4 ms·

Here in Israel, we have a growing phenomenon of high school students studying for a B.Sc degree, especially in CS, during their last few years of high-school. N

by Nimi 13y ago

Here in Israel, we have a growing phenomenon of high school students studying for a B.Sc degree, especially in CS, during their last few years of high-school. Not only do they save a couple of years of their career trajectory, they also get a shot at significantly better placement during their army service. Israel's a small place, so most places have a pretty good university one or two bus rides away. One could argue that high school is a bit unnecessary, and a good move would be to simply skip it.

psbp 13y ago
You can kind of achieve this in the U.S., at least in my school district, through AP classes or taking equivalent classes at the local junior college to satisfy high school credits. The structure of the school day was still exactly the same, but it allowed you to knock out two years of undergrad in high school.
- acchow 13y ago
  I've never heard of a anyone completing 2 years of undergrad in high school. Maybe a course or two in the 2nd year level, but certainly not the entire curriculum. I do have a friend from Israel who got his Bachelor's degree at 18 at the same time he finished high school. I can't see that happening in the U.S. system.
  - spamizbad 13y ago
    The US has a few "early acceptance" colleges like Bard College (https://simons-rock.edu/ https://simons-rock.edu/) where you can get a HS equivalency and Bachelors whenever you're deemed ready. I had a friend who went to Simons Rock after his Freshman Year of HS - he got his BA right before his 20th birthday.
  - thaumasiotes 13y ago
    I was officially a junior after my first quarter (three quarters to the school year) of undergrad. I stayed much later than that, but that's because I took additional classes, not because I needed the time to earn credits. The first two years of undergrad at UC, by design, are for the general education requirements. You're not even supposed to take classes in your major until year 3. It shouldn't be hard to skip much of that.
  - philsnow 13y ago
    I started at UCLA with around 96 (quarter) credits from a mix of college-level courses taken at the local junior college and AP classes. It was (very marginally) helpful to start out as a "junior" on paper, because I got a slight amount of priority when registering for classes. I didn't know at the time that they kick you out after a certain number of credits (around 240?), and this actually affected my choice of double major. I took a watered-down "linguistics and computer science" BA as my double instead of the full "linguistics" BA, partly because the unit cap was bearing down on me. Edit: it was "watered-down" because it required a ton of CS classes that I had already taken. Further, finishing most of the physical sciences requirements in high school meant that I wasn't exposed to some awesome professors in college. I imagine that some students who might have a deep interest in chemistry but a disinterested high school teacher never bother to explore the subject in college if they pass the Chem AP test.

by Nimi 13y ago

psbp 13y ago

You can kind of achieve this in the U.S., at least in my school district, through AP classes or taking equivalent classes at the local junior college to satisfy high school credits. The structure of the school day was still exactly the same, but it allowed you to knock out two years of undergrad in high school.

acchow 13y ago
I've never heard of a anyone completing 2 years of undergrad in high school. Maybe a course or two in the 2nd year level, but certainly not the entire curriculum. I do have a friend from Israel who got his Bachelor's degree at 18 at the same time he finished high school. I can't see that happening in the U.S. system.
- spamizbad 13y ago
  The US has a few "early acceptance" colleges like Bard College (https://simons-rock.edu/ https://simons-rock.edu/) where you can get a HS equivalency and Bachelors whenever you're deemed ready. I had a friend who went to Simons Rock after his Freshman Year of HS - he got his BA right before his 20th birthday.
- thaumasiotes 13y ago
  I was officially a junior after my first quarter (three quarters to the school year) of undergrad. I stayed much later than that, but that's because I took additional classes, not because I needed the time to earn credits. The first two years of undergrad at UC, by design, are for the general education requirements. You're not even supposed to take classes in your major until year 3. It shouldn't be hard to skip much of that.
- philsnow 13y ago
  I started at UCLA with around 96 (quarter) credits from a mix of college-level courses taken at the local junior college and AP classes. It was (very marginally) helpful to start out as a "junior" on paper, because I got a slight amount of priority when registering for classes. I didn't know at the time that they kick you out after a certain number of credits (around 240?), and this actually affected my choice of double major. I took a watered-down "linguistics and computer science" BA as my double instead of the full "linguistics" BA, partly because the unit cap was bearing down on me. Edit: it was "watered-down" because it required a ton of CS classes that I had already taken. Further, finishing most of the physical sciences requirements in high school meant that I wasn't exposed to some awesome professors in college. I imagine that some students who might have a deep interest in chemistry but a disinterested high school teacher never bother to explore the subject in college if they pass the Chem AP test.