How I finished my undergrad in 2.5 years with a 3.82 and how you can too

and I did it with a full-time job

Why speedrun college?

College used to be the golden ticket to a stable life, but now it is a different story. The average amount of debt for students is around $40,000 after a 4-year degree. On top of the growing student debt crisis, more and more people having a bachelor’s degree is becoming the norm, making it difficult to stand out. Some would argue that having a bachelor’s is a ‘second high school’ and that it is a requirement to get a job versus a resume booster. Completing college fast can yield many benefits, such as

• Enter the industry faster.

• Leave with less debt.

• Begin a Master’s sooner.

I dropped out

Yes, two and a half years total, that is, while enrolled in college. I began my college career at the University of South Florida in 2018 in their computer science program, where I spent the next year and a half not caring about school. I did not try at all. I would never study. I left with an impressive 2.52 GPA (yeah, a scholar, I know). Next came the semester before COVID, where I withdrew from all my classes and dropped out of college

Now comes the speed

Two years later, I returned to college and transferred to Florida International University for their online program in computer science. At this time, I was working full-time as a software engineer. I wanted to go through college as fast as possible since I was working and wanted my free time back.

Below was my enrollment schedule.

Summer (5 classes), Fall (6 classes), Winter (1 class), Spring (5 classes), Summer (5 classes).

I was working nearly 80 to 90 hours with college and work. Now, this may have been overkill, and it was, but I did this slowly. You can do this much faster.

After this, my college GPA was a solid 3.82

The CLEP Exams

The CLEP exams are truly a hidden gem for earning college credit.

These are self-funded tests for around $150 that can test you out of entire courses. Here is the FIU credit Table for the CLEP Exams. From this graph, you can test out almost all of your Gen-Eds. Not only can this be faster, but it is also cheaper. For example, FUI was on a pay-per-credit basis, so paying 150$ over a $1200 class is a no-brainer. I ended up doing 2 of these for my undergrad.

The AP Exams.

You should definitely take as many APs as you can in high school as you can. Even if you don’t have AP classes, you can still take AP exams of your own accord. Like the CLEP exams, the AP exams can give you college credit. The Credit Table for the AP classes is listed here as well. I transferred 2 AP classes from high school.

Speedran

Being this intense over finishing college is not for everyone, but it doesn’t have to be. Even just testing out of a couple of classes can save you a lot of money and time! Best of luck if you go down this road.