As a late bloomer in terms of obtaining my own degree, my experiences may blur the reality of most college experience. The old standard of a college education is largely on the downward slope. Not that a college education is irrelevant or a waste of time - it is not by any means - but the general process of education has largely failed to adapt to the very economics of human society. Let me put it this way:

If you are a Sophomore or Junior in high school, pick up a book on your state’s GED program. If you are a bit above average in school, you may find the material bland. However if you find that you have little problem answering the test questions on the GED, I would suggest ditching your high school advisor’s advice and get your GED if you can pass the test. The earlier, the better. This is particularly well suited to those who are smart but not quite up to terms with taking so-called “AP” classes in high school because someone just didn’t think you were smart enough. You can circumvent the public school schedule and start taking real college classes at your local community college. If you forego your Senior year in high school and take classes at your community college, you can easily build up more credits than you would sitting in your classroom with your peers.

Now I’m sure you are thinking that you will miss your friends, but you’ll be in school during the day while your friends are also in school. More often than not, you will be studying between classes and home in time to hang out with your friends in the afternoon or evening.
Another strategy that I personally took was to use the CLEP and DANTES tests to full advantage. That’s right - get college credit for testing on the materials. Some people believe you don’t learn anything by doing this but surprisingly, you do need to have some knowledge of the material. They are simply pass/fail tests and many colleges give you full credits for passing.

For example, I studied (unfortunately nowhere near as much as I should have) for about a month, took three tests over the two days and walked away with a semester’s worth of credits using nothing more than SparkNotes, the CLEP practice tests and a slightly-dated book on microeconomics. If you can, test out of as many classes you can on your degree track. This shortens the amount of time you spend in class by eliminating many of the less interesting classes.

In the one year that you would be sitting in a high-school classroom learning high-school material, or possibly even a couple AP classes, you can cram in 1 1/2 years worth of college. On your college breaks, have fun! Go out with your friends, work a little bit and make some money. Just study and plan on taking one or two CLEP/Dantes tests on your vacation. It doesn’t sound like much but you don’t have to do much more than pick up a book and read it before you go to sleep. The goal is to get your Associate Degree from your community college in 1 1/2 actual years, cutting 6 months from the defined community college time line.

With an Associate Degree under your belt, pick a University with an accelerated bachelor’s that will accept your Associates as meeting your basic requirements. Typically, you can have all of this done in a year and a half, taking two or three classes a semester. It goes fast. This means, by leaving high school early and using just a little bit of free time wisely, you can be done with a college degree by the time your friends are coming home from their first year in college at their respective universities. Where most kids are done with high school at 17/18, you can be done with college by 19/20, making good money, building up experience and then preparing for a grad school or climbing up the ladder.

My alma-mater has a new Bachelor’s degree program (C3) that allows you to have your entire degree done in three years. If you start at 16, you’re done by 19 or you can just keep going on through a Master’s program and start in the workforce with your friends a step (degree) ahead.

If you are really (really, really) motivated, you can visit the original “BA in 4 weeks” website here. Much of what I discussed as a means to obtaining an expedited degree is talked about in greater detail.