<p>Hi,
I'm currently 15 and a half and finishing my junior year of high school. When I enter college, I'll be 16, turning 17 in October. The high school that I'm at is on a university campus, and I've been taking a lot of college classes with other students and have, so far, successfully blended in with the "older kids". However, do you think that in college it would be awkward for me to be rooming with an 18 or 19 year old when I'm 16 or 17? Should I defer and study abroad for a year? How big of a deal do you think it is to be younger when you're in college?
Thanks,
Melanie</p>
<p>One of my friends in college turned 18 in mid february our freshman year. the only issues that came up were:
1. it was tough for him to get into downtown parties where they were 18 to enter
2. he needed to buy a pack of cigarettes for pledge and he needed a friend to buy him a pack</p>
<p>Other than that he really faced no problems. One problem you will face, though, is senior year when all of your friends will be 21 and want to go to bars you will be too young to go with them (unless you invest in a really good fake).</p>
<p>It might be a good idea to defer for a year though because you will be graduating at the age of 20. That might be perceived as young by some employers or graduate schools. I wouldn't be the expert on that though, so you would want to maybe ask people in the grad school forums or the parents forum.</p>
<p>cool man ur gonna be in the same situation im in right now. Im going to college this fall 08 and ill be turning 17 in october. I dont think its gonna affect me much other than maybe when pp go hangout at places.</p>
<p>I'd like to know about this as well. I'm 16 right now, and going to college next year. I'll be turning 17 in September, a few weeks after school starts. Will that significantly impact college life? Though I'll be staying at home, so I won't have rooming issues - I'm just referring to general campus activities.</p>
<p>a) congratulations on obviously being very bright for your age</p>
<p>b) you seem mature and undoubtedly are comparatively more mature than your like-aged peers if you're going to enter college early. if you seem to blend in fine now, you probably will either.
although deferring for a year might be a great opportunity to do interesting things and put you in an age closer to your classmates, it can be difficult to get back into the "college swing" after that existing year. also, i'm not aware of your financial situation, but if you aren't extremely well-off, a year studying abroad can be majorly cost-inhibitive. besides the expenses of travel, housing, food, etc., there's also medical insurance: you won't be covered by your parents' plan, i don't think, if you study abroad by yourself, and purchasing health insurance can cost thousands of dollars. </p>
<p>if i were you i'd just enter college after graduation, especially if you can't foresee yourself getting too depressed about not being able to bar-hop with your classmates senior year or club-hop in the city freshman year. because, really, those are the only inhibiting factors here, you said you already get along quite well with traditional college-age students. i know that if i met a mature, intelligent student who was sixteen, i absolutely would not have a problem befriending him/her (i'm almost twenty). i have friends who are in their fifties, i have friends in their teens. what does it matter, as long as you all benefit from your relationship?</p>
<p>and another thing - you'll still be able to participate in all on-campus activities, clubs, parties, etc. i wouldn't be concerned.</p>
<p>Why would employers even know how old you are? There's no spot for that on a resume.</p>
<p>yeah. as long as you present yourself as mature and are over 18, that's generally not a problem.</p>
<p>if i was an employer, i'd be impressed by a student intelligent and ambitious enough to have graduated college by 20, frankly.</p>
<p>I think it might be a problem for graduate/professional schools though - I remember a thread in the medical school forum here about someone with an exceptional resume and an excellent undergraduate school who was not accepted to any medical schools because the medical schools' admissions committees felt he was too young. Perhaps study abroad would be a good way to delay application to a graduate/professional school while also gaining extra experience? If needed, it could even be done after undergrad, instead of before it.</p>
<p>As someone who has experienced this first hand (graduated hs age 16, turned 17 in September right after school started), I've not really had any problems. I'm 19 now and just finished my junior year. Mostly, people are impressed by it, lol. The only problem I'm getting into now is friends going to bars and not being able to go except the under-21 nights. I'm not much of a bar person though; I'm more into parties and there's no problem getting into house parties and stuff under-21. I've got plenty of friends, pretty much all of them are older, but that's nothing new to me (I didn't graduate hs early, I skipped grades in elementary school so I was younger than everyone throughout all my school years basically). My friends range from 18 to like, 26. The average is like 22/23. We all get along quite well, and I've never had a problem with people treating me like a child or anything. The only thing is that a few guys didn't want to date "jailbait" freshman year, but after you get through the first year and turn 18 (and thus "legal") that stops.
If anyone has any questions or anything, feel free to ask!</p>
<p>i agree that the study abroad year would be best done after undergrad, if it's necessary. that way, you'll have more life experience and better able to handle the experience anyways, and you have a degree that might give you an edge in getting a job for that year if need be.
seriously though, countless people have finished undergrad before the typical age and successfully continued to grad school right after.</p>
<p>Isn't it actually illegal to inquire about age? I know that you have to give your birth date and ssn but how many people actually sit there and figure the age? I guess that's non-prof jobs though. Like you have tons of under-age kids working at places like burger king, i suppose they'd have to inquire about age due to child labor laws.</p>
<p>Sorry that was long and confusing, i say kudos to you!</p>
<p>yeah...every place i have ever applied at just asks if i'm 18 or older.</p>
<p>I turned 17 my freshman year of college. It really depends on how comfortable you are in social situations. I didnt have a problem and am graduating and still cant go out and drink with my friends, but frankly, age wont be an issue unless you make it such. People will forget. If you excel academically, it will become an asset for you. Honestly, dont worry about it. If you want to go out to parties, there are always frat parties, etc, that are not age exclusive. So you wont be able to go out to bars with your friends...its really not that big of a deal. Just make it a non-issue.</p>
<p>The most frustrating thing for me was not being able to sign any forms. My housing contract and all of my waivers had to be sent to my parents in order to be considered valid. My roommate had deferred a year, and I had just turned 17 before entering college, and our ages didn't even come up until a few months into the semester.</p>
<p>Take a gap year and do something like travel. I do not get why a gap year is not popular in America but for you I would strongly suggest it.</p>
<p>For forms like that, I always just called my mom and told her that I needed her to sign something and she said, "Okay sign my name." No one ever questioned it, and if asked, my mom would've said she signed it.</p>
<p>Agreed. I'm 17 and was "dual-enrolled" (kind of, but technically I'd already graduated from HS the previous spring) these past two semesters at a local college, and it was rather irritating to have a parent come with me to sign forms. I dropped a class at the beginning of this semester, and I went in WITH my mom's signature on the form. I was told my mother would actually have to be present for me to drop the class. Um, okay?</p>
<p>Anyways, OP, I don't see your age as a problem when attending college. Age is just a number, and mature people won't perceive you poorly if you present yourself well. Good luck! :)</p>
<p>Random question that may seem really stupid:</p>
<p>You have to be 21 to get into bars?</p>
<p>On certain nights of the week (usually Friday and Saturday) you usually do. Same goes for clubs most of the time. </p>
<p>Really, this situation won't be much different than all your sophomore/junior friends being able to drive to school and you having to wait until your senior year. The only issue is not being able to get into clubs your first couple of years (on 18+ nights) and not being able to go to drink at bars your senior year.</p>
<p>I hang out more with people in the years ahead of me and I wouldn't say it's that bad. I just can't go to bars with them on certain nights.</p>
<p>I'm not much of a bar person anyway, so I just go to house parties and stuff. No one will ever not give you a drink at a party. So that's what I stick to. It's not fun to go to a bar and not be able to drink.</p>