You have to get ahead of the game. The early bird gets the worm. You’ve heard these phrases more times than an Avril Lavigne CD stuck on Complicated. After awhile, you just stop listening. I felt the same way. But then something happened: life. And now, I can speak from experience. Taking college classes while still in high school made a real impact on my life. It afforded me many advantages and opened many doors. I knew that eventually I was going to college, but it was three years away and way too early to think about. Then my sister approached me with an idea. She suggested I take a night class at the local community college. My first thought was, “Can I do that? I’m only a sophomore in high school. I’m a “B” student. I don’t even take AP classes.” I only discovered one requirement: I had to pay for the class. (But that’s what Mom and Dad are for.) So there I was, on a Monday evening at 7 p.m. to take Sociology 101 for the next three hours. I reasoned that it would serve as an elective, give me three college credits and put me one step ahead. It wasn’t that difficult. Most nights, the class didn’t meet for the full three hours. The tests were almost always directly from the book. All I had to do was read the assigned chapters, study my notes, and ta da! I got an A. And so my college career began. For the next three years, I took community college classes every spring, summer and fall. They were mostly electives that I had to take anyway, no matter what four-year college I chose to attend later. It helped me get an idea of what subjects interested me, and which to avoid. Most importantly, taking those college classes helped me understand what college was all about. I learned to deal with professors, difficult classes, group members who wouldn’t pull their weights and a whole lot more. I also learned how to better prepare for exams, for both college and high school. By the time I started college as a full-time student, I was a pro with 33 credits—one full year of college—already done.
