<p>I am a junior in a private school in CT and just turned into 17. In my grade, there are at least three 19 year old juniors. They have better GPA and extracurricular activities, but I don't think it is fair to have students who are 2 YEARS OLDER than me in my grade. </p>
<p>It looks like they are applying same colleges I am, and colleges don't accept a lot of kids from same school. My rank got lower and they are taking the prizes I am supposed to receive. I am half frustrated and half sad.</p>
<p>Does age matter in admission? Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>Stop worrying about other kids and just worry about yourself. If they failed a grade, yes maybe that would affect admission. If they just entered school late they wil not be held for that.</p>
<p>What difference does it make if they're two years old than you, they're still in your grade, so unless there's some circumstance, they've had the same number of years of schooling so you can't claim they're more educated. Plus, you should consider your youth an advantage because you retain more when you're younger plus you should naturally have more endurance. And EC's?!?! Quit complaining, that's just how passionate you are, so unless people are only voting these 19yrs as class president just because they're older, you have no case.</p>
<p>I don't think they consider age in admissions unless they failed a grade.</p>
<p>I'm curious though - how do you have so many 19-year-old juniors? ALL of the juniors at my school are 16 or just turning 17. We don't even have any seniors who are 19.</p>
<p>Btw, I just turned 17 and I'm a SENIOR. I'm younger than most of my peers, but I've never thought that just because people are older, they should have a better GPA or extracurriculars. We've had the same amount of education - why should they? Take it upon yourself to improve your GPA, your rank, etc. Those 19 y/os are not getting better grades than you simply because they are older - they are also working for them. It's not about thier age, it's about how much YOU want it and how much effort you'll put into it. </p>
<p>Why should he worry about how old other kids are? Looking for excuses already before anything has even happened...I am sure if they were held back that it would affect them, If not...its not a problem at all.</p>
<p>I am not complaining! I am trying to worry about myself. I am angry that my class rank is not as high as them, and I really try hard. You guys have no idea what I am going through. AND I JUST ASKED YOU, "DOES AGE MATTER IN ADMISSION?" NOT "CAN YOU LISTEN TO MY COMPLAINS?"</p>
<p>it is an interesting point though. Those 19 year olds will have 2 more years of potential ECs to put under their belts, regardless of anything else.</p>
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it is an interesting point though. Those 19 year olds will have 2 more years of potential ECs to put under their belts, regardless of anything else.
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<p>Not quite, though they will potentially have two more years of experience in terms of sports and perhaps some outside of school EC. But considering the bulk of a student's EC's, basically school related EC's (especially on CC where we don't find as many athletes), this doesn't work since they've also been in high school for three years so they haven't had the opportunity to be in these EC's two more years than someone else. And there's definitely no way they were left back because then they wouldn't have high GPA's so...</p>
<p>I'm a 17 year old senior and I'm at the top of my class. Their age is not helping their class ranks and GPA's. These are higher because they have better grades. Why should they be penalized for being older? Did they chain themselves to their toilets and refuse to start pre-k until they were 7?</p>
<p>a lot of international students would enter high school 1 or 2 years lower than their age (ie, a student from korea who is 17 should be a jr, but will enter hs as a sophomore or even as a freshman so they can have more time to adjust and learn english and whatnot). i'm using korea as an example because i've seen many of these cases back in my high school and all of them i knew were koreans.
i don't think it makes much of a difference. you might know more but that doesn't make you smarter or anything.</p>
<p>I agree with citygirlsmom. It seems strange. Most likely would be combo of starting late and being held back a year. If I were an adcom (which I'm not) it would be a red flag to me unless there were some explanation like riyam said. I think there could be some advantages. If the student were a star varsity athlete, for example, there could be a definite advantage, esp size wise compared to younger classmates. Some parents also have kids repeat a grade at a different school to gain an advantage. I'd want to know why he/she was 19 in 11th grade. I don't think we can just totally dismiss the OP's concerns.</p>
<p>Why would a student's age be a red flag to an adcom if they were 20 when applying as opposed to 18. The school transcripts are there for the adcom to see that they spent 4 years in H.S. like most others. What happened in Junior High, or Elementary is irrelevant.</p>
<p>I did notice though, in my son's case, there were boys in his class who were 2 years older, and when I asked the parents, they actually responded that they sent Johnny to school at 7 so that he would have an advantage athletically/physically, as well as be smarter than the others !!!!!!! Uggghh. This does tend to happen with parents of boys.</p>
<p>uggh exactly. Chocoholic, I guess my point is, that it is possible that some of these kids have spent more than 4 years in high school. I would want to know why.</p>
<p>I find it kind of icky that parents do that....when you have a 7 year old in first grade with some 5 year olds, there is a diffenent difference, and in HS, a 16 yo vs a 14 yo as freshman?</p>
<p>having 2 years age difference or a year and a half in lower grades can cause issues- being bored, bullying, etc</p>
<p>Life is never fair, I know that, but to hold your child back so they have such an advantage is unfair to the child and to others</p>