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Comment by aidenn0 | Hacker News Reader

When I was in undergrad (20ish years ago) it was absolutely possible for a motivated student to graduate at a highly accelerated rate. I know someone who had approximately 5 semesters worth of classes done at the end of his freshman year, having taken about 40 credits worth of classes each semester (12 credits was considered "full time" and you needed to average slightly more than that per semester to graduate in 4 years in most degrees).

He was able to do this because:

1. Only foreign language classes and lab sciences had class-participation requirements

2. All classes published a syllabus so where possible he could start the major projects early

3. Most of the lower-division classes were a joke to a smart and motivated person anyways.

4. He convinced an academic advisor to sign off on it (this was arguably the hardest part).

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At a lot of schools, you can take CLEP tests to get out of (especially) 100 and 200 level courses. Take the test, pay a (somewhat lower) rate for the credit without taking the actual class, and it's done.

If you're capable of completing 5 semesters worth in 2 semesters, you're probably capable of passing several of those tests with only a little studying over a Summer.

At this Univiersity, at this time, you could not take CLEP tests for credit in any classes that were in the same school as your major. So e.g. a Physics major (school of science) could not get credit for the e.g. Math and Chemistry (also school of science) requirements without signing up for the actual course.

There were other classes without any official CLEP, so the process was to convince a board of professors to orally examine you on a day that they'd rather be with their family on vacation or doing research.

Most colleges are a "scam". When doing my degree I tested out of the maximum number of classes which, in my opinion, is infuriating and a perfect example of how dishonest the industry is. If you know the material you should get the degree.

That, in my opinion, is how a merit based education should work. Instead, our system asks: Do you have the support system to and finances to enable you to spend 4 years without earning an income to complete a degree program?

Impressive! How many credits did a "normal" class (like linear algebra or calculus I) have? Or how many classes did he have to take to get 40 credits in one semester? The exam taking phase must have been hell :P

The best I once did was only 48 credits (with the baseline for full-time study being 30 per semester, "normal" class giving 6 credits, european university so only a 3 year bachelors degree) and I was very tired after that semester :D

3 credits was a normal lecture, 1 credit was a normal lab; 4 credits for e.g. freshman chemistry which was a lecture plus a lab.

Wow, ~13 classes in one semester! That's amazing! :D

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