Secondly, I have seen a lot of messages on this forum for people who are upset because their GPAs as high school seniors aren’t very good, and they really want to go to a top university. There is a way to do this – after graduating from high school, if you go to a community college, and do very well, you can transfer to a good college for your last two years. But what these people then say is that they are in a program in high school which lets them take college classes along with their high school classes, and they will be getting their associates degree at the same time as their diploma. This means that they have already gone to a community college for two years, and now that option is closed to them. They are stuck going to lesser colleges.

In general, the only reason someone should take college classes while they are in high school is because their high school doesn’t offer advanced enough courses – for example, because of your background, you are fluent in Spanish and your high school only offers basic Spanish courses, or you are a mathematical prodigy and you are ready for integral calculus, but your school doesn’t offer it. Otherwise, the best way to prepare for your future is to take the hardest classes offered at your high school (Honors classes, if possible) and to get the best grades possible.

I don’t mean to insult you; I have a really bright nephew who is about your age, and I know that he is capable of doing some things better than are some of my college students. But just like you wouldn’t want to have smart third-graders in your eighth grade classes, because it would change the way the class would be taught, college students don’t want eighth grades in their classes. And it really won’t help you out to do this.