Here’s some fun stuff: whenever you add another condition to something, you will (probably) decrease the quantity of that something. For example, let’s say you’re at a football game, and you say, “Everyone who is going to vote for Donald Trump, stand up.” Let’s say 15% of the people at the game stand up. Now let’s say after, you ask, “Everyone who is going to vote for Donald Trump and is a good person, stand up.” It’s very, very likely that the amount of people at the game who would stand up would be less than 15%. If you had to bet money on what the percentage would be, you’d be betting foolishly if you said 15%, and you’d be downright wrong if you said 16%—if it were me, based on the question, I’d say 0%. This is what happens when you add another condition to something.

I say this in regards to getting into Running Start: there were multiple conditions for you to get into Running Start. As I already said, there was the 3.0 GPA, passing Algebra II (I think with a B), and then the accuplacer.

Each condition knocked a very good chunk of the previous amount of people who were eligible out. If I had to guess, here are the percentages of how many people got booted from being eligible for the program.

First thing is the 3.0 GPA. This is a tough guess for me because I’m not sure what the average GPA for a high schooler would be at my high school. Luckily, Google tells me the average GPA for a high schooler is a 3.0. So let’s just assume for simplicity’s sake that half of my class had below a 3.0 and the other half had above a 3.0. Eligible: 150/300.

Then there’s the Algebra II requirement. From what I recall, there was only two advanced math classes in our grade, and with two math classes of 30 people, that’s 60 people that are eligible for Running Start. But there was also the fact that people could take the class over the summer before Sophomore year. I wouldn’t say a lot of people did this, so I’ll put that at 15 people. Eligible: 75/300.

Then there’s the college accuplacer. Now, I have to factor in who actually wanted to take the accuplacer because there were people who didn’t care to go into the program, so they didn’t even take the test. Eligible: 50/300.

As for the accuplacer, I think that knocked down the numbers a good amount more. The test consisted of three subjects: math, reading, and English. We all were told by people who took the test (and by our counselors) that the math portion was the toughest part, so I wasn’t worried about the reading and English portions. Luckily, I had always been pretty good at math, but I was still really nervous.

This was the biggest test of my life at that point in my life (I still think it was my most nerve wracking test ever), and I studied my ass off for it. I bought an accuplacer study app for $2 bucks while I also studied a free online study guide that I completed at least two times. I studied so hard because if I didn’t do good enough on the test, I would have to wait til the next year to retake the test, which would suck because that’d only allow me to get one year of college underneath my belt (1 year shy of an Associate degree of Science ). Getting into the program would have a big impact on the future of my life, so I knew I needed to make sure I did great on the test to assure my entry into the program.

So Sophomore year, when the time came, everyone got on a bus to make a 30 minute drive to Rock Valley College where everyone would take the test. The test didn’t have a time limit, so we could work on it for as long as we wanted to. I had never been a nervous test taker, but that day I felt a little flustered when I started to take the test. But I didn’t freak out too much because I felt pretty confident that I knew my stuff.

What’s interesting was that there were three subjects on the test, and the subject math actually had two parts: a regular math portion and a college mathematics portion. When I got done with the test, I talked with everyone about their test. And about half of the people didn’t see the college mathematics portion after they finished their regular mathematics part, yet I had seen that part.

Several days later when the counselor at my high school called me down to talk with me about my results, he revealed to me that the college mathematics portion was completely irrelevant. But getting to that part showed that you did really good on the regular math portion. So that meant the portion of the test I was most worried about got its ass kicked by me. And the counselor revealed to me that I did also did great on the reading and English portion. I was in the program!

But a lot of people didn’t do as well. I knew a person who was one point away from getting into the program. I think the test got rid of 20 more people. Eligible: 30/300.

But then there’s the actual not wanting to do Running Start. One of my friends at the time was telling me about how much he wanted to do the program, and he passed the test and everything. So when I started the program Junior year, I was expecting to see him at the college. I didn’t see him, but I just assumed we had different schedules. Then one day Cali, my girlfriend who I left behind at high school, told me she seen him walking down the hallways. So there were a few people who pulled out last minute like him. Eligible: 25/300.

Awesome! So 25 people graduated? Hell no. Some people thought Running Start would be the opportunity to skip school whenever they wanted, eat Pancheros every day, and not do a lot of their homework. Sure, there might’ve been some other reasons, but the average case revolved around these reasons. A lot of people dropped the first semester or the second one, but the ones who remained we knew would graduate. There might’ve been one or two who dropped half way through, but those were very special circumstances. Graduated: 11/300. (I know for certain 11 people graduated from Running Start, but I’m not sure if 300 is an accurate number of the students at my high school or the amount of students who graduated from high school. It’s a good estimate though.)

So about 1 out of 30 students from the class of 2015 at Belvidere High School graduated with an Associate degree of [blank]. *Fill in blank with Science or Arts* One of those choices might’ve consisted of much more maths and sciences than the other (*cough* and one might’ve been much harder *cough*).

So getting into the program was tough and completing the program was even tougher, but what is even more important is the knowledge I got from the program. The Associate degree that I have is supposed to represent some type of knowledge I got from the program. Luckily, I didn’t bullshit the degree, so there is some knowledge behind the degree. And knowing that knowledge will help you understand where I’m at now as a Full Sail game dev student.