Hi, I’m Yash Thapliyal—a 19-year-old (almost) graduate in Computer Science from the University of Colorado Boulder. With just about a month left before I officially graduate, I wanted to lay out exactly how I completed a 4-year degree in 2. Yes, it took a lot of hard work—but I truly believe it’s doable for a lot of people. If you’re someone who wants to break the system and bend the rules a bit, keep reading.
A quick list of reasons on why I chose to do this:
Saved ~$120,000 in tuition.
Got to learn interesting content much sooner.
I want to start applying my skills ASAP.
I’ll write separately about my personal reflections on this path, the CS degree’s future, and where I think this leads. This post is just about how to do it.
AP credits are the most overpowered cheat code when starting college. At most out-of-state schools, a single class costs ~$3,000. An AP test? Around $40. And instead of 16 weeks of lectures, you’re looking at one 3-hour exam.
Here’s the philosophy I’m working off: it doesn’t take 16 weeks to learn a course’s content. It takes however long you need—and for many people, that’s a fraction of the time.
Pro tip: You can still take AP exams in the form of CLEP exams after enrolling in college. If you’re missing something, register and knock it out.
Second cheat code: community college.
If your high school offers dual enrollment, you might be able to take courses for free. Even if not, community college tuition is a fraction of university prices. The real hack? Transfer policies.
Many universities accept 1:1 course transfers. This means a quarter-system CC class (3 months) can count as a semester-long university course (4+ months). With planning, you can effectively double your pace.
And you don’t need to stick to intro-level classes. I took a second-year systems course in high school and even got an ethical hacking class to count toward upper-division CS credit at CU.
Once you know where you're going to college, reverse-engineer your entire degree plan.
I’m talking:
Look up the school’s transfer credit portal (CU Boulder uses Transferology)
Read the degree audit line by line
Plan out every course, prereq, and elective—then match those to classes you can take now
For example, I dropped an assembly class that wouldn’t transfer and instead took psych to fulfill a science prereq. Keep an eye on AP scores to avoid duplication—my Calc BC and CC Calc C credit conflicted, but I needed Calc C as a prerequisite for Calc D, so I made it work.
The transfer process is messy, but also flexible. Petition, email advisors, ask for prereq waivers. You're technically a transfer student—rules bend for you. You're not gaming the system, you're playing the game better than most people knew you could.
So you’re enrolled. You might technically be a first-year, but thanks to your transfer credits, you’ll be taking classes alongside juniors and seniors. This is where the resistance starts.
People—advisors, peers, professors—will tell you your course load is “too much,” or that “this class is really hard to take with that one.” Smile and nod. Then go do it anyway.
Know the difference between what’s “recommended” and what’s “possible.” You’re not doing this because it’s easy. You’re doing it because it’s worth it.
If you believe you can take on hard classes, maintain a social life, and still do your own thing—you're right. Push yourself. Be greedy. You can have more.
Here’s a secret: most schools don’t know what to do with summer.
At CU, summer is broken into Maymester, Session A, Session B, and Augmester. These overlap slightly, but with planning, you can run 13+ credits without ever taking more than two classes at once.
Many are online and asynchronous. And some of the best gems are hidden in the continuing education catalog.
CU CS pro tip: Summer CSPB (professional track) classes are open to undergrads. They’re designed for working adults, so they’re lean, practical, and less drawn-out than their semester counterparts.
I finished an entire semester's worth of credits in the summer while working part-time. If I wasn’t working, I could’ve done more. And since no one tries to overload summer, advisors are usually chill about credit caps. You’ll likely be the first person testing the limits.
With all this stacked credit, you might think you’re done planning. But things will go sideways. That’s fine.
The beauty of building your own degree track is that you can pivot when needed. If you understand the structure of your program and the cracks in the system, you can find new ways through.
Example: I wasn’t admitted to CU as a CS major—just exploratory studies. To transfer, I needed two math classes and one science class, which meant I couldn’t take most upper-division CS courses. Keyword: most. I still got into a graduate-level wireless systems course and a security special topics class because whoever set the prereqs forgot to check for major restrictions.
You’re not on a set path. You’re sailing in uncharted waters. Get good at spotting loopholes and talking to the right people.
With all of these different paths, here is what my credit distribution and credit count by year looks like. Only about 50% of my credits required to graduate came from the institution I am graduating from. You can find a complete breakdown of each of my classes at the bottom of this post.
I’m really glad I chose this path—it showed me that the standard way isn’t always the best fit. I put in a lot of work doing what I love (computer science), and while CU Boulder’s CS program left a lot to be desired in terms of quality, I still had a full and meaningful college experience. Between clubs, side projects, internships, study abroad, friends, and travel, I feel like I was able to squeeze a lot out of a short amount of time.
Shameless plug: I’m currently looking for post-grad opportunities. If you’re hiring, feel free to reach out—chances are, if you’ve read this far, you know I’m someone who works hard, thinks independently, and isn’t afraid to take the unconventional route.
I’m planning to publish more soon, so if this resonated with you, drop a comment or follow along. Would love to hear from you.