U.S. Teen Graduating College at the Age of 18 – Before She Even Finishes High School

A U.S. teen who was once told by her teacher that she had a learning disability and would never be successful academically has proven the teacher way wrong, graduating with a college degree at the age of 18 before she even receives her high school diploma.

Raven Osborne, a native of Gary, Indiana, is a high school senior at 21st Century Charter High School in Indiana, and is set to receive her high school diploma on May 22nd. By then, she will already be a college graduate – she is graduating this Friday with a Bachelors degree in Sociology and a minor in Early Childhood Education from Purdue University Northwest.

Raven says her high school requires all students to take college courses before they graduate. Starting in her high school sophomore year, she started taking college courses online, followed by a year worth of courses at a local community college, then two years at Purdue. She has taken enough credits to be included in this semester’s graduating class at Purdue Northwest.

Raven says juggling between high school and college courses has been tough at times, but persevered through the encouragement of her mother. “My mother always told me I could do whatever I wanted to do in life,” she says.

High school students who take college-level courses before graduating high school do so free of charge, meaning Raven completed her college education without paying a penny for it.

While her high school friends head to college in the Fall semester, Raven will start a new job as a college grad teaching at the same high school she is about to graduate from.