Some of you may know, but many of you probably don’t, that I graduated college when I was 16. I skipped junior high and high school, and I entered into my bachelor’s program at the age of 12. I studied online while living here in Japan. Graduating early gave me quite a few opportunities that have led to my life being where it is today. If I hadn’t graduated at such a young age, I could not imagine the difference in who I would be and how my life would be structured. I had much more room to grow and develop as a person, and I have had several years to figure out who I am that I would not have had otherwise. While this extra time helped my find myself, it came at a cost. I had a very limited social life during my college years, and my Japanese learning didn’t truly start until after I graduated. In Japan, if you’re around the ages of 12 to 16, you’re expected to have most of your friendships revolve around school – either your classmates or other members of the clubs that you are in. As a result, it makes it very hard to develop new friendships as someone who isn’t attending a school locally. This was probably the biggest drawback to an otherwise positive experience.

To focus on the positives, I traded the social life aspect for an opportunity to develop certain life skills more quickly. Thanks to my online coursework, I learned how to effectively research and find information that I wanted online. I also became a more confident typist. After graduating, I had the advantage of being able to spend two full years learning Japanese without any other distractions. Additionally, my college degree has allowed me to work the job I am currently working. With it, I’ve been able to forge a happy life for myself and find a path towards a bright future. If it weren’t for finishing college early, I am certain II would have had my hands too full with my studies to properly discover my path in life. It also gets me quite a bit of respect from people, and it lets them understand me better. My lifestyle and how serious I am as a person can often be surprising to people I meet, but knowing that I graduated college early allows people to make sense of how different I am from their preconceptions about what a person my age should be like.