Stopping to Buy the Woods on a Snowy Evening

Inspired by the poem by Robert Frost

A Note from the Past: Early College?

Recently, two friends of mine from my high school - an underclassman currently in junior year, and a teacher - were apparently having a conversation which led to a note I had written in the past. The underclassman friend asked to see it, and in doing so reminded me that this note actually existed. So I read it again and felt like posting it, adding a few reflections to the end comparing it to where I am now. So without further ado, allow me to introduce you to Jonathan Love, December 2009.

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Several people have come up to me asking if I was going to go to college a year early; some actually wanting me to consider it, some just joking (I think), and some having heard it from someone else and asking if it was true. It's true that I was seriously considering going to college a year early, but I've decided not to; this note will give an overview of the reasons I was thinking about going, and why I finally decided against it. If you knew I was thinking about it, hopefully this answers your questions, and if you didn't know, well, now you do.

The main reason most people go to college early is because they feel they would get more out of a year of college than another year of high school. And I think it's true that if I went to college instead of completing grade 12, I'd probably learn a lot more and have a lot of opportunities to explore and venture further in knowledge. Going into college earlier would also mean completing college earlier, meaning I could get a good job or do what I wanted to do in life a year earlier than I normally would. As for whether I could, I think I'm able to get into college after my junior year ends; I have the SAT scores and most of the credits needed to get into most colleges. I may be missing a few courses needed to apply to the colleges I'd want to go to, but if I had made the decision to apply a year early to college when I first started thinking about it, I'm sure I would have been able to put in a bit of extra effort to pull together the necessary credits for getting into a college. You don't need a high school diploma to get into college, so graduation requirements wouldn't have been a big issue; I would just need to have the courses the individual college requires, and given my situation (SAT and AP scores, etc.) I probably could have even been exempted from a few of those. I probably could have made it into college, started in fall of 2010, and been fairly successful and enjoy it.

But I didn't.

There are several reasons for that choice. First of all, though I think I would be ready to enter college even now, I still think that I'll be even more prepared given another year of high school. There's still a lot at CAJ (Christian Academy in Japan for those that don't know it) that I haven't learned that will be quite useful to me in college. It's true that I've basically exhausted the math program here, so for that subject I'll have to look elsewhere, but for all the other subjects, there's still more to be learned here. I haven't gotten as much as I possibly could out of high school yet, so another year here won't be a waste of time. By completing another year of high school, I'll be able to enter the college with an extra advantage that I wouldn't have had if I went in a year early, and I might be able to get some better scholarships or get into some higher level schools than if I had gone in with a year less preparation.

Another reason I'm staying behind is because as much as I enjoy a fast-paced life, I don't want to rush it. At this point, it's far too late to start the college application process, but even if I had decided well before that I was going to apply early to college, it would have meant a frantic scramble for college apps, financial aid and scholarships, etc. etc., and I just felt that it wasn't really worth it. In the grand scheme of things, one year doesn't make a huge difference, and especially considering the previous point, that I'd have an extra advantage going into college with grade 12 under my belt, I think my life in the future won't be any worse going into college a year later. I want to enjoy the moment, to be able to live without excessive anxiety, and to just let life happen; I don't want to force my way through life at excessive speeds just to finish it all and not know what it was I even accomplished, or what I'm going to do with it.

That brings me to my next point; I don't really know what I want to do with my future yet. If I had a strong urge to go into medical or law school, for example, getting into college a year early would give me a step towards reaching that goal. But as it is, I have no specific academic goal to work towards, so I figure I'll just let life take me where it will. I'm thinking at this point that for my college career, I'll try and go in a direction that will let me get as much done as possible, but still give me a wide range of opportunities and not narrow me down too much; that way, I'll be able to try a lot of different options, and if I eventually do get a passion for a specific goal, I'll be able to reach it more easily. Whatever the case, entering college a year early won't really help me out here; I'll just let God lead me where he will. If he wants me to know exactly what I will be doing twenty years from now, he'll let me know so I can pursue that goal; until then, I'm quite happy with taking life slow; full, maybe, but not rushed.

Lastly, but by no means leastly, I like CAJ. A lot of people I know just can't stand high school, and I'm sure that if I were one of them, I would do everything within my power to get out of the system as quick as possible. But I feel really blessed that I get to go to CAJ for my schooling. CAJ is by no means perfect; far from it. CAJ leaves a lot to be desired in many ways, and there are other places I've been that have advantages that CAJ lacks. But out of any school I've been to (I've attended 4 schools besides CAJ and visited several others), I don't know of any place I would rather go to school. I could write a 1000+ word rant about this if I really wanted to (and I think I have, actually), but I'll just say that the teachers, the staff, the physical plant, the curriculum, the students, and the community of CAJ have all given me so much, and I want to make the most of the time here I'll get. Not only that, but I want to give back as much as I can as well. That's one reason I try to get involved in so many ways; I just want to do my best at giving back to those who have given me so much already. Missing out on my senior year here is not something I would willingly choose to do.

I'm looking forward to college; it's going to be an exciting next step in the journey. But there's no reason to rush to that next step; running through life only means that you get to the end faster. So to all fellow classmates and underclassmen (and faculty and staff): for better or for worse, I'm here to stay. See you around until June 2011.

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Back to May 2012 Jonathan. My thoughts now? Well, first of all, I'm really glad I decided to stay. So much happened during my senior year that I really couldn't imagine going without. It shaped me and taught me a lot, clarified my goals and purpose in life, and I was able to give back to the people in my school community in more ways than ever before. A year of many firsts, and of many more lasts; a year I would never wish to have gone without.

Secondly, while I didn't say this quite so bluntly in the actual text, one of my hopes was that by staying through senior year, I'd get that extra boost needed to get into an Ivy League school. And, well... that flopped. haha. But Grade 12 definitely changed my thoughts about college. Before, I didn't know what the plan for my life looked like, so I figured the best way to deal with that would be to get into as prestigious a place as possible so I could have more opportunities to start off with. But by fall of senior year, I still didn't know what the plan for my life looked like, and I still figured I'd try to go in a direction that just gave me a lot of opportunities for directions to follow, but I began to realize that a top-notch school really didn't offer me that much more than a not-quite-so-top-notch school - and when there's a nearly-top-notch school with a tenth of the tuition of the top-notch schools, what's wrong with going with the cheaper option? So I still applied to Harvard, Princeton, UChicago, but I really wasn't too stressed about the applications (maybe that's why I got waitlisted? :\). And when University of Toronto, my "safety" choice, became my only choice, I was totally fine with that. Who knows, maybe I wouldn't have gotten into UofT if I had skipped senior year? Or perhaps, I wouldn't have gotten in with as many scholarships as I did? It doesn't really matter, in the end. I am where I am, and God will take me where I need to go from here.

The interesting thing is that I'm in a similar situation now, with having to decide whether an extra year is worth it. By staying an extra year in high school, I amassed a large quantity of AP credits - I took 11 AP tests, and had I gone to the right school, I could have skipped an entire year of education with those. UofT only accepted 3 of the credits, but I'm still happy with that, because it fulfilled most of my breadth requirements (UofT requires students to take a few courses in a wide variety of subject areas) and set me more than a full semester ahead of the average. I'm currently easily on my way to finish my degree in three and a half years, and with a bit of an extra push, I could be done in three. But after talking with a few upperclassmen in the math department, I've actually been encouraged to stay the extra year. 

Why? Well, if I had a strong passion, a drive to reach a certain point in life by a certain time, or if I had really pressing financial concerns, that would be one thing... but otherwise, staying a full four years is worth the time and money, because it gives me the chance to get to know professors better. And getting to know professors is crucial; not only are they potential recommendation-letter-writers, but they can teach you things one-on-one; they can give you the boost you need to get into a very difficult field of study or research position; they can put in a good word for you when you need it; and of course, they're just awesome people with astonishing amounts of information in their brains that they're just dying to share with others. Why wouldn't you want to spend as much time as you could getting to know them, and letting them get to know you? The higher level courses are the ones where this interaction happens the most - best to take advantage of those upper years, rather than just fly through them. Plus, UofT allows undergrad students to take graduate-level courses if they have the prerequisites, and there are literally thousands of undergrad courses offered as well, so it's not like I'm going to run out of courses to take. Again, I'm in no hurry to get anywhere. Not yet at least. If God wants me to get moving, I'm listening.