Entering high school as a student in the class of 2025, Yatin Bayya (’24) decided to stand out from his classmates by graduating one year earlier. He started down this path when he was a sophomore.
“It was my idea to graduate early. I decided to graduate one year early at the beginning of my sophomore year. Looking at the courses I had already finished, I realized it was a lot more than a usual [sophomore]. So I decided that I can use the extra course credits that I have earned to fulfill my 12th-grade graduation requirements,” said Bayya.
Fulfilling the requirements not only involves taking additional classes on the high school campus but also from universities. Many universities offer courses that give high school course credit.
“I took some additional classes online to fulfill my graduation requirements. I got lucky with my [freshman] year since I had an A period. So, I started off with more credits than others, and I was able to meet all the graduation requirements with three online courses,” said Bayya.
Bayya believes graduating early has more advantages than disadvantages. He wants to start building up his career earlier.
“In my opinion, I would rather do my first year of university and graduate early [than another year of high school]. By graduating early, I can start making a salary one year earlier. I currently have some scholarship options, so I plan to utilize that to save the cost,” said Bayya.
Taking extra courses online is not so simple. Bayya not only has to juggle additional courses on top of his school ones, but he also has to communicate and get permission from the counselors and vice principals.
“There are some challenges with wanting to graduate earlier than my peers. One of them is to get permission from the administrators. It was very time-consuming. Also, it was difficult to self-manage and meet the deadline of the online courses,” said Bayya.
Bayya plans to apply for a computer science major while starting his own business simultaneously.
“I plan to apply for a computer science major or maybe robotics. I am also interested in creating a business as I enter university,” said Bayya.
