Cora has been an Early College student at Nashua Community College since Fall 2022.

A Brookline resident, Cora was a homeschool student and enrolled at NCC for higher level math courses. “I’ve always been interested in math classes, and eventually my mom was like ‘I can’t teach you any more about math’,” she said, speaking in January 2025.

She knew about Early College from her older siblings who also took courses at NCC, so she signed up and began working through an Associate of Science degree in Mathematics.

Cora graduated high school in spring 2024. Now 18 years old, she is only two courses away from graduating NCC with her Mathematics degree this May.

“I’ve always enjoyed math, and I knew wanted to do something math related. I’ll finish my math degree here, and probably do a bachelor’s degree in math and then a master’s in meteorology, or something else math related.”

So far, she’s got her sights set on completing her bachelor’s in New Hampshire, and is leaning toward Plymouth State University.

Early College students can choose online or in-person classes, and Cora took a mix of both. “Most of my math and science classes have been on campus. I took pre-calculus online my first semester here, and I’ve taken a few humanities classes online.”

High-school aged students can take up to two Early College courses per academic year for free through the Dual and Concurrent Enrollment Scholarship program. Cora was able to use the scholarship toward her Early College classes before graduating high school.  

“I really enjoyed the fact that the classes are so diverse, it’s fun. It’s been a really great experience coming here.”

On whether it was unusual enrolling in college during high school, she said, “It was weird at first because I was younger than most of my classmates, but I’ve met a lot of other early college students here, and it’s been a great experience.”

Cora’s advice for high school students considering Early College is to “go for it!”

“It really helps you get better and understand what’s it like going to a four-year college without having to take that full class load to start with. I definitely recommend this experience to anyone, I think the community colleges are such great places.”

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