Confusion persists among students about the two early graduation tracks the University offers, said Stephen Lassonde, deputy dean of the College. Almost all students who ask about the early graduation option are unaware that there are two different options, he said.
The accelerated graduation option has several marked differences from the advanced standing option, though both offer students the chance to graduate before their eighth semester. Accelerated graduation requires students to pay the last semester's worth of tuition to the University, whereas advanced standing does not.
Eligibility requirements for the two are also entirely different. To qualify for accelerated graduation, students need to demonstrate a strong academic record, curricular breadth and depth of study. Students who graduate early through advanced standing need to have earned three to six course credits of college-level work before their first year at the University for every semester that they plan not to take.
"Many (Program in Liberal Medical Education) students take time off between graduation and the first year of medical school for a variety of reasons," said Austin Ha '11.5. "Taking advanced standing seemed like the perfect way to take advantage of the IB credits I accrued in high school and to free up some time for fun and my interests in entrepreneurship and research."
Lassonde works with students who apply to the accelerated graduation track, but he refers students interested in advanced standing to Maitrayee Bhattacharyya, the associate dean of the college for diversity programs, who is also in charge of Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate credits. Only one or two students seek the accelerated graduation option every year, according to Lassonde.
But Lassonde said students who apply for accelerated graduation often have similar reasons to graduate early. Students who want to start medical school in the spring term but lack the course credits, for example, often use the accelerated graduation option.
