not clarifying that earlier.

Actually, I've heard about high school students earning associate degrees while still in high school, which piqued my interest. I apologize for not being more clear in my post.

The CLEP exams via Modern States sound like a valuable opportunity to get ahead with college general education requirements. I'll definitely look into this further.

Thank you very much for your guidance and concern. I am primarily interested in biology, psychology, and chemistry. If any one has recommendations for free or affordable resources in these subjects, I would greatly appreciate it.
Thank you once again 

The students who I have seen do this are in the US and have a program in their high school where they take classes from a community college.

[ArshveerCheema]

There are many post-secondary institutions that will admit someone without a highschool diploma but yes, you should continue high school. You don't have funds anyways. When you do have the spare funds, you can earn ACE credit from Study.com, Sophia, CLEP, DSST.

If you know another language, you can earn lots of ACE credit through ACTFL:

https://www.actfl.org/assessments/postse...ssessments
https://www.acenet.edu/National-Guide/Pa...0d3a363879

ACE is generally only accepted in Canada and the US.

[Hotdogman1]

In the US, there are programs (often known as dual enrollment but most states seem to have their own names) that enable high school students to take college courses for free or at a low cost. They get both high school and college credit for each course and is a great way to save time and money. Some students are able to cram an entire associates during this period but it isn't very common. I used to work at a large community college and we would maybe get 1 of these high school students a year. In the grand scheme of things for a high school student, an associates generally doesn't weigh more than your GPA, SAT/ACT score, and essays (maybe it changes if you plan to go to an in-state 4 year university?).

For biology, psychology, and chemistry, like ArshveerCheema mentioned, you could take several ACE courses but I can't recommend them at this time as they could limit your options. For example, if you later plan to go to med/PA/Optometry/Dental/ETC school, I'm not aware of one that accepts ACE credits for STEM gen eds. Most of these have to be completed in person at a regionally accredited college/University though more online courses have been accepted recently due to Covid. There are ways to get those RA credits but those have associated costs which may not be necessary depending on your future aspirations. Honestly, I think it would be more productive if you shadowed people in multiple professions or maybe volunteered at a local library/hospital/Lab.

[Avidreader]

I believe 16 year olds can use Saylor, and their proctored final exams at 5 USD are affordable for teenagers. Not every Saylor course gets ACE credit and not every university accepts them.

The PADI open water certification grants 1 ACE and the certification is available to anyone over age 15. Obviously Sophia is a much cheaper option, but if someone got the cert abroad on vacation, it would be worth adding to their Credly account.

Can teenagers take the Google certs on Coursera? Sometimes they offer discounts.

I fully agree with trying to get ACTFL certs. I found the speaking Spanish exam to be very easy and it gave me a whopping 13 credits where 6 were UL ones. A really great deal for 165 USD.

[bjcheung77]

Rabbitbunny, great intro post but you're not providing even the most basic detail. We understand what International means, but it doesn't indicate a country. Some details may seem not needed or trivial, but with more info - along with your study habits, etc, would allow us to provide better and more concrete advice. There are multiple threads on this, have you done a search? Did you review any posts or threads of mine in regards to homeschooling, high school credit? I've got plenty for people to review...