How do I start writing a college essay?

Answered

What you want to do is counterintuitive to the purpose of this blog and the members that are all trying their best to get into their top choice colleges.

There is no advantage whatsoever to having an associate's degree prior to applying to a 4-year highly selective college, especially Top 20 colleges like Ivys or elite college because you would be considered a transfer student and it is well known that it is virtually impossible to transfer into Harvard or MIT with a community college degree. (The success rate is 0.97% or something like that).

Also, none or little of your coursework would be considered equivalent to the Ivy core curriculum (e.g. Columbia's core curriculum as an example). Only AP examinations with scores of 5 are generally considered equivalent or eligible for acceleration credits (e.g.Yale university). And if you were interested in studying in a Pre-Professional program like Architecture (Cornell B.Arch 5 year degree) or the Wharton School, well none of your coursework would count since such schools have their own proprietary 1st and 2nd-year core classes that are mandatory. Much is true for UChicago and even top Liberal Arts Colleges.

If you have a particular reason why you think you will be at an advantage by the time you graduate having an Associates's degree besides the "flex" factor, I'd like to know especially if your end goal is to get into the best college possible.

The way I look at it, you will have to earn 60 to 100 college credits to get an associate's degree depending on what you major in. So if you are expecting to keep a 4.0 UWGPA fulfill all the checkboxes to be a top 4-year college candidate, honestly I don't' know how anyone can do both in the 2 years you have allotted for yourself. Being a top HS is a full-time job. Being a community college student is a full-time job.

The only reason this makes sense is if you really have a different goal than most HS students around the world which is to enter your vocation as soon as possible and forgo attending a top university.

I'll give you and the audience an analogy that perhaps frames my argument better. I think everyone on here wants to get into the best possible college sort of like training for the Olympics and being able to perform your best so you can Medal. It doesn't matter if you Medal because the most important thing is to qualify for the Olympics. If you are a runner, you train strategically with a coach and your team so you nearly peak at the Olympic qualifying race so you can make the team. Then you keep training so you peak at the Olympic races. But there is always a temptation to turn Professional and join the Nike Project or Brooks etc and get paid a salary to represent the shoe company. It's a different path. Some people go pro early but then miss out on the opportunity to represent their country at the Olympics. I see your goals being at odds with each other like training for the Olympics and going Pro at the same time.

Help me understand why you would want a bunch of HS kids who are grinding to get into the best possible college to help you on something none of them would ever do. Don't get me wrong. Many of the best students take college classes, dual enrollment, APs, IBs, etc but not to get a degree but rather to establish a track record or superior course rigor. The bonus is that small edge they have over someone that has weaker course rigor and that unknown bonus is whether or not their future college even has a generous policy of rewarding them for taking 10 or 15 APs classes. I know that if you apply to Williams, you get NADA credit for APs whether you take 1 or all 20. The point is that you get to be on the Williams Olympic team, not that you get a paycheck before you attend with a degree if that makes any sense.

I'd love to hear why you think this is a superior idea to what everyone else is striving for on CollegeVine.