Students who graduate early still enter a tough job market. Here's how to make sure that fast-tracking school doesn't compromise your career.
Kevin Lee graduated from college early at 20 with a full-time job already lined up.
John "JT" Erle and Kevin Lee both graduated from college early at age 20. While Erle focused on cramming as many college-level classes as he could in high school so that he could finish his degree in just two years, Lee prioritized doing internships and recruiting for a full-time job while he was still in school.
Only one of them started their career right after graduation.
Both achieved something many college students aspire to: Erle graduated debt-free, and Lee left school with a job that kickstarted his profession. But their different paths left them unevenly positioned to face an entry-level job market that increasingly expects work experience and demonstrated skills alongside a degree.
Their stories reveal the trade-offs of early graduation: Every semester saved in tuition is also potentially one less semester to gain the internships and connections that help launch careers. And a growing number of students are confronting that compromise at an earlier age.
Graduating 'as fast as possible'
Over the past decade, the number of bachelor's degree graduates age 18 to 20 has risen by 27,400 compared to the 2015-16 academic year - effectively doubling their share of all bachelor's degree earners today. Colleges are responding to this interest in graduating quickly, with at least 70 institutions already offering or actively considering three-year bachelor's degree programs, according to the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.
Part of the reason more students are graduating early is because it's easier than in previous generations to stack up college credits before they even step on campus. During the 2024-25 academic year, 52,500 students under 18 earned certificates or associate degrees - nearly four times as many as a decade earlier, according to a National Student Clearinghouse research report. Much of the growth has been fueled by dual-enrollment programs, which allow high-school students to earn college credits directly.
JT Erle started taking advanced classes for free college credit in high school. He realized in his junior year that stacking credits while they were still free would mean paying less for his undergraduate experience, so he continued to push himself, piling on Advanced Placement (AP) and dual-enrollment credits. By the time he graduated from high school, he already had two associate degrees - one in art and another in science.
So when Erle enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he was already holding 91 of the 120 credit hours he needed for his degree. Two years later, he graduated debt-free with a bachelor's in political science and a minor in philosophy. He estimates this saved his family as much as $40,000 in college costs.
"I didn't want to have to pay off student loans for the next 15 years or so," Erle said about his decision to graduate "as fast as possible."
School work vs. work experience
But because Erle wasn't getting a free ride and he didn't want to take on student-loan debt, he had to work. He delivered pizzas until 1 a.m. up to four nights a week during the academic year, not "getting very much sleep at all," he said. Instead of taking on summer internships or job-shadowing opportunities between semesters, he worked a retail gig to pay for college.
And if anything would derail his debt-free aspirations, then Erle wouldn't take the opportunity. He turned down assisting a professor with data analysis for a book, for instance, because it would have required substantial changes to his class schedule that would sidetrack his early graduation. The importance of career opportunities like networking and interning just wasn't top of mind for Erle.
"I unfortunately kind of skipped over that part," he said, "and I'm realizing how important that is now."
Graduating early didn't protect him from the harsh reality being faced by degree holders across the board: a job market that their higher education didn't prepare them for.
"I didn't realize how unforgiving the market was prior to graduating," Erle said. "I kind of just grew up in a mindset of being told, 'Once you have that paper that says you've done it, you're set.'"
The unemployment rate for recent college graduates age 22 to 27 was about 5.7% in the first quarter of 2026, hovering around its highest level since August 2021, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
And the number of entry-level degree holders who are underemployed - meaning they're doing a job that doesn't typically require a degree - is even higher: The New York Fed reported the underemployed rate for recent college graduates at 41.5%.
This may point to a mismatch where graduates aren't building experience in the industries suited to their skills or desires. Among 2025 college graduates surveyed by Cengage Group, just 30% secured full-time jobs related to their degree, down from 41% of 2024 graduates.
Today, Erle is back home with his parents in Vass, N.C., sending out hundreds of applications for full-time employment. He had hoped to become a political or policy analyst after graduation, but fierce competition in the entry-level job market has forced him to broaden his search to areas like human resources.
"Now that I've graduated, I think it's less about what I want to do, and more so what I can do," Erle said.
Fast-track to success
Building early industry experience may offer a leg up for breaking into today's challenging entry-level job market. And some students, like Kevin Lee, are following this fast-track to success.
A 2026 survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers found that 44% of graduating seniors had received at least one job offer before commencement. Among students who had completed paid internships and applied for jobs, 55% had received at least one offer.
That could explain why Lee's path unfolded differently. He also graduated college at 20, but decided to accelerate his degree only after he had secured a job he wanted.
Lee entered the University of California, Berkeley, in 2021 expecting to spend four years to earn his degree in business administration. He spent his early years joining his school's business-focused clubs and preparing for job recruitment as an underclassman, hoping to land a full-time job offer before he graduated.
By his sophomore year, he secured an internship with software company Atlassian $(TEAM)$. That internship led to a full-time return offer with a $100,000-plus salary that started in 2024, one year before he had originally expected to graduate.
Lee then focused on graduating early, packing his remaining coursework into two dense semesters - taking seven classes during one of them.
"My objective postgrad was to just get a job," Lee said. "If I had a job waiting for me, then I didn't really see a longer time in college as necessary."
Lee's financial situation was also different. He had a generous financial-aid package, along with money that he saved from a personal YouTube venture to pay for college. That meant he could focus on internships for direct industry experience while in college.
This came with tough trade-offs, too. He missed graduating alongside two of his closest friends. But during his first year after college, he was able to afford taking his mother on a trip to Japan.
"While there were some memories I missed out on in college, I feel like I made so many other memories as a result," Lee said.
Looking back now, Lee says the bet paid off. After nearly a year and a half at Atlassian, he moved into a senior marketing communications role at Microsoft $(MSFT)$. Lee believes the extra year of work experience helped him land a position that would have been difficult to secure as a new graduate.
Tips for graduating early
There's a critical difference between Erle and Lee's early-graduation journeys, according to Beth Hendler-Grunt, founder and president of career-coaching firm Next Great Step.
"Your GPA and where you went to college - those are not the only credentials that employers look for," Hendler-Grunt said. What employers want is proof of skills demonstrated through internships, part-time work and campus involvement, she noted. A degree can show that a candidate completed an academic program, but not what that person can do in a workplace.
Cengage Group's survey found that the skills that employers want and those that educators instill are often at odds. Employers rated job-specific abilities first, while educators ranked them last and prioritized broader "soft" skills. Graduates themselves ranked personal referrals and internship experience as more decisive in securing employment than the degree itself.
Hendler-Grunt's advice: "If you want to graduate early, then you need to come into your freshman year doing some of the things that typically a junior might do," she said. That includes visiting career services, attending job fairs and building relevant work experience potentially years before your fellow classmates begin thinking seriously about recruiting.
Graduates who have already entered the job market without much experience can still fill those gaps, Hendler-Grunt said. They can pursue certifications tied directly to the role they want, shadow professionals, undertake projects that produce work samples and contact alumni for advice and introductions.
Erle still believes graduating early can make sense, particularly for students trying to avoid debt. But he now attaches a condition to that advice.
"I can't fault people from wanting to graduate early - I mean, I did it myself," Erle said. "But if you are going to do it, just make sure you're prepared for what comes after."
-Julian Torres
Comments