Besides the financial savings, what are the advantages and disadvantages of graduating from college early?

hello :D

besides saving money, i personally dont see any benefits for graduating early, but i get yuour circumstannces are trhowing a huge spanner in the works.

like you, i think uni is a time to soak up as much as possible, try everything and live to the fullest a unique time in one's life. i know you adore your college and im sad you're conflicted, trying to decide what to do, as it must be tugging at your heart to think of leaving.

in terms of genearl life-work stuff; employers NOW may do the maths and realise youd graduated early, but after a while i doubt it would be noticed (certainly not in the uk, though this may differ for you). your grade, uni and subsequent emplyment would overshadow the accomplishment of leaving early.

so...*caveat* obviously im english,and things work rather differently here. straight out of college, balanced against this is your graduating grade. i dont understand well enough how american colleges work. so i assume some kind of GPA thing works too, as youre worrying about a transcript? we just do a final exam, or final exam and coursework. c'est tout. SO.. i recognise your fears about illness potentially dragging down your grade.

so.. unhelpfully, ha ha.. i dont know. graduating now and going directly into work, would cast the same problems across your path, if you went into career-ish jobs, or into your law degree. youd still have the possability of fluctating health problems.

i know you were planning to do music therapy for a while, which would be less crucial in terms of references (ie, if you took time off from it), so wouldnt a compromise be a year out, simply to CHILL OUT. you know, that thing you NEVER DO.

youre amazing, but SLOW DOWN. good grief!! youve gone accelerated school, illness, stressful uni. loving college does NOT remove the stress of working hard, it just makes it enjoyable and worthwhile. as you WELL KNOW stress knackers out the body :D yes, i know what youve been ill with; but you know people arounfd you without having had that burn out from overwork, anyway. your time at uni is precisious, and you adore it all; doing a littel less is not failing to live it to the max if it allows you to stay a further year or two. its just pragmatism.

whatever you do, you are never ever going to slow down, but rather than graduating early, id persoanlly look into taking a year off, or finding a way to drop classes next year; you love your sparkling college like its a person; dont leave it sooner than you have to; find a way to stay on. education is the least important thing uni gives one. i hope you find a way to make it all work out XXXXX

Have you thought about what you might want to do professionally?

I think the benefit of staying in college longer and pursuing more credentials will open up more options when you enter the professional world. But it seems like you're stacked with so much talent that it's hard to see why you wouldn't be successful should you decide to go the other route.

Personally, if finances wasn't an issue, I'd go for a Ph.D. (assuming I also got the grades for it), but that's just cause I don't want to end up being a programmer or doing something non-Physics related after getting a BS degree. I want to do something actually Physics related, although I'm not too fond of the idea of just research and professorship. I want to work in the high-tech industry... particle accelerators! On the other hand, I do want have a balanced life, cause I'd hate to think of what I might end up like if I only cared about studies and not my health.

Unfortunately I don't really have much more to say, as I don't have a lot of experience in the professional world. My view of it is it's just a place where people only care about money and pleasing their bosses... not something to get too excited about, but I could be wrong. Hopefully I am.

Most kids who are 21 - 23 aren't well prepared for the real world, let alone kids who are 19-20. If finances weren't an issue, I wouldn't try to rush it.

If you're suffering from a serious medical issue, then I would try to limit stress as much as possible. An intense academic program isn't worth it if your health is at risk.

My wife,a career teacher, graduated college at 20 and so did I. Neither of us went to college for a social experience. We both worked to pay for college and there was little time for the luxury of goofing off. She lived in a dorm and had friends there but at an institution still called "Beer University," she managed to get through four years of classes in three years and reserved antics for Saturday night. I worked 3 part-time jobs through college and still took 18 semester hours of courses each session.

Did it hurt our lives? Looking back at our careers, it sure as hell helped other people because we were always head-and-shoulders ahead of the crowd in our careers. Did we miss the fun? Hell, no! Many of the people who were the outstanding social characters on campus turned out to be the biggest losers when it came to the next half century where expectations are quite higher iof yopu choose to define success as: In what way did you leave this world a slightly better place for your having been here?

My wife changed the course of life for thousands of students. She is a remedial reading specialist whose focus was on the hard to reach kid whose accomplishments were far below their potential. She also wrote one of the seminal articles in her field (among others) that is quoted in dozens of textbooks.

My work was as a therapist and administrator in the fields of addiction and abuse. We didn't have the successes we had without sacrificing something. My fun is seeing another book published that may influence a few people i will never meet. '

WE didn't become wealthy in the sense that we made tons of money. We became rich in the sense that people who we have influenced remain in our lives and many still contact us on Facebook. It makes it worthwhile.

Nobody will remember youi for the parties you attended. They may remember you as having made their lives just a little better for your presence in it.

At the end of the ride, that year translates into an extra year of work at the end when you are at the top of your earning power and adds a bit to any pension you may be accumulating.

Yu have to decide what is important. If getting drunk and having some silliness to remember twenty years later when everyone is beginning to sag, grey, bald and get discouraged is more unimportant than what you might learn in the world if you get out a year early, slow down and party hearty.

the basic advantage resides at gaining the insight of the practical corporate world at an early age; having ample time to gain substantial and important work experience, which will be important in later years of your professional life. the basic disadvantages reside at having trouble to find employment quickly and falling prey of frustration; also missing out on the fun that the college days offer to you.

one advantage from graduating from college early would be being done with school sooner and if it's in the cards for you starting a family without the stress and limited time due to taking courses.

depending on degree - at early age u

will have harder time find employment.

do get a degree in jobs that are in demand.

and u can find proof of it.

not just what college says.

lots of well educated people can't find work

or over qualified for work they take.