Ok I give her major props for doing this but we had to have MAJOR sign-offs and paperwork completed if we wanted to take more than 17 units a semester and even then we could only add one more class without having to fill out MORE paperwork with more signatures so I do not understand how she was able to take 27 credits and still be functioning???


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18310636/?GT1=9246


BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. — A 19-year-old suburban-Detroit resident is on track to graduate from The University of Michigan after just a year of study.

Nicole Matisse, of Bloomfield Hills, is to officially graduate in the summer with a bachelor's degree in psychology.

As a student at Lahser High School, Matisse had exhausted the curriculum by her junior year. Between the exams she passed on eight advanced placement courses and the eight classes she took at Oakland Community College, she had amassed enough credits to enter the university last fall as a junior.

"When I got to U-M, I only took 19 credits, and I was bored and craved more credits," she told The Detroit News for a Wednesday story. "So even when I took 27 credits this semester, I felt I could have added even more."

'Determined young lady'
It's unclear whether any other students have done what Matisse will accomplish this year, but Donna Wessel Walker, assistant director of the honors program, said she's never seen it happen.

"She's taking in one semester the course load that most people take in two," Wessel Walker said. "She is one determined young lady."

Matisse's next step is to start as a first-year student at the Wayne State University law school in Detroit.

Wow!! I give her so much credit. I had to jump through hoops for months to just take 2 more classes in a semester.

i took 18 hours for 3 semesters and it wasn't that bad i could've taken another class or two even but then again my major wasn't a biology major or something like that.

oh yeah I have taken 6 classes before as well and could have added another one but if I am correct 27 units is equivelant to 9 classes...I mean go her but she do anything besides school and sleep (if that :P )

WOW! :inshock That is a huge load.

Well obviously she must be an extremely intelligent young woman to be bored with 19 courses. I am very impressed with her hard work.

oh i wanted to add...she's getting a degree in psych right? well almost ALL of those classes overlap together in subject matter. not trying to undermine her accomplishments but it's one of the easier degrees to take large amounts of classes in

I am very impressed with this. She must be one determined and intelligent woman.

oh i wanted to add...she's getting a degree in psych right? well almost ALL of those classes overlap together in subject matter. not trying to undermine her accomplishments but it's one of the easier degrees to take large amounts of classes in

A lot of psych classes do overlap (mine most definetly do!) but maybe since it's such a large school, the classes are more diverse. If I had to take so many psych courses in one semester, which I'm sure she has to, I would loose my mind because it gets repetitive.

i agree kara, i'm a psych major too

:shock wow. props to her! I'm taking 12 hours and I'm not sure if I'll make it to the end of the semester!

That's still darn impressive!!!

That's amazing... I wonder if the reason she was so far ahead was becase she was able to clep some courses?

Congrats to her! My roommate in college graduated in 2 years! So I guess this girl had her beat. She did basically what she did and took college courses while she was in high school. I was so happy for her because she was working, took 19 credits a semester and still had time to go partying on Thursday. I love that girlie. :)

i took ap bio and ap english in high school and if i passed the tests i wouldnt need those classes when i started college and could take the next level...and if she took 8 of them geez thats a lot of classes she didnt need to take or got to take a higher up class.

Either way the girl worked her ass off and accomplished something most people would not even try to do. AP courses are not easy and require a lot of work & the tests are not easy. In order to CLEP out you still have to study and know the material to pass the test, so that is still work. I find psych to be a hard complicated major so I am sure taking as many classes as she did is still a very big thing.

Wow, how awesome. I took a crapload of AP courses and such and still only started as a sophomore.....

Wow, how awesome. I took a crapload of AP courses and such and still only started as a sophomore.....

she also did community college classes to get her basics out of the way.

Wow. That's pretty incredible. I'm taking 18 hours next semester and I'm freaking out about it. I wonder if she'll ever regret not having a normal college experience.

Good for her :)

I dont think I understand the US college system - is 27 credits 27hrs of lectures or 27hrs including the work you have to do at home? Or does it mean something else entirely?

I dont think I understand the US college system - is 27 credits 27hrs of lectures or 27hrs including the work you have to do at home? Or does it mean something else entirely?

If I understand it correctly one class can have 1 or more credits attached to it. I think when looking at the community college here there were some that had like 5 credits for one class. In all honesty if I had been able to take college classes while in high school it would only have taken one year for me to get a BA as well. My BA programm was doable in 2 years if you took a full class load per semester.

If I understand it correctly one class can have 1 or more credits attached to it. I think when looking at the community college here there were some that had like 5 credits for one class. In all honesty if I had been able to take college classes while in high school it would only have taken one year for me to get a BA as well. My BA programm was doable in 2 years if you took a full class load per semester.

I was thinking that too, which is why I was sure I'd misunderstood!

Hummmm i wish i was that smart.

I dont think I understand the US college system - is 27 credits 27hrs of lectures or 27hrs including the work you have to do at home? Or does it mean something else entirely?

the way my semester course work was was: if you are taking intro to psych and it is a 3 credit hour class you spend 3 hours of time in class a week (that can be mwf for an hour in class, or tth for an hour and a half). the way advisors "advise" is that you spend an equivalent amount of time out of class that you study for the time that you are in class. so yes if you were in class for 27 hours a week you would be studying 27 hours a week

I would've killed for a 27hr week at uni! Over here it depends on what course you're studying for - students studying the arts tend to have fewer hours per week than students studying the sciences. For all of my degrees I had an average of 35hrs per week in class, and we were advised to put in as much time out of class as in. It was/is very intensive!

sonia was that for your undergrad?

It was for all the degrees I studied for, including the BMedSci

That is pretty cool.

I guess I am in the minority, but IMO college is about more than just rushing through classes as fast as you can, there are so many other opportunities like lectures, research projects, studying abroad, volunteering, clubs and just socializing. Speeding up to graduate in three years is understandable, but to me one is crazy. If you aren't sufficiently challenged by the work (and money isn't a huge issue) you could add other majors, TA for a professor, take graduate-level courses, do an independent study or transfer to a more challenging school. Well, to each their own, but that wouldn't have been my choice.

I guess I am in the minority, but IMO college is about more than just rushing through classes as fast as you can, there are so many other opportunities like lectures, research projects, studying abroad, volunteering, clubs and just socializing. Speeding up to graduate in three years is understandable, but to me one is crazy. If you aren't sufficiently challenged by the work (and money isn't a huge issue) you could add other majors, TA for a professor, take graduate-level courses, do an independent study or transfer to a more challenging school. Well, to each their own, but that wouldn't have been my choice.

Not everyone that goes to UNI is looking for that kind of experiance some want to finish quickly and go to work.

It dosn't surprise me. I mean- i knew a girl who was in uni when she was 14.

Good on em.

Not everyone that goes to UNI is looking for that kind of experiance some want to finish quickly and go to work.

we don't normally agree but i agree with you on this.