One thing that has been on my mind this month is how I graduated with my Finance MBA two years ago.
It feels like a lifetime ago, but then again it also feels like it was just yesterday.
This has also reminded me about how I graduated with my undergraduate degrees over 4 years ago. For some reason, people don't believe that's true, and I was even recently asked to provide proof from a reader…
I know, I have a baby face! The fact that I look a decade younger than I actually am is a whole ‘nother story though.
If you're wondering the below, please continue reading!
- How to graduate college in 3 years
- How to finish college in 2 years
- How to get a bachelor's degree in 2 years
- Can you finish college in 2 years
- How to graduate college in 2 years
Related: 21 Ways You Can Learn How To Save Money In College
The main reason why I got so heavily into school was because I wanted to keep busy. I was a freshman in college when my father passed away.
I took four days off from my full-time job after he passed but I quickly went back to keep my mind off of everything that was going on around me. I then worked and went to school a crazy amount of hours to keep my mind off of it. This continued for years and it was my way of dealing with it all.
As a side note, I really didn't mean for this post to turn slightly depressing but I'm just stating what happened.
There were other reasons for why I rushed through college as well:
- You might save money. Many colleges (such as the one I went to) charge a flat tuition fee for those attending anywhere from 13 to 18 credit hours. So, whether you take 13 credits or 18 credits, you usually pay the exact same amount of money. Considering the average person takes around 12 to 13 credit hours each semester, that's a lot of money wasted in my eyes.
- You can move on quicker. It might be just me, but I couldn't wait to be done with school. Since I finished so quickly, I was able to dedicate this free time towards something else.
- You can (hopefully) earn a higher income sooner. Okay, so this isn't always true, but many people go to college in hopes of making more money when they graduated. After my dad passed away, I officially realized I was completely on my own. I didn't want to live paycheck to paycheck forever, so I worked towards graduating early so that I could eventually make more money.
Now, I know many of you will say “but college is meant to be enjoyed!”
Yes, that is one thing I definitely missed out on since I went through school so quickly. I worked full-time the entire time I was in college, and I missed out on a lot of “normal” college experiences. I was in one college club, and I joined it about a year before I graduated from college so that I could have something college related to put on my resume.
I didn't make any lifelong friends in college either. Which probably sounds depressing but I promise it's not. I still have the same friends I've had since high school and that is, of course, fine by me.
I also didn't live in a dorm or college apartment, instead I rented a tiny home (less than 400 square feet and dingy) so I didn't have the college party experience either.
But I don't mind. I am who I am today because of my past, and I am happy with the life I have today.
Many people have asked me “Can you finish a degree in two years?”
Here are the actions I took to graduate from college in 2.5 years:
I took college classes in high school.
When I was in my senior year, almost all of my classes were classes where I was earning college credit. I took AP classes and classes that earned me college credit from nearby private universities (but I took them in the comfort of my high school). I believe I left high school with 14 credit hours (it might have been 18, I cannot remember). This way I knocked out a whole semester of college.
Also, these classes were cheap. I believe it was around $100 per credit hour instead of the normal cost which was anywhere from $500 to $1,000 per credit hour.
My senior year in high school was a breeze even though I was taking so many college classes. I could have taken even more but I had early release each day from school and got out 3 hours early so that I could go to work instead. So, I had plenty of time to work, go to school, and earn college credits.
I took a full course load.
When I was in college, I almost always took a full course load. I took 15 credit hours one semester, but the other semesters I took 21 to 24 credit hours.
I was able to save money because I almost always took the maximum amount. There were also semesters where I paid an extra fee so that I could take 24 credit hours each semester. Anything over 18 credit hours meant I had to pay the extra fee, but it didn't really bother me. I still saved money by paying less in fees because I wasn't adding additional semesters to my course load.
I took classes one summer.
I regret not doing this more often. I did go to college in the summer time one semester though. I took 12 credit hours and even had to beg the Dean at the college for permission, but he still allowed it. The classes were easy and I had no problem doing this.
I also was able to save money because I took these summer college classes at a community college. I believe it was around $1,500 for all 12 credit hours, which is a steal!
I made sure all my classes transferred.
When I took classes for college credit in high school and at the community college, I made sure all of the classes transferred to the university in which I was getting my degree from.
I have heard too many stories about people not checking this ahead of time and wasting years by taking classes that didn't transfer, and that is just not worthwhile to me.
I even have a friend who had 66 credit hours which didn't transfer. That is just insane to me!
I took night classes.
For some reason, night classes have a bad reputation among certain people. I'm not sure why that is though.
Night classes are literally the exact same thing as day classes, except they are at night time. Yes, it's really that simple.
Being able to take night classes helped me graduate sooner because I was able to work full-time during the day and attend my college classes at night time. If it weren't for the night classes, I don't think I would have been able to graduate as early as I did at all.
Are you trying to graduate from college quickly or are you taking your time? Did you earn any college credits outside of where you earned your degree? Are you interested in learning how to get a bachelor's degree in 2 years?
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Christine Berry - Wealth Way Online says
August 14, 2014 at 11:39 pmI had a pretty crazy college experience – I ended up looking after my two teenage sisters for two years of my degree. Needless to say my studies suffered a bit, but in the end I graduated… no savings in sight though haha!
Michelle S. says
August 16, 2014 at 2:15 pmSounds like something pretty similar happened to the both of us. I’ve been watching after my sister and she just moved out last week. I’m still sad!
Lisa E. @ Lisa Vs. The Loans says
August 16, 2014 at 4:34 pmI finished by Bachelors in 3.5 years, which definitely isn’t the same as what you did. But my friends still wondered why I wanted to get out faster than they did. I did it purely for the financial gain – one summer my school decided to discount summer courses, so I gave up my last summer of college to take a full semester’s worth of classes for cheaper than usual. I don’t regret it one bit!
Michelle S. says
August 20, 2014 at 2:15 pmGood job Lisa!
Suzie M says
August 17, 2014 at 7:58 pmYou certainly know what you want out of life & you aren’t afraid of work to get it Good for you
Michelle S. says
August 20, 2014 at 2:19 pmThanks Suzie!
Megan @ MeganAndEggs says
August 19, 2014 at 11:50 pmGreat advise for college students. I didn’t have a typical college experience either but I made the most of it and was very productive by working a lot and studying hard. My college friends are the same girls I’ve been friends with since middle school. Hard work pays off.
Andrew @ Budgetopolis says
August 22, 2014 at 2:53 pmThank you! This is a great post! My daughter is a sophomore in high school, and I have been trying to tell her some of these same things. I have been telling her to start taking CLEP tests when she is in 11th and 12th grades, as she is in AP classes, since the first two years of college are often a re-hash of the last two years of high school. It’s great to see someone who has “been there, done that, got the diploma” sharing tips. I am going to show this to my wife and daughter.
A Young Legend says
September 12, 2017 at 4:20 pmI started taking college classes at 14 years old, freshman year of high school, and as a result I will be graduating high school and college at 16 years old. Check out my blog, ayounglegend.com, which documents my experiences at a receive a high school diploma and Associate of Science degree in December of 2017 (half way through my junior year in high school)
M.Clark says
September 6, 2014 at 8:03 pmThese are all good tips for anyone who wants to finish college sooner, I think it can definitely be done. Thank you for sharing this post.
Caleb says
September 25, 2014 at 9:05 amGreat post! I think there are benefits to getting through college quickly, especially financially. But, I also think there are benefits to getting the full experience of college. I took 4.5 years and I enjoyed every bit of it. The only downside is the debt that I accumulated throughout the 4.5 years.
ko says
September 30, 2014 at 7:50 pmHow did you magae your time . This is the part I cant work out …
Wheer i live we can take 4 papers/classes per semester and each one requires approx 2 hours of work each day. My job on avaegae takes up around 9-10 hrs per day. So that would account for 17-18 hours out of a week day. Then there are life things to take care of each day and finally sleep.
any tips on how to juggle it all….
Michelle S. says
September 30, 2014 at 9:01 pmIt’s definitely hard to manage your time. It’s all about being able to do everything quick and making a schedule. There were many years where I would only receive 3 or 4 hours of sleep a night, and then went on for years.
shaila says
February 15, 2015 at 8:58 pmFor last couple of weeks, I have been pretty much breathing your blog. I happen to be a college student and I work two jobs (combined about 36 hours each week) and taking 17 hour credit classes. Please give me any tips if you can about managing time and how to study well, the most I found online are for people who has insane amount of time or their parents are paying for it so they don’t need to work.Also, if you could say something about how to manage money while in college (anything you wish you had done/ways students can earn extra income). I am not getting the college experience either and I moved to US 4 years ago, so it has been extremely challenging as I need to spend more time understanding material than any other average person who speaks fluent english. Love you and keep posting 🙂
Victoria says
May 15, 2015 at 10:35 pmHi Shaila,
I definitely don’t have it as tough as you so major props to you, but my favorite way to study is by using a timer in a quite place. I can’t have any distractions near or around me. Once I’m ready to get focused and have all my materials I need to study, I’ll set an estimate of how long I expect to take to work on whatever the assignment is. So say you expect to spend an hour on the assignment or material. I’ll set the timer for an hour and make it a goal to be done by then or even before the timer goes off. If you don’t have a timer, an alarm or even just a regular clock will work. Just make sure you’re keeping an eye on the time!
I’ve found that most people, including myself, can really get motivated to work hard when a deadline is approaching and they have been procrastinating. By timing yourself, your setting up a kind of “deadline” and the best part is, if you miss your “deadline” its ok. Just reevaluate the amount of work you have left and reset the timer. Obviously the goal is to beat the timer but our judgment isn’t always going to be perfect.
Plus by giving yourself a time limit, you can try to schedule your day better and that should help with the time management part. I use this for everything! This includes timing myself to do chores, otherwise I’ll put it off and never get to it.
Modify this to make it work for you. Like I said, I need no distractions whatsoever. However, some people like listening to music while they do school work. If this is you, instead of using a timer, I would guess how many songs it would take you to complete the assignment and use that as an estimator to get the work done.
As far as making extra money, I hear tutoring other students can make you a lot of money very easily. It’s very little work since you already (hopefully) know the material you would be tutoring in. This is also really beneficial if you tutor in a topic related to your major since you’ll be interested in the subject and its a really good way to practice and solidify your knowledge of it as well.
Hope this helps! Best of luck to you and your studies 🙂
Shaila says
May 15, 2015 at 11:16 pmHi Victoria!
Thank you so much for your comment. I did pretty good on my classes thankfully! But I really appreciate your advise. I can’t also focus on anything if there are noises to distract me. Also, it is insanely hard for me to sit down in one place for too long and do one thing.. I don’t like the relationship with chair and desk.. too bad.. since most of the jobs require that in my career.
I am also one of those people who works better when there’s a deadline. So I will definitely use the timer idea. Now that I think about it, why didn’t I think of it before. I use google docs to take my notes in class and have that downloaded on my phone so whenever I go to bed I can study my notes till I fall asleep. That’s been working pretty well for me.
Also, I added a second major and I find that the more pressure I have on me.. the more I work to get a good use of time. Weird, I know! But the pressure of getting everything done keeps me on track kind of like your timer idea, the pressure of meeting the deadline.
As far tutoring goes.. I am very shy when it comes to talking to people, as I feel they notice my wrong grammar, lack of english speaking skill and accent more than what I am actually saying. Also I get very little time outside of working two jobs and studying, the amount of free times I get, I invest them all on naps [can’t live without sleep.. not me]
But I think I will be okay for awhile..I slowly trying to get better at calming myself that it’s okay to live in a bit of financial insecurity and I am doing as much as I can to make it better.
Again I appreciate your comment very much and wish you best of luck!
Pam says
October 22, 2018 at 1:36 pmKudos to you for your ambition, hard work, & diligence! Perhaps another take on tutoring would be if you could tutor/work with teaching someone else who your language? Or tutoring someone speaking your language who doesn’t have as much English fluency? There is also a program where you can be a tour guide/Sherpa at your school for interested, potential incoming students. Essentially, it seems it would be almost like going through your normal school day, but perhaps adding a few other activities to give them a more well-rounded experience. Although you stated you work nearly full-time so you’re not having a typical campus experience, it might be worth researching whether they have a program on your campus: https://www.campussherpa.com/
Veronica Lee says
October 15, 2014 at 8:38 amI am impressed and how inspiring!. Congrats to you
Lushi says
February 19, 2015 at 7:35 amHi Michelle,
This is so inspiring. I am a Srilankan so the education system here is bit different. I did advanced levels here and while doing that I also did another professional course which allowed me to directly enter into the second year of B.Sc (Accounting) degree in many universities. but I was insane. I did not want to continue in a commerce related subject discipline and I started doing psychology. I am still 20 years. And in the 2nd year of my degree, thinking back, I still regret the decision I made to NOT do my accounting degree.
I hope psychology works for me.. I do love it. But if I did accounting, I would only have to study 1 more year
Elisha Kayne says
March 12, 2015 at 7:24 amWow! That is very impressive. I took a lot of AP courses in high school, but the cost of taking the exams was so expensive so I only took two. I wish someone would have slapped me then, lol. It’s a LOT more expensive to pay thousands of dollars for a college course with the same credits. That’s okay lesson learned for me, I homeschool my son, and I will make sure he takes as many AP exams as possible before enrolling in college. Hopefully we will keep his loans to a minimum or non-existent because of it. Thanks for the inspiration.
A Young Legend says
September 12, 2017 at 4:28 pmI recommend looking into the dual enrollment program, which allows students (7th – 12th grade) to take college classes and receive college and high school credit for free. I receive free books and do not have to pay for classes. As a result of starting the dual enrollment program at 14 (freshman year), I will be graduating high school and college at 16 years old. Check out my blog, ayounglegend.com, which documents my experiences as I receive a high school diploma and Associate of Science degree in December of 2017.
Victoria says
May 15, 2015 at 10:15 pmSo glad I’m not the only one who feels this way! I’m currently finishing up my first year of college but I can’t wait to be done. I plan to graduate in 3 years with my bachelor’s in business administration. Unfortunately the way prerequisites work for some of the classes in my major, I can’t graduate any sooner than 3 years. However, I plan to go immediately straight to graduate school and get my MBA in 1 year. So instead of having my bachelor’s in 4 years, I’ll have my master’s. I haven’t made friends really but I don’t live on campus either. My family is from the same area as the college I’m attending, so I’m saving a boatload of money by living at home and just commuting. I’ve had so many people tell me this isn’t good and how I should be interacting with other students my age but my peers drive me crazy and annoy the heck out of me! The stereotypical college life isn’t me at all and I have no problem with not knowing people. I just don’t find too many people who understand this I guess because everyone thinks it’s odd that I don’t party and I’ve never had alcohol or done drugs. I know I’m not your average college student and I’m ok with it. It’s so nice hearing that I’m not the only one out there! 🙂
Mar says
September 16, 2015 at 1:09 amI graduated a year early as well. Ironically, I did everything you did! The only difference is because I didn’t decide I wanted to graduate early till my sophomore year, I ended up taking semesters of 21-30 credits. Ick. One thing to keep in mind is that you can also attend a community college and a university at the same time! This is how I was able to take that many classes without having to ask my university for permission. I missed out on stuff, but I definitely feel accomplished.
Great post! 🙂
-Mar staywithmeonthis.com
Elle says
October 11, 2015 at 1:15 pmWhen I lived in Canada, it took me 3 years to finish my undergrad but I do regret not taking summer courses to finish earlier. I could have probably finished in 2. I had friends who did it and went to grad school afterwards, finishing college + master in 4-5 years (some went to law school). That’s awesome! I received a full ride that required me to take 15 credits per semester (no summer). The free money really helped relieve money stress.
Tessa says
January 20, 2016 at 8:00 pmWhere did you get the free money from?
Tessa says
January 20, 2016 at 7:57 pmHow can I do the same? I wasted 3 years of college being an idiot and being lazy. I hate myself for it and now I finally understand the time and money I’ve wasted. I’m ready to work hard and I want to also get my bachelor’s but graduate on time. I’m 20 yr old political science (well, I haven’t declared it yet) major in my 3rd year second semester of college at a community college. Can you please please help me? What can I do? I feel so regretful and like an idiot. How can I graduate on time and owe little money back????
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
January 21, 2016 at 1:25 amHello! You’re only 20, so you should not be panicking 🙂 Everything will be fine. Being at community college is a good idea because you can earn affordable college credits.
Bink says
January 25, 2016 at 9:22 amI also graduated in 2.5 years from undergrad while holding 2 part time jobs. It might sound crazy to some but my early 12 credit hour semester wasn’t easier than my later upper level 22 hour course load semester. I still studied the same amount of time. The highschool AP classes also helped. My only advice about graduating early is to make sure your grades don’t suffer as that could limit your possibilities later on. I am medical school now pursuing my dream to be a doctor but that wouldn’t have been possible if I had been a B or C student in those 2 and a half years.
Shakila S says
February 26, 2016 at 2:41 pmI did this too! I didn’t graduate ‘early’. It still took me 4 years, but I had dealt with family issues, a complete change of major after 2.5 years of classes. I took AP courses in HS, evening classes to manage family responsibilities, and 21+ semesters. My Summer of 07′ I took a science loaded 18 credit double semester at Penn State. I could have graduated in 2 years if the sense to do this had hit me earlier. I rented my books or puppy-eyed my professors and borrowed their extra copies. I TA-ed, work-studied, worked, did paid research with class credit, and also picked up any opportunity to be paid to make sure Chemistry students didn’t cheat on their exams. Still managed to have fun and get good grades. Time & resource management is a great thing, indeed.
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
February 26, 2016 at 3:32 pmSounds like we have a pretty similar story! I did a major change, but luckily it was within the first semester. Also had major family issues back then, but I think that’s what made me focus so much on school and work.
sarah says
January 1, 2017 at 6:38 pmhi know this is old, but i wanted to know with the 24 credits how did you managa studying for all those classes?
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
January 1, 2017 at 10:21 pmIt wasn’t easy, especially since I was working full-time as well. I didn’t sleep much back then, but I did manage to fit everything in.
Sarah says
January 2, 2017 at 8:15 amOh okay, well i was asking in a way so i can get tips on how you studied for those 8 classes…
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
January 2, 2017 at 9:37 amMy main way of studying was just to do that homework and read the textbooks 🙂 Is that what you mean?
Sarah says
January 2, 2017 at 10:05 amYeah, since it’s 8 classes so it sounds like overload to remember everything for every subject during midterms. So i thought you would have tips on how you managed to remember what you studied. Also were these extra 4 classes electives? Or easy classes?
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
January 2, 2017 at 12:40 pmIt was towards the end of my college degree, so I’m going to assume that they were all required, tough classes. I can’t remember the classes were exactly.
I didn’t do anything special to study, just what I had normally done (homework).
Sarah says
January 2, 2017 at 12:44 pmOhhhh ! I thought you did this every semester ( 24 ) credits till you got your degree!
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
January 2, 2017 at 1:39 pmI think I did 2 semesters of 24 credits? And I then I did a few 21 credit semesters. I can’t remember exactly, though.
Sarah says
January 2, 2017 at 2:12 pmOh okay much better break down! Right now then I’m only gonna do 15-20. If i only do 15 then I will take a summer class and take another 15 . Then the following semester I’ll do 15-18 only instead to take some workload off. Do you remember if any of the few classes were electives ? Or were they all heavy load classes? That’s my last question
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
January 2, 2017 at 6:44 pmI’m sure some of them were electives because that’s just how college degrees are.
sarah says
January 2, 2017 at 7:56 pmI know but you get to pick your classes, so if you didn’t want electives you wouldn’t do it unless you have to( i know some are mandatory). Well wish me luck hun i will be trying this out and summer semester this year
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
January 3, 2017 at 9:03 amGood luck!
Asif Md. Imtiaz says
July 29, 2017 at 5:52 amI would love to follow your footsteps. Your college life wasn’t wasted, but a one more rejoiced in my perspective.
Rei says
September 10, 2017 at 8:47 amYou such an inspiration! Both of my daughters skip grades and their current school have this 11 grades program. (Yup, no grade 12. I don’t know why.)
I hope they can take college classes in their 11th grade, so they won’t wasting time. My oldest one wants to be a dentist. It’s gonna be a long road for her but if she can get her bachelor faster that would be awesome.
Vishal says
October 22, 2017 at 1:14 pmWhich university were you in Michelle? And Good Job! I am planning to do the same!
Tsering Lhamo says
January 31, 2018 at 2:15 amHi Michelle, I am wondering how to convert one’s college credits into bachelor credits? I got 90 overseas credits which is Diploma in hotel management. I earned around 58.5 credits in the United States. Please advise on this, that would be highly appreciated.
Thank you
Tsering.
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
January 31, 2018 at 12:18 pmMy top tip would be to talk to the counselor at whatever school you go to.
Justin Miner says
March 16, 2018 at 3:46 pmI had the same drive and determination as you did. Problem was, I was going in the wrong direction. Being busy is not the same as being productive. I’m 33, and only now I have the right business ideas and the right people in my life to help me succeed. I will be wealthy and fulfill many careers, but I wasted over a decade being busy with the wrong things. Now I am starting over. I will never go back to being busy doing unproductive things.
Xiana Chin says
April 5, 2018 at 8:22 pmHi Michelle,
Just came across your post and I am currently doing the exact same thing. I will be graduating with a double major in International Relations and Business in December of this year having been matriculated into school in September 2016. I was wondering if you can share your experiences after college with me since I have yet to figure out my next step.
DNN says
August 2, 2018 at 7:24 amYou continue to inspire me and others to stay on track with building a side hustle to online greatness.I admire your struggle from debt to “side hustle millionaire.” You didn’t sit back and twiddle your thumbs after achieving [side hustle millionaire] status. I support you because you come from humble beginnings and like myself, you know what it’s like to go from paycheck to paycheck and struggle until change finally occurs. If and when you do make it to be featured on “Bloomberg Television,” don’t forget the little people. You’re more than welcome to give Drewry News Network a shoutout on “Bloomberg TV.” Keep up the good work. Another side hustle millionaire in the making is striving to successfully follow your footsteps to entrepreneurial greatness! 🙂
Paul says
September 6, 2018 at 5:35 amin another post you say that you graduated with “two undergraduate business degrees”. What does that mean? An associates and bachelors?
PAUL says
September 6, 2018 at 5:36 amIn your “about” section you say that you graduated with “two undergraduate business degrees”. What does that mean? An associates and a bachelors?
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner says
September 6, 2018 at 1:50 pmI have two bachelor degrees – Business Admin and Management.
Lori Thayer says
January 12, 2019 at 10:35 amGreat info on how you were able to complete your degree in 2.5 years. I did the same and just want to second for others this can be done. My classes were done in 2.5 years, I actually got the degree in 3 as I needed 1000 hours of work experience in my field and I did that after the classes were done.
I didn’t have the opportunity to take AP classes in my High School. I think only one was even offered, this was small town America in the early 90s.
I did test out of some college classes although I doubt it was more than 6 hours worth. I took 17, then 19 credits the first two semesters and then a full load during summer school. I highly recommend summer school as the classes are in a compressed time frame which means there isn’t time to slack on doing the work AND the tests are frequent which means it is more likely you will remember the material from when you learned it rather than having to study to recall. (at least this was my experience.
I was a junior at the end of my first year of school (2 semesters and summer school). From then on I wasn’t able to take as heavy of loads as I was into classes for my major and the logistics didn’t make it possible. I also spent the second semester of my second year in Austria which was a great experience, although light on the credits. I did a couple more classes in the summer and then one more semester and then I was done.
This does mean I wasn’t heavy into activities or social things which isn’t my way and also isn’t why I went to college. Others have a different goal or experience. e.g. if you have a scholarship for a sport or activity that other activity is likely taking up a great deal of your time.
My original degree was in Hotel & Restaurant Administration. I went back and got a 2nd degree a few years later and I wasn’t able to configure my class load to do it in less than 2 years. (or I would have)
Michaelle says
July 21, 2019 at 7:13 pmUsually people always tell me to take my time they don’t understand my goals and why I rush. As you said it so well in your blog I just want it to be over. True that I enjoy learning but there are so many other thing to do. I will be graduating in a year and half from now, a total of 2.5 years. I have always take 18 credits hours every semester and 9 credits hours for summer, I had 12 credits graduating from high school, and still hold my part time job. All of that while being a foreigner and living in the USA since only 2.5 years and barely speaking English (learning). I am glad to see that you have succeeded that shows me that I can too. By December 2020 I should have my degree in hand and a bright future ahead.