Pros and cons of graduating early in high school

Noelani,

I graduated high school at 16 and went right on into college from there. If you've completed all the required classes to graduate it's a great way to get done with your schooling sooner and get going into your chosen career field. There's nothing wrong with being the youngest one in college classes. Do your best and you'll succeed. Remember with youth you can bring a fresh look at things based on your own unique experience. Research and be inspired by reading about these young achievers: Michael Kearney and Tanishq Abraham. Don't let anything stop you from achieving your dreams. Go for it while you can!

Are you immediately going into a college in the spring semester? Depending on the college, that can be a bit intimidating since all of the orientation programs for new students will be in the fall typically, so you won't have the same kind of initial support.

I have no idea if colleges let you sign up halfway through a semester. I'd guess yes? Not sure, probably varies by institution. Probably helps to directly ask colleges that you're thinking of applying to earlier, and see what they say.

If you're already fairly independent (e.g. if you're literally taking college courses at a nearby college during highschool), then aforementioned orientation programs might not be that beneficial to you anyways, and it'd be no big deal.***

Graduating *really* early (year or two) can be a little off-putting in terms of socializing with college peers who are 2-6 years older. Nothing too traumatizing.

*** on that note, depending on your high school's proximity to colleges, see if there's any kind of program where you can just take college courses while you're in highschool for free. That was definitely an option for me, but I was next to a massive (50k+ student) Uni with a lot of built in programs for that already.